In an old-school paradigm where management equals control, the concept of flexible work practices in the workplace might seem counterproductive – like a bone that a manager tosses to an employee every once in a while to keep him satisfied.

In yesterday’s workplace, flexibility for employees was uncharted and scary territory, a potential slippery slope into chaos that was perceived as harmful to a company. But the reality that is dawning on innovative managers is just the opposite. Businesses that wade into the waters of flexible work arrangements benefit not only in employee engagement and retention but also in increased productivity and profitability.

A 2011 study by Mercer found that flexibility is becoming one of the key factors of job selection and longevity, especially for women. In all, 61 percent of the respondents and 71 percent of the women polled said that flexible work arrangements were very important to their motivation and engagement. The same survey also revealed that 59 percent of the respondents worked for an organization that offered them some flexibility.

The British financial services company Nationwide is known for its wide array of employee options, including flexible hours, work from home, a compressed work week, annualized hours and leave policies that enable them to take time off to pursue interests outside of work. A widespread study of Nationwide’s workforce revealed that these relaxed parameters pay dividends for the bottom line as well as employee morale. Among the findings:

• Ninety-three percent of women returning from maternity leave stayed at Nationwide
• The  company has an employee turnover rate of 9.7 percent, compared to the financial-services industry average of 17 percent
• Nationwide saw a 50 percent increase in the number of female part-time workers and a 150 percent increase in the number of term-time workers. (Term-time is a work schedule that is aligned with school holidays, allowing employees to have unpaid leave when their children are on break.)
• Seventy-five percent of Nationwide employees indicated that they were very satisfied with their employer and the flexible options offered at the company.

“Today, many organizations still perceive flexibility as an aberration,” according to an article by Lisa D’Annolfo Levey of Catalyst. “They have cultures that support the old way of working. That old way was designed around factory production shift scheduling. We still think about the ‘typical’ workday and about rewarding people who work overtime. Organizations tend to be biased in thinking that the current way in which work gets done is optimal. The reality is that much activity that goes on in the name of work is far from efficient or effective. Those long hours don't always make sense - for people or for organizations.”

Businesses that are committed to offering true flexibility need to cultivate a culture of trust and communication that accompanies the new patterns of working. More than ever, says Kyra Cavanaugh of Life Meets Work, managers must be master connectors between people, since coworkers now often work in different locations or at different times but still must share a common vision.

 “In a world where business teams are increasingly virtual, managers must foster connections among disparately located employees,” Cavanaugh wrote on the Life Meets Work blog.  “A leader must be able to build relationships.”

Research shows the workplace flexibility doesn’t just yield more productive and more satisfied employees; workers who enjoy a flexible culture are also physically healthier.  A study in the 2011 issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior examined more than 600 employees of Best Buy both before and after the company instituted widespread flexible practices.

The research discovered that employees in the flexible environment report better sleep quality, more sleep (an average of 52 extra minutes on work nights), more energy, less stress and less obligation to work when sick.

“We have to stop thinking of our employees as worker bees and understand that they have a direct, monetary impact on our businesses,” said Cavanaugh. “Focusing on culture, making our workplaces more flexible, soliciting diversity of opinion, and letting go of face time are all critical to the survival of your business.”

Providing resources even when the cupboard seems bare.

It seems like an obvious statement: No one can do their job properly without the necessary tools. But in this rocky economic climate, ensuring sufficient resources for employees is trickier than it sounds.

During a national economic downturn, astute managers know that employee engagement must be valued more than ever. As companies are forced to trim their budgets and even resort to layoffs, they must place a high premium on keeping the remaining employees dialed in to the company’s mission so that they can rebound and thrive. But creating a vibrant climate for employees means giving them sufficient resources to do their jobs with excellence.

That situation creates a conundrum; Cut the budget, or provide employees with resources? In making those choices, decision makers must bring equal doses of creativity and honesty to the table, along with an acute awareness of their employees’ day-to-day challenges.

In a recent AIM study on employee engagement, 19.8 percent of employees who were planning on leaving in the next 12 months said it was because they did not have adequate resources to do their job.  In many of those cases, the company might have truly been unable to provide what employees needed because of financial difficulties. But as they lost their best people, their productivity issues suddenly became a lot more serious than numbers on a spreadsheet.

“It’s tempting to assume that your employees are grateful just to have a job and would never dream of leaving during a recession, but that would be a costly mistake,” says an article by Canada’s The Alliance of Sector Councils. “A 2008 study published by the University of Wisconsin–Madison found that downsizing can actually lead to a higher rate of turnover, which can leave organizations without the critical people they need to keep operating through the tough times. Although they may not be actively looking, unhappy employees are usually open to new opportunities if they present themselves.”

With an unlimited budget, the path to keeping your best people happy in their work would involve providing them with whatever resources they needed to excel. But that ideal must be met with a dose of economic reality, and that blend will become palatable when managers can keep the lines of communication with their people wide open.

