By now, we all know that flexible working hours started to be very popular right after the 2020 lockdown. Remote work’s better work-life balance and sense of well-being drew employees, so this is mostly the case. Directly related, flexible work hours rose to one of the main selling factors for elite personnel, with some saying it is even more crucial than salary. A 2023 Conference Board poll found that 65% of respondents seeking new employment ranked workplace flexibility as their top decision criterion, even above bonuses and incentive compensation.
But is it still the situation?
As we approach 2025, do flexible working hours still draw interest or have circumstances changed? Opinions of flexible working arrangements have differed greatly among businesses and staff members. Essentially, although companies have had enough, workers enjoy working from their home offices.
Although workers enjoy the feeling of freedom that job flexibility provides, companies year for the days when they had total control over on-site operations.
Much to their employees’ dismay, 90% of companies implemented return-to-office policies in 2024. A University of Pittsburgh study found that 99% of the companies that required staff members back to the office reported notable drops in work satisfaction. Clearly, therefore, a happy medium has to be established to please both companies and workers.
How do you achieve that?
Keep an eye out for the most recent and greatest methods to apply flexible working hours at your company. A flexible work schedule is one that lets employees choose their hours to achieve the best work-life balance.
Traditionally, a flexible work schedule lets workers determine their working hours to produce an ideal work-life balance. Flextime gives up the conventional 9-to-5 work structure in favor of 4-day work weeks, part-time work, remote work, and alternative work schedule formats.
It can also allow staff members to decide whether to work on-site or remotely. Flexible working hours don’t automatically imply working less hours, either. Sometimes, remote workers who choose their hours put in more effort than conventional workers.
A Gartner poll of 10,000 remote workers in the US and Europe found that flexible work hours are the main cause of their increased post-pandemic productivity. Deciding where and when to finish tasks is a great incentive, especially a benefit of having a hybrid office.
Many studies demonstrate that flexible hours result in happier, more engaged workers, which helps the company.
How difficult is it to put flexible working hours into practice?
For companies, flexible schedules offer certain genuine challenges that go beyond staff members not working in person. The main difficulties with flexible scheduling and reduced workweeks are:
Overseeing team members spread across time zones. If you have weekly staff meetings, telework may be particularly challenging since planning can fast become a disaster. Although programs like Zoom let distant employees communicate with one another, the time zone barrier causes a major difficulty. When your team members live and work in several time zones, getting them on the same page can be really challenging.
Choosing the appropriate flexible working arrangement for your business. Many flexible work schedules today make choosing one a challenging chore. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that certain businesses gain from various flexible timetables. Finding the right model for you will require much effort and trial, which could consume the time and money you require.
Having your personnel accurately log their hours. Working remotely might be difficult for your full-time staff members, who still need to record their hours. You will know less about what they are doing at all times as you cannot drop by their desk and observe what they are working on. Knowing how many hours a person worked that day could be difficult if they have to remember to log their hours, which could create problems with payroll.
Many Companies are Forced to Implement RTO (return to office) Orders to Avoid these Real Difficulties.
Each of these problems has remedies, nevertheless, which are:
For time zone difficulties, use asynchronous communication. Use asynchronous communication—such as a pre-recorded video or in-depth email—to bring a few team members who live in difficult time zones up to speed.
Discover your requirements and investigate flexible working models. It would be easier to identify a flexible work model that exactly fits your company if you first specify your needs. To locate one that fits you, look at our list of flexible models below.
Monitor your team’s development with remote tracking tools. Remote employee monitoring software such as Controlio is in plenty. These tools are a great benefit since they help you to manage the working hours of your remote workforce as painlessly as possible.
The various flexible working models
The rise of remote work has caused flexible work arrangements to undergo a transformation in recent years. Human resource departments have been charged since 2020 with discovering fresh approaches to carry out flexible timetables that meet companies and workers. Reinventing employee work schedules has proved difficult, but HR experts have demonstrated amazing inventiveness and ingenuity.
Modern flexible scheduling systems are:
The combined approach
Freeform hybrid timetables
Reduced workweeks
Four ten-hour days—the 4/10 plan
Examining each one will help us to know which best suits your requirements.
