According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, freedom is crucial to reaching maximum productivity. Employees who feel hemmed in by unnecessary rules or parameters won’t do their best.
Companies are beginning to realize and take advantage of this: a Forrester study reports that by 2016, close to half of working Americans (63 million people) will work from home. As the number show, it’s fast dawning on companies that a lack of gratuitous constrictions is a must in today’s business environment.
Suzanne Lucas of CBS News mulls over how businesses can explore a greater flexibility in its policies in a recent article.
- First, clearly-defined company goals must be laid out, so that, no matter how much leeway you give your workers, they always have some sense of direction. Making sure they know those goals is also a way to diminish the need for supervision.
- Be aware of how different people can be. Variety is good in any company, and knowing that people live their lives in unique ways will help you mold company policies that fit your specific workforce best.
- One of the driving forces behind the increase in flexibility (including arrangements like telecommuting) is recent technological advancement. Utilizing all the benefits that mobile technology provides is a huge step towards peak efficiency.
- Lastly, you must convince leadership that all of these strategies are worthwhile. They’re only useful as actions, not concepts.
Human resources departments often don’t have the flexibility themselves to focus on that of others within their business. An effective software can therefore be hugely helpful in that respect. HR Software Systems can help you in the HR system selection process as well as the implementation and management of your program of choice.