The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance is a think tank dedicated to creating work environments centered on inclusion and innovative thought leadership. The Alliance empowers organizations with the tools necessary for advancing women, fostering flexibility, and retaining top talent.
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Action Step – TO BE ITERATIVE WITH WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY MEANS TO BE INTENTIONAL
The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.
Organizational leaders often mention that workplace flexibility policies must be iterative. We could not agree more – workplace flexibility policies and practices improve over time from lessons learned. However, for workplace flexibility policies to be truly iterative, organizations must be intentional and systematic. Iterative improvement does not occur without processes and systems in place to understand, measure and implement changes to combat challenges and replicate successes. Here is the Alliance’s 5-Step Process to make sure your workplace flexibility policies/practices are iterative:
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Action Step – GREAT RESIGNATION OR GREAT RETENTION: HOW YOUR POLICIES, PRACTICES & INFRASTRUCTURE CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.
As we emerge from the pandemic, the Great Resignation has been taking hold and impacting organizations around the globe. Many employees have faced stress and burn-out over the past year, trying to balance personal, family and work obligations around the clock without necessary support structures in place. Simultaneously, many employees gained more work-life control than they ever had during the pandemic, experiencing more regular dinners with family, being able to live in new places and have new adventures while working remotely, and spending more time with children and aging parents than ever before. These seemingly dichotomous experiences, stress/burn-out and increased work-life autonomy, has led many workers to leave their jobs, which has been coined the Great Resignation. However, every coin has two sides – resignations at one organization will lead to retention/recruiting benefits at another. To have the upper hand, organizations need to focus now more than ever on talent development, diversity, inclusion and flexibility. Here are the Alliance’s recommendations:
[1] Reisinger, Holger and Fetterer, Dane, “Forget Flexibility.
Action Step – New Workplace Flexibility Policies Should Include More Employees
The Alliance’s Action Steps are designed to assist organizations with implementing practical strategies and policies related to diversity and flexibility. Members can access full versions of all of the Alliance’s Action Steps in the Member Resource Center.
As organizations revamp their workplace flexibility policies, they should include more employees in these policies. Prior to the pandemic, many organizations offered vastly different flexibility policies to employees based on seniority/tenure, job responsibilities and/or employment status. For example, law firms commonly provided much better workplace flexibility options to attorneys compared to professional staff prior to the pandemic. However, during the pandemic, employers needed to provide remote work options to many employees who never had that option in the past. Many of these employees greatly valued and thrived with this newfound flexibility, autonomy and trust. As organizations redesign their workplace flexibility policies, it is important to make these policies more widely available and equitable amongst a broad range of employees. Some action steps to consider include: