What are fully flexible working hours?
10th Apr 2024
Flexible working hours, also known as flexi-time, allow flexibility around start and finish times. This means that employees can start work earlier or later depending on their preference, and what works best to suit their needs and personal lifestyle.
Many companies will opt for core hours, for example, 11am-3pm, when employees need to be working; the remainder of their hours can then be worked when they like, fitting around their lifestyle and commitments.
In this post, though, we'll be talking about fully flexible hours, where employees have little to no limit placed on their working hours, enabling them to juggle work and life more effectively.What are the benefits of fully flexible working hours?
Fully flexible working hours have a long list of advantages: not just for employees, but for employers too.Retain and attract top talent
Having fully flexible working hours can help companies not only retain their best talent, but also attract high-calibre candidates. And with higher levels of flexibility, employees are more likely to remain loyal to their employer.
Recent data from right here on Flexa shows that, over a 3-month rolling average, around 20% of candidates are searching for roles that offer fully flexible hours - so it’s a popular choice.Increased productivity
An employer's main concern with flexible working hours is often likely to be that they are no longer able to keep track of employees' working hours, what they are doing, and whether they are completing all of their tasks.
More and more companies, however, are focusing on the output achieved by their employees, rather than just on the hours of input given. This gives employees the autonomy and trust to structure their tasks and plan their days in a way that they are most productive.
Rather than focusing on how many hours an employee is tied to their desk, it should be around output and results - bringing to life an output-driven work culture.Improved morale
There is no denying that flexibility, in general, helps improve work-life blend. With flexible working hours, employees can structure their days around their personal schedules and commitments instead of the other way around. This might mean more time spent with family, or simply more time to do the things they enjoy, like going to the gym or spending time with friends, all whilst still fulfilling their work responsibilities. Not only does this improve morale, but it also improves job satisfaction.Increased candidate diversity
Offering fully flexible hours can also enable a company to hire from other locations worldwide (if they have the legal infrastructure in place to enable hiring from anywhere - our partner Deel provides helpful information on this if you’re looking for advice).
Flexible hours also takes into consideration those who may find it challenging to work the standard hours due to care commitments or health conditions, and many neurodivergent individuals find this way of working really beneficial.
The candidate pool available to companies becomes much larger, and the likelihood of finding candidates that align and fit well within their business increases alongside this.The challenges of fully flexible working hours
It’s essential to also consider the challenges that can come along with this way of working, such as communication breakdown and employee isolation.
Feeling isolated is something that many employees fear, particularly if fully flexible hours are combined with a fully remote or remote-first workplace. With the proper support and tools, this can be managed; for example, having some form of internal communication such as Slack, and regular check-ins, whether daily or weekly. Here at Flexa, we greet everyone on Slack before we start the work day. We also have different channels for random chit-chat, sharing photos of our pets, and communicating about projects and tasks. Not to mention our monthly in-person meet-ups, where we make time for fun activities and food.
Offering other employee benefits, such as mental well-being support can also be incredibly beneficial when it comes to avoiding loneliness and protecting employees' mental health.What companies offer fully flexible working hours?
There are some incredible Flexified companies that offer fully flexible working hours. Each company hosted on Flexa has its own FlexScore - calculated using several different metrics, including company benchmarking and employee surveys, so you can see how flexible they really are.
We’re sharing the spotlight on just a few of the Flexified companies with fully flexible hours below:
As well as offering fully flexible hours, Amplifi are a company led by a strong focus on career progression, with a supportive, people-first culture.
As a collaborative and fast-paced company with a focus on sustainability, WeTransfer use their fully flexible hours to ensure their people can get their work done whenever they need to.
Collins Property Recruitment are all about improving employees' quality of life, so it's no surprise that as well as their fully flexible hours they are also pioneers of the 4-day working week.
Emerald Publishing are a research-driven company who offer their employees not just fully flexible hours, but the option to work part-time or compressed hours too.
Not-for-profit Cool Farm are a fully-remote company with fully flexible hours, and pride themselves on being transparent about salaries on job descriptions.