The Future of Flexible Work: Trends We’re Seeing

We know the 4-day work week isn’t the silver bullet. Neither is work-from-anywhere. And the gig economy, unlimited PTO, and skill-based workforces haven’t solved all workplace challenges either. So, what workplace policies work for today’s workers? We think an a la carte approach that is tailorable and flexible enough to cater to individual preferences is the way forward.  

Individual Workers Have Individual Needs 

There has been a strong shift recently towards work-life integration and employee wellbeing. Workers are leaving employers because they lack flexibility, and there has been a recent revival in the debate about work from home —  with a quarter of workers saying that they would be willing to resign if forced back to the office.  

The important takeaway for employers when it comes to work-life integration is that it looks different for everyone. Some workers need flexibility to care for ailing parents or relatives, while others need to care for children or even take their dog to the groomer or vet. Your workplace policies should reflect this.  

Workers are also increasingly alert to mental health challenges and the benefits of self care. As a result, workers are becoming more protective of their time away from work and more likely to shy away from roles that don’t reflect that value.  

Work-Hour Policies to Improve Work-Life Integration 

Here are some relatively low-cost policies we’ve seen recently that can help improve worker satisfaction with work-life integration:  

• Core hours instead of 9-5 schedules. These policies require workers to be available for certain periods (i.e., 10am-2pm ET) with flexibility around those hours.  

• Flexible shift switch policies 

• ‘Free’ day off for the employee’s birthday 

• Flexible short breaks 

• The option to split shifts 

• Up to one-hour lunch breaks for hourly workers (to allow them to run errands on their breaks).  

• Summer hours, such as every other Friday off during summer (50% of the workforce on each week).  

• Mental health days, which allow employees to take a set number of days off annually to do something that would support their mental health.  

• “Life happens” leave, which allows employees to attend to unexpected personal events without taking PTO.  

Cultural Shifts To Promote Work-Life Integration 

We published a piece earlier highlighting 5 policies to improve worker wellbeing, so we won’t dig deeply into that here. Instead, we’ll focus on how you can change your workplace culture to improve work-life integration for your workforce:  

• Meeting-free days 

• Meeting-free lunch hours 

• Encourage employees to take their lunch breaks and short breaks throughout the day 

• Walking meetings – this can be especially beneficial for one-on-ones, stay-interviews, or career progression planning as workers usually do not need to present from a screen for these purposes.  

• Home-office exercise allowance – provide a one-off or annual allowance for workers to buy home-office exercise equipment  

• No email hours – encourage your team to only send work-related emails during set hours 

• Offline hours — highlight that employees will not be penalized for turning off notifications or switching off their work devices outside of their scheduled hours 

• Realistic deadlines.

Ideas To Promote Exercise At Your Company 

The CDC recommends that most adults do muscle-strengthening activities at least twice per week. You can introduce workplace policies that encourage your workers to achieve this. Here are some options:  

• Hire a PT to run a class at your office 2x weekly (for hybrid or in-office teams). We suggest allowing workers to leave work 30 minutes early 2 x per week for this class to maximize uptake.  

• Buy a corporate digital membership to online classes. Again, for maximum uptake, consider flexibility for workers who opt to take a class (so, allow them to start their work-from-home day 30 minutes late IF they take an online workout class).  

• Provide an annual wellness allowance for gym memberships or similar. 

Key Takeaways 

• There are a range of options for employers looking to increase flexibility regarding annual days off – from shortened summer hours to “life happens” leave. So, it might be worthwhile considering what your annual ‘budget’ for worker leave is and creating flexible policies from there. (Tip: You need to weigh your desired budget against the cost of hiring. Workers are ready to leave employers who are not flexible enough.) 

• Your company culture impacts the number of hours your team works – and how they feel about that work. Introduce policies that support a flexible culture and work-life integration.  

• Exercise is so important for worker wellbeing, engagement, productivity, and attendance. Consider ways you can encourage exercise during work hours. 

If you need help drafting your company’s workplace policies, reach out. Our team would be glad to help. 

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