Amid the growing demand for flexible work arrangements from employees, a recent study suggests that leaders need not rush to meet all the demands. In fact, there is a significant group of workers who value the structure of a traditional Monday to Friday 9-5 job.
Gallup It published the findings of a survey of 18,943 American adults, in which 50% of workers prefer a traditional work schedule rather than choosing to come in and out of work when they are most productive.
For blue-collar workers, specifically, the percentage drops slightly to 45%.
Surprised? You wouldn’t be alone.
Gallup also found that managers don’t know their employees as well as they think, with surveyed leaders grossly overestimating that three-quarters of their employees are “disruptors”; work and other life activities during the day.
“A common misperception among leaders about flexible working is that employees want to mix their work and personal lives during the day,” Jeremie Brecheisen, managing director of the Gallup CHRO Desk, wrote recently. Harvard Business Review.
Employees divided by the fluidity of their working life
Of course, leaders cannot ignore the other half of the workforce who want a perfect work-life balance.
Nespresso UK CEO Anna Lundstrom, for example, previously told luck Letting work weave his way in and out of his day allows him to stay on top of his demanding work without being confined to a desk.
Instead of trying to cut work and life into a rigid 50/50 split, he seeks work-life fluidity. Also, Thasunda Brown Duckett, president and CEO of a Fortune 500 financial services company. TIAAshe thinks she’s a better mom for admitting it”work-life balance is a lie“.
Working parents in particular, wherever they sit in the corporate hierarchy, have benefited greatly as employers have ditched strict start and end times post-pandemic and embraced the “when you’re productive” grind.
“I have to work on childcare,” says Jade Fitzgerald, an experienced design director at a design agency. beyond, say luck. “Hopefully, some of my work can be flexible as long as it’s not my son’s routine.”
Like many working parents, her working hours extend beyond the nursery’s opening hours, so she leaves the office early to do school pick-up and prepare dinner, tucking her baby into bed before finishing work at 7.30pm.
This mismatch causes employees to burn out and quit
After all, the discrepancy between what the employees want and what the bosses want should not be forgotten.
Gallup found that when employees aren’t working the way they prefer, they’re less engaged, more likely to report burnout at work, and more likely to be looking for or actively looking for a new job.
Although being able to leave the office early in hopes of answering early morning or late-night emails is a plus for some workers, the same percentage of workers would rather call it a day at 5:00 p.m.—or. leave
It may explain why when Gallup asked CHROs at large companies whether their organization cares about employee well-being, 65% strongly agreed that it did. However, less than a quarter of employees agreed.
“Leaders may feel like their organization cares about their employees, but that doesn’t matter if your employees don’t care about you,” Fitzgerald said.
Gallup researchers have concluded that the best way to find out whether employees appreciate the flexible work policies available (or the lack thereof) is simple: just ask.