If bottom-line realities make it impossible to provide the top resources, then managers should tell their employees about that tension, revealing the difficulties they face at the budget table, and also projecting a vision for a future in which higher profits lead to overflowing employee toolboxes."

Be open and honest with your employees—share both what you know and what you don’t know about how the economy is affecting your business,” the TASC article said. “Whatever you do, don’t rely on email for communicating difficult news. It lacks tonality and can seem very cold and uncaring. Have regular staff meetings so employees have an opportunity to ask questions. And if you don’t know the answer to a question, it’s okay to say so.”

Once the door of communication is open, the other key to making much out of little in the area of resources is creativity. Just as a mother can stretch the contents of her pantry to feed her family when funds are tight, a good manager can give an employee what he needs to succeed even if it means ‘pinching pennies.’

To be creative in providing resources, managers must know the inner workings of the company so well that they can conceptualize new ways to set the stage for excellence. Some of the most groundbreaking inventions in history have risen out of scarcity, and the company that sees a downturn as an opportunity is the company that will thrive when others are just trying to survive.

An old adage says that “A workman is only as good as his tools.” That statement is true in corporate America, but authentic communication and creativity can expand that statement to ring true even when those resources aren’t easy to come by.

Within every company, leaders desire a successful, fully aligned strategy that yields robust results. But often that goal seems a bit like riches trapped in a padlocked treasure chest. At StratACHIEVE, we believe we hold the key to that chest – employee engagement.

Employee engagement is at the very heart of our partnership with companies, and one of our primary tasks when we come in is a thorough assessment of top-to-bottom engagement within the organization. Studies show that 90 percent of companies do not effectively fulfill their stated strategy and that only 30 percent of employees are truly engaged, or so committed to their company that they give their job more effort than what is required.

If these numbers illustrate the problem, than the first step to unlocking the solution is gathering data. Conducting a thorough assessment demystifies the concept of engagement and breaks it into eight major categories. Through this diagnostic tool, we invite employees to give honest feedback in the areas of empowerment, commitment, work/life balance, nature of the job, career growth, performance management, relationships and reward.

The results provide a clear window to true strategic alignment, and StratACHIEVE uses those findings to create a thorough plan for eliminating problems, celebrating strengths and creating the type of corporate unity that boosts both a company’s morale and its bottom line.

Increasingly, workplace studies are pinpointing engagement as the crucial factor in corporate satisfaction and effectiveness. Among recent compelling findings:

• Organizations with high engagement are 78 percent more productive and 40 percent more profitable than companies with low levels of engagement. (Tower Perrin Global Workforce Study – 2007)
• Engaged organizations increased profits as much as three times faster than their competitors. (Corporate Leadership Council)
• Companies with high employee engagement had a 19 percent increase in operating income and almost a 28 percent growth in earnings per share (Hewitt Quarterly Asia Pacific, 2007)
• Highly engaged organizations have the potential to reduce staff turnover by 87 percent and improve their performance by 20 percent.

Aside from the many tangible benefits of employee engagement are the tertiary advantages that come from a positive work environment. Writes Allan Schweyer of the Human Capital Institute:  “Engaged employees work smarter, not harder. They look for ways to improve performance and they find them. This means more sales, better costs, better quality and innovative products. Engaged employees communicate – they share information with colleagues, they pass on ideas, suggestions and advice and they speak up for the organization. This leads to better performance, greater innovation and happier customers.”

Since employee engagement is central to a company’s overall success, any survey to assess it should be comprehensive, touching on every part of any employee’s life within a company. Industry research and our client’s testimonials prove that questions dealing with topics like commitment, work/life balance and relationships are indeed fundamental to the health of an organization.

A few months ago Dan Walter of the popular “Compensation Café” posted an interesting piece called: “Are Employee Engagement Surveys Like New Year’s Resolutions?” Walter commented on the unusual number of engagement surveys that show high percentages of employees ready to jump ship: “I can’t help but wonder if some of these employees who are ready to leave are the same people who in December 2009 told major media surveyors that they made a New Year’s Resolution to lose 20 pounds and start exercising 3 times a week.”

It’s an interesting thought. Walter believes many of the people who fill out employee engagement surveys are like those that resolve to get in shape after New Year’s but never actually enter a gym. He refers to them as “Resolutionists”, and he thinks organizations and analysts fail to factor for this phenomenon. We suspect he’s right on both counts, after all there are thousands of surveys out there but very few that are validated, and fewer still are large organizations with the in-house expertise necessary to properly interpret survey results.

By the same token, there are many employers who resolve to do something about employee engagement and never get much beyond the survey stage. This is an even bigger problem than “resolutionist” employees.  It takes time and care to know which survey instrument to use, how to tailor and design it for your organization and how to analyze and interpret the results into a prioritized action plan. As one of Walter’s readers commented, “never ask a question whose answer you are unwilling to address."

Employee diagnostics can yield powerful insights for improvement if done correctly and a well designed employee survey can go a long way toward helping employers assess the real intentions of their employees. If misinterpreted though, they can send an organization on the wrong path, or worse, breed cynicism and disengagement.