FLEXIBLE WORKING KERRYN STRONG
The fundamentals of flexible working
Flexible working is becoming increasingly accepted as the new way of working across the globe. Kerryn Strong, organisational development and HR specialist and co-founder at Freerange Works, looks at the fundamentals required for businesses that want to succeed.
What the research tells us
T
he latest Survey of Working Life, conducted by Statistics NZ between October and December 2018, tells us that more than half (51 per cent) of employees in New Zealand have flexible work hours, allowing them to start and finish work at different times each day. According to Ryan Ghisi, Xero’s GM of Global People Programs, flexibility is not a benefit anymore. “You’re simply at a competitive disadvantage if you’re not offering flexibility to your people.” Xero has grown rapidly over its 14-year history: from one to 24 offices, 25 to 2,800 ‘Xeros’ (employees), 200 subscribers to over 2 million, and expansion across over 180 countries around the globe. This rapid growth has meant that flexibility became part of the employee experience organically, almost out of necessity and because 40
HUMAN RESOURCES
AUTUMN 2020
of its perfect complement to Xero’s growth strategy. It’s for this reason Ryan calls it Xero’s ‘silent enabler’. Flexibility at Xero has evolved into an embedded part of the culture, with undisputed, measurable win–win benefits for both Xero and ‘Xeros’ alike. These benefits include increased productivity, efficiency, workplace agility, employee satisfaction and engagement, increased wellbeing and balance, reduced stress and a stronger sense of belonging, to name a few. Adding structure to flexibility may sound like a contradictory concept; however, the more structured the approach, the bigger the benefits and impact of flexible working. Every organisation should have fundamentals in place to enable a genuine culture shift. I boil them down to what I like to call The Culture Change Trifecta.
1. Vision and values
Once leaders commit to shifting company culture, the opportunity exists to better articulate vision and values and to bring them to life. Having a clear vision that everyone understands and can connect with gives people a shared purpose and can go as far as to energise and inspire change. Core company values define and guide the behaviour that you want in your business as you work towards achieving your vision. They set the tone and behavioural framework for
the kind of company culture you want to shape. So ask yourself, ‘what is The Why and does everyone get it?’ Because if they don’t get it, starting from a place that lacks shared connection and purpose will likely result in the impact of any people and cultural enhancements being very short lived. Electric Kiwi has a humming flexible working culture, which can be partly attributed to its entrepreneurial mindset of maximising automation. Its flexible working culture has also grown somewhat organically – a sign of the new era of working. The business started its journey five years ago as a small startup in Auckland. In 2018 it was the winner of the Consumer NZ People’s Choice Award and overall winner of the Deloitte Fast 50 Award for New Zealand’s fastestgrowing company. Huia Burt, co-founder and Director of Electric Kiwi, says they’ve focused on automating daily business processes as much as possible, to ensure their people are working on high-value activities that enhance customer experience.
According to a recent StatisticsNZ survey, flexible working is more sought after than increases in pay for the majority of today’s workforce.
