Inflexible view on flexible workplaces

US – Less than half of companies provide their employees with education and communication regarding the workplace flexibility programmes, according to a survey by Hewitt Associates.

After surveying 90 US employers, 31% of respondents cited that they wanted to limit the use of the company's flexible work arrangement programmes because the company’s culture had not fully accepted flexibility programmes or due to the logistics of having too many employees signing up for the programme.

Thirty-nine percent of firms believed that managers understand their flexibility arrangements while 42% said they were convinced in their managers’ ability to manage employees who use them.

However, this would not yield good results if companies still refuse to educate their employees regarding their flexibility programmes.

Carol Sladek, principal in Hewitt's Work-Life practice said: “In order for flexible work arrangements to be effective, companies need to communicate--and communicate often--to those responsible for implementing the programmes. They need to offer ongoing marketing and training initiatives that clarify responsibilities and expectations.”

Sladek added that the communication, education and training programmes will become more vital as firms increasingly make these initiatives available to wider subset of their employee population.

The survey also revealed that 71% of firms admitted they do not measure the effectiveness of these programmes in any way.