We are all very familiar with the
term flexible working, it has dominated the media we ourselves have wrote many
articles covering it. Over the next coming weeks however we are going to be
focusing on the new buzz word ‘agile working’ within the workplace. We think it’s
a defining factor to workplace design so we want to share our understanding of
it and positive effects it has on productivity and wellbeing.
Defining Agile Working
Flexible Working is used as a general
term to describe working at times and places away from the traditional full
time 9-5 office based employment. Flexible Working has two dimensions of flexibility:
Time i.e. when employees
choose to work. There are many examples of this dimension: employees can work
at different times of day on different days of the week.
Location i.e.
where employees choose to work. Again there are many examples of this
dimension: – in addition to the office, employees can choose to work at, a
fixed desk, at workhubs, cafes, while travelling or at home.
Agile Working introduces a third
dimension of flexibility, autonomy i.e.
how people choose to work. In an organisation adopting Agile Working employees
are empowered to choose how they work in order to meet the goals set for them
to the standards required. So by this definition a way of working that uses the
same processes and practices outside of normal working hours and/or at
different locations is not Agile Working as it lacks this third dimension of
autonomy.
Clearly some job roles will more
easily accommodate this freedom e.g. sales roles traditionally have a large
degree of autonomy they are set targets and are typically lightly supervised.
Whereas operational roles can be more challenging as they are often prescribed
by detailed processes. It is more challenging, but not impossible, to introduce
agile working into operational roles.
Flexible Working is generally
regarded as largely a benefit to employees it’s a way of working that suits their
needs". However, when implemented well agile working should provide
benefits for both employers and employees. The goals of organisations in
adopting agile working are to create a more responsive, efficient and effective
organisation, which improves business performance and increases customer
satisfaction. By empowering their employees to work how, where and when they
choose there is evidence that they increase their productivity and provide
service improvements by working in a way that suits them best. There is the
very real prospect of a win-win situation. Organisations become more responsive
and effective and their employees gain more control over the way they work.
Over the coming weeks we will be showing
you how to implicate this way of working into your workplace by showing you how
we incorporate it into our ‘Discover, Design, Deliver’ approach and what new
products engage the autonomy dimension.
