Below are some benefits, challenges, and considerations for supervisors when determining the appropriateness of flexible work options for department/group needs.
Benefits
Increase employee engagement, productivity, and retention
- Flexible work arrangements are highly sought after by existing and prospective employees.
- Flexible arrangements lead to reduced turnover costs, fewer absences/sick days, and improved employee health, morale, engagement, and satisfaction, particularly among historically marginalized communities.
- Benefits include:
- Enhanced employee productivity.
- Options to assist employees with disabilities and accommodation needs.
- Increased employee satisfaction and engagement.
- Increased work-life balance for some employees.
- Employees can work where distractions can be reduced or avoided.
Broaden the pool of available talent
- Flexible work arrangements serve as a critical tool as we seek to hire the best available talent.
- The Lab can more readily hire employees that do not follow a traditional full-time on-site work profile.
- Flexible work gives employers the option to access talent from areas of the country with difficult to fill critical skill sets not available locally, thereby increasing the quality of the applicant pool.
- Flexible work arrangements may facilitate recruiting and retention by keeping Berkeley Lab competitive in the Bay Area job market.
Contribute to sustainability goals
- Telework opportunities can be used to reduce our carbon footprint by eliminating vehicle trips to Berkeley Lab locations.
Ensure business continuity
- Telework allows many employees to remain productive during site emergencies, such as power outages, natural disasters, or a pandemic.
Use work space more efficiently and save money
- The Lab can optimize its use of limited work spaces and on-site parking by offering flexible work opportunities when feasible.
- Flexible work could help reduce the costs of off-site leases over time.
- The Lab can optimize its use of limited work spaces and on-site parking by offering flexible work opportunities when feasible.
Challenges and Considerations
- Reduced spontaneity of interactions, which could adversely affect innovation, collaboration, creativity, and team culture.
- Fewer in-person networking and relationship-building opportunities for the employee and key stakeholders.
- Some employees whose duties could allow them to work off-site may not be eligible for a flexible work option if distractions or a suboptimal work space exists that affects their ability to be productive.
- Possible additional equipment purchases/technology training.
- Not all jobs are performed effectively off-site.
- Possible loss of organizational culture with a loss of spontaneous encounters that are beneficial to creative endeavors and building trust.
- Supervising a remote team can be more challenging because interactions might be less frequent, spontaneous, and personal.
- Some employees may find working from home overwhelming and separating work and home life difficult.
- Scheduling may be a challenge for teams that would require rotational on-site presence.
- Training and onboarding new team members requires additional effort and diligence.