Employees who want better work-life balance and employers who want to boost productivity are becoming more and more interested in negotiating flexible work arrangements, career experts say.
A return from maternity leave, the need to care for an elderly parent, or an interest in going back to school are all reasons people might want to negotiate a less rigid schedule, according to Randall Craig, author of the career-planning book Personal Balance Sheet.
Pat Katepoo, founder of WorkOptions.com, says it’s been proven that when employees have a sense of control over when and where they work, they are less stressed and more productive.
But, Craig cautions, not all managers realize it can be in their best interest to be flexible.
“Probably the biggest thing people do wrong is that they assume that the company’s going to jump at their proposal, and they forget that the company is employing them to actually do something, to do a very specific task or group of tasks,” Craig says.
“And the answer for many managers is often a quick no, because for managers, just like us as individuals, change is difficult, and change that requires more work is more difficult than change that requires none.”
The best way to get a manager to say ‘Yes’ is to approach the problem from his or her point of view, he says.
“The question they’re asking is, who will do your work? And if you’re able to partly answer that — partly it might be you reshuffling and partly it might be you finding opportunities for others to grow into your role — that makes it a lot easier.”
Another big mistake people often make, he says, is expecting managers to agree out of pity. “It has nothing to do with their empathy or their lack of it. It’s — and this is in the best case — it’s always a question of business,” he says.
Katepoo lists better productivity, more creativity, higher rates of retention, and fewer absences as business benefits to giving employees more control over their schedules.
If refusing a new arrangement means losing an employee altogether, Craig says managers will often agree, because finding and training new people can get very expensive.
Craig recommends booking time to speak seriously with an employer about alternative work arrangements, and coming to the meeting prepared. He suggests finding examples and inquiring about said examples to see if you may qualify as well.
