When interviewing candidates, I always ask the question – ‘What are you looking for in your next role?’ with a common response around team culture and the option of flexibility. Now before I go further – flexibility means different things to different people…

For some, flexibility simply means knowing they can leave urgently without judgement if needed, whilst others requested to work from home 1 day a week or more… Now that COVID-19 has changed the way we operate, the way we think and the offerings we have – what will the new working week look like? I, like many conducted an online poll to get a feel for what people were looking for when it came to flexibility… We asked what would be the ideal:

- Return to the office fulltime
- Blended work week (3 / 2 days)?
- Working from home permanently?

With employees having had a taste for working from home, I was prepared to see a strong result for working from home permanently – but surprisingly the demand was for a blended work week…ranging from 3 days in the office, 2 days from home, or in reverse. Some companies have truly embraced the flexible working options and are formalising this within the business, but there are still a few organisations out there that are not even considering this.

The challenge for those organisations moving forward may be that they struggle to find the right talent in the market…but potentially even more of a struggle will be retaining them…
Where people were focused on finding the right team/culture to join – they are now looking for this as well as the benefits of flexibility… What will be your unique selling point when attracting and retaining employees?

For all questions about this blog, don’t hesitate to contact Leanne Lazarus. T 07 3118 0125 l E leanne.lazarus@people2people.com.au