5 Benefits of Flexible Work Environments

Who has time to stretch? Stretching is something you do with a few extra minutes, before or after your workout. It’s not the main focus; it’s the heart-pounding, sweat equity that makes the difference, after all.

Not so quick! Stretching and flexibility combined with sweat equity improve performance and can reduce risk of injury.

The same principle applies to your company; if you’re flat out sprinting to the finish, squeezing as much as you can from yourself and employees, be careful. With the economy seeming to improve, companies are jockeying for first position on the starting block, trying to attract the top talent, retain their current talent, predict their needs in unknown market conditions and appeal to the elusive Gen Y worker.

Better take time to stretch!

Adding flexibility to corporate fitness will improve performance, reduce risk and enable nimbleness, all getting your company to the finish line first. Why:

• Attract talent:  More than three in five working adults (62 percent) agree that flexibility is one of the most important factors they consider when looking for new employment. More than one-third (37%) of Gen Y workers would take a pay cut if it meant more flexibility on the job.
• Retain talent:  79 percent of working mothers and 77 percent of working fathers agree they would stay with a company longer if it offered flexible work options.
• Respond quickly to change:  Research conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests that agile firms grow revenue 37% faster and generate 30% higher profits than non-agile companies.
• Reduce labor costs:  More than two in five working adults (42 percent) are willing to give up some percentage of their salary for more flexibility at work; about six percent is the average employees are willing to relinquish.
• Increase performance:  Stanford study has shown utilizing virtual work can result in a 12% increase in performance of which 8.5% is from working more minutes per shift (fewer breaks and sick-days) and 3.5% from higher performance per minute (quieter working environment).

Sweat equity, stretching and flexibility? You bet!

Meet you at the finish line!