How?

One of the effective ways of recruiting and retaining talented young people is workplace flexibility. Flexibility is considered an inducement, which enables employees some degrees of control over their choices at work. There are different options for SMEs when it comes to introducing flexible work schedules, by offering flexibility in time, in location, or workload.

Flexibility in time can be offered:

• changing the beginning and end of the shift around a core schedule;
• planning a compressed workweek, which involves compressing workweek to fewer than five days in one week or fewer than 10 days in two weeks;
• allowing flexible shift, also during unusual hours.

Flexibility in location typically involves telework. While working from home can reduce the time spent on commuting, there are downsides related to alienation, fewer opportunities for creative brainstorming, and less socializing and teamwork. To create a sense of belonging SME should set up virtual coffee times, lunches or arrange a call once a week between a remote worker and an employee in headquarters. Such gatherings help bring people together and increase team spirit.

Flexibility in workload includes:

• reduced-load (an employee assuming a smaller amount of responsibilities, which is reflected in the lower amount of pay); 
• job sharing (multiple people sharing a 1-person job). 

Other formal work-life policies comprise: 

• Paid and unpaid leave (e.g. maternal and paternal leave, where mother is working 2 days and 3 days off, and the father is working 3 days and 2 days off with a young baby),
• On-site facilities and services (e.g., on-site childcare and eldercare centers, rooms at work for nursing, gyms, health clinics, dry cleaning), and
• Other benefits related to non-work lives (e.g., lunch-and-learn seminars that could include workshops on attaining work-life balance, best practices for managing the different boundaries, strategies for dealing with overload, and urgent issues and recharging at work, insurance plan).

Other benefits related to work-life balance include the opportunity to take a sabbatical in order to pursue other aspirations such as hobbies, further education, or traveling the world are particularly appealing to people with dual-centric aspirations, enabling them to better manage professional and personal lives. These benefits and their attractiveness depend on the employee’s career stage. Young employees without families may appreciate the flexible work arrangements, but once they have families, they use the other benefits as well tailored for young families. Millennials also want special summer or holiday hours that are different from regular work hours, and extra vacation time for a job well done.

Above mentioned policies can be categorized into two groups based on the outcome SME is trying to achieve. Enabling work-life policies to allow employees to control where, when, and how much they work, so they can manage the different life roles better. Enclosing policies enable employees to spend as much time as possible at work (e.g. on-site services and facilities such as health clinics). Both groups of policies contribute to favourable work outcomes for the employee, as well as the organizations.