Flexibility in the Workplace

April 2nd, 2013 by Skywalk Group Categories: April

FLEXIBILITY IN THE WORKPLACE
Elizabeth Trcka

Employers see benefits of workplace flexibility.

Flexibility in the Workplace has been in the news a lot lately with the most recent announcement by Best Buy deciding to end its Results-Oriented Work Environment (ROWE) policy, & Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, banning workers from telecommuting. These decisions have sparked a lively debate with employers and employees.  Still, there are a number of leading employers who continue the movement toward providing their workforce a flexible 21st-century workplace. Years of research from the Families and Work Institute and SHRM have shown that flexibility in the workplace is a business strategy that can help both employers and employees succeed.

Workplace flexibility — telecommuting, flexible hours and other employee accommodations — is an idea growing on employers who are trying to grow their companies out of the recession.

While the idea of workplace flexibility is familiar — companies have been working for years on strategies to enable employees to have some say over when and where they work — “it may become more appealing for firms looking to retain workers stressed by higher productivity demands, and attract those searching for a better opportunity,” says recruiting expert Jeff Taylor with Skywalk Group.

He also states “market forces are making flexibility a more strategic alternative to some of the other ways that companies used to manage growth.”

Longer-term trends may also push firms to adopt more flexible policies. Women are continuing to obtain high levels of education, incentivizing them to remain in the workforce, and creating demand from families for increased flexibility. Also, there’s evidence that younger workers, who will make up a larger chunk of the workforce as baby boomers retire, place strong emphasis on their work product, rather than hours spent in a cubicle.

According to a recent report from the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, the benefits of flexible workplace arrangements — less absenteeism and turnover, and improved worker health and productivity — can outweigh costs.

Coming out of the recession, companies are shifting to more structured policies about flexible work, and away from one-off arrangements for individuals. “More companies are realizing cost savings,” Elizabeth Trcka from Skywalk Group states. “It’s not necessarily a company going from bricks and mortar 100%, to 100% telecommuting. The key with flexibility from a cost and function perspective for employees and managers is to make sure it works for both parties, the plan is communicated effectively, and employees are involved in structuring the plan where it makes sense.”  “Our experience in working with many organizations is that employees don’t want to call in sick when they don’t have to,”  “If they have another option, they would rather pursue that.”

Who gets what?

Not all employees have the same access to flexible workplace arrangements.

Larger organizations tend to offer a greater number of flexibility programs, according to a February report from WorldatWork, a membership organization that provides research about human resources issues. According to the report, workers in manufacturing tend to have fewer flexible options than those in health care and social assistance. Also, the most common flexible workplace programs are: Part-time schedules, flex time, a flexible start and stop time, and specific telework arrangements that allow workers to be home to, say, meet a repairman or care for a sick family member.

It can be tough for employers to find a way to extend flexible arrangements to all workers. After all, someone has to be around to meet customers, or watch a production line. However, some firms are finding ways to offer flexibility to a wide range of workers.  For example, at Skywalk Group, after an initial training period for a new employee, there is flexibility to provide an employee the ability to work from home when it makes sense, while also maintaining regular time in the office.  At Chevron, the firm recently added a program for employees in the San Francisco Bay area to have access to emergency child care; and at some manufacturing plants, hourly employees can trade work hours.

Challenges for flexible programs

Management can be a roadblock even when a well-intentioned human resources manager creates a plan for a flexible arrangement. If top-level managers aren’t on board, a program won’t get off the ground. Middle managers can also object to flexible arrangements.

Trcka states, “Many HR managers agree that managers are being asked to manage people they can’t see, and supervise flexible teams where people are coming and going, and so it really challenges the bottom-line goals of managers, which is to get work done.”

Resistance may be due, in part, to lack of clarity about how flexible programs will benefit the bottom line. According to the WorldatWork report, just 7% of organizations try to quantify the return on investment from flexibility programs. However, the report indicated that an organization enjoyed a lower voluntary turnover rate the higher it rated itself on a flexibility scale.

So how do you know if you can or should provide a flexible program, keeping in mind that a flexible work schedule must operate to meet the needs of the business, too.  Many organizations have successfully implemented workplace flexibility policies through carefully designed and well-thought-out programs. Implementing flexibility programs requires a shift in overall firm culture, norms, and values that cannot be measured in statistics or balance sheets.  The success of flexible work programs is a partnership between the organization and its employees. When employers give greater flexibility in the place of work and provide employees with flexible work options, they give employees greater control over where and when work gets done, enabling them to enjoy an optimal quality of life. This, in turn, creates loyal employees that are more likely to be engaged in helping their organizations succeed, more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, more likely to stay with their employer and more likely to be in better health.

Social Media Recruiting

April 2nd, 2013 by Skywalk Group Categories: April

SOCIAL MEDIA RECRUITING
Jeff Taylor

Should social media be a part of your company’s recruiting strategy?  A part of the answer depends on what your products or services are.  If your products have a target audience that actively uses social media there may be a benefit.  The other factor is – how much of your business do people really want to know?  If you sell products for active runners, your audience is the type to be engaged with you.  If you sell trailer hitches, your audience doesn’t really care that much about the ins-and-outs of your business, they just want to buy a trailer hitch.

In order for social media to be a successful recruiting tool, you must have first utilized it as an impactful marketing tool to build your brand.  People will only want to follow you if you give them a reason to do so.  You must first utilize social media to provide news and information that is important for your customers.  About 60% – 70% of your content must drive information that they will be interested in receiving – and be about them.  This information can be tied to your business, but must be focused on providing information to your follower.  30% – 40% of your social media content can be about you and what you want from your audience – product information, sales information, and career opportunities.

At the moment, the top three social media recruitment sites are (in order):

1. LinkedIn – By far the most widely used tool, but is less about your business, and more about the number of connections of the person in your company that is doing the recruiting.  All your open positions should be posted on LinkedIn.  All of the connections of the person who posts the position will see them and someone may know someone that is looking.
2. Facebook – Regularly put out content that matters to your audience and then you can intermittently put out your internal job needs.  If you get people excited about what you provide they will be more excited to consider working for you, or forward the opportunity to friends.
3. Twitter – Twitter audience is younger (millennials), but if you have a product or service that appeals to them, tweet your openings.  Just like with Facebook, you have to build the following first.  You only get 140 characters to play with when tweeting, so it is best to post a link to the position you are hiring for.

All that being said, remember that the best people for your openings are most likely not the ones that are out there actively trolling social media, or the job boards, for openings.  The best people are currently immersed in excellence and not searching.  Social media will not be the silver bullet to hiring challenges, you will still need to actively get on the phone and talk to people that are not looking – and know how to sell your company to them.

While social media is a good tool that should be used, nothing beats the old fashion art of conversation.

Introducing Carla Werning to Skywalk Group

April 2nd, 2013 by Skywalk Group Categories: April

Skywalk Group is excited to welcome Carla Werning to our team.  Carla brings with her over fifteen years of proven success in marketing, business development and client retention, much of her career was with the McGladrey consulting division.  She has worked with companies in various industries and will be joining our business development team developing new and ongoing client relationships.  Elizabeth Trcka, Skywalk Group Partner, states “We are very excited to have Carla join Skywalk Group.  With Carla’s prior experience in her consultative roles, she will be a valuable resource to clients who are looking for effective human resources solutions.  Carla will be focused on new business development and the expansion of existing markets in our footprint.  She will continue to support Skywalk Group’s client centric focus as well as expand our national sales efforts.”

Welcome Carla!