4 Ways to Measure Success of Flexible Work

by Jul 1, 2021

Employers around the world jumped into flexible work last year without planning, preparation, or resources. In an unprecedented worldwide transformation of work, millions of people’s lives turned on a dime.
As COVID winds down (I hope) employers are at an impasse. According to… well… every article there is… employees want to keep working from home and CEO’s want employees to come back to the workplace.
That’s why LinkedIn Learning asked me to create this short course on flexible work. While you may have already done that in emergency pandemic panic mode, this course is about resetting and starting fresh in non-emergency mode so you can revise and move forward in a more thoughtful way.
Your CEO might appreciate that endeavor; being forced into something that wasn’t wanted or planned never lands well with CEO’s. And they weren’t paying that big mortgage or rent bill each month because they liked it, they did it because they thought being in person was important to relationships, culture, innovation, communication, and collaboration.
CEO’s must also empathize with employees. This experience has proven that work is no longer a place where you go every day; it’s an experience that can be had from anywhere in the world. Being forced into something that wasn’t planned has proven to be really great and highly desirable for many employees.
So check out my new LinkedIn course on implementing flexible work. I cover types of flexible work, how to balance employer and employee needs, tips for successful virtual teams, building trust, and more.

Here are ways to measure success of flexible work

To celebrate its release I’m sharing a little nugget on measuring success. Below are four areas to consider with examples of what you might measure in each.
 
COST:
  • Rent
  • Utilities
  • Maintenance
  • Snacks
  • Janitorial services
  • Office supplies
  • Equipment
PRODUCTIVITY:
  • Sales dollars
  • Number of units or products sold
  • Clients
  • Customer transactions
  • Errors/mistakes made
  • Absences
  • Phone dials out or in
  • Hours worked
RECRUITING:
  • Time to fill open positions
  • Cost per hire
  • Quality of candidates
  • Diversity of candidates
  • Retention/turnover
  • Time to reach various performance quotas (e.g., billable hours)
  • More metrics are here in another one of my LinkedIn courses
EMPLOYEE PERCEPTIONS:
  • Engagement
  • Job satisfaction
  • Work/life balance
  • Stress levels
  • Internal communication effectiveness
  • Trust in leadership
  • Relationships
I’d love to hear from you on this! What are you doing in the new world of flexible work, how’s it going, what are you measuring, and are employees loving or hating it?
Sincerely,
Catherine Mattice

About Catherine Mattice

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is President of consulting and training firm, Civility Partners, and has been successfully providing programs in workplace bullying and building positive workplaces since 2007. Her clients include Fortune 500’s, the military, several universities and hospitals, government agencies, small businesses and nonprofits. She has published in a variety of trade magazines and has appeared several times on NPR, FOX, NBC, and ABC as an expert, as well as in USA Today, Inc Magazine, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, and more. Catherine is Past-President of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), San Diego Chapter and teaches at National University. In his book foreword, Ken Blanchard called her book, BACK OFF! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work, “the most comprehensive and valuable handbook on the topic.” She recently released a second book entitled, SEEKING CIVILITY: How Leaders, Managers and HR Can Create a Workplace Free of Bullying.

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