Why Work Flexibility Is Important for Employees (work from home and staff leasing)

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to adapt to a new way of working almost overnight. More businesses are operating remotely, on different schedules, and with changes in staffing for the first time. But could these changes become long-term shifts in how we do business? Since many of the adjustments employers are making are in line with existing workplace trends, it’s reasonable to expect COVID-19 could permanently transform the way we work. Here’s how.

The benefits of work flexibility

Once upon a time, work flexibility used to be a ‘woman’s issue’, exclusively a debate for working moms. Today, it is on top of the list of Millennials and Gen Z-ers when considering a job. If people increasingly desire work flexibility this is surely because it allows them to live richer lives by having more control of their work, family, leisure time, relationships and activities. Flexibility is also good for companies. It is associated with positive work outcomes such as attraction and retention of talent and enhanced organizational commitment and job performance. Flexibility is also good for society. It enables children to develop fuller relationships with both parents, in particular fathers, by allowing men to be more involved in caregiving.

More remote work

A recent Gallup poll revealed that 62 percent of employed adults in the U.S. have been working from home during the pandemic. While this is a dramatic shift in the way many employers do businesses, an increase in remote work is in line with existing workplace trends. From 2005 to 2017, the number of remote workers in the U.S. rose 157 percent and the trend could continue even after businesses reopen, now that employers are realizing how many jobs can be performed from home. The same Gallup poll found three in five U.S. workers who have been working at home during the pandemic would like to continue to work from home after public health restrictions are lifted. Businesses may find that they can save on office space costs by letting employees work remotely.

Having the flexibility to work from home is a great option for all workers but could be especially helpful in making workplaces more inclusive for workers with disabilities. In our Workplace 2020 study, Guardian found that while 70 percent of workers with disabilities want to telecommute, only 18 percent had the option before the pandemic. Making remote work a permanent provision for employees could dramatically increase the number of jobs open to disabled workers.

For employers who are still figuring out how to best manage a remote team, our tips for transitioning your team to remote work could help.

Better work-life balance

With so many parents juggling their own workload with full-time parenting of children who would normally be in school or childcare, work-life balance is more important than ever. Employers who can let parents work from home, work on flexible schedules, or otherwise find the right balance between caregiving and work may now see the value in offering more workplace flexibility to employees going forward. This could be especially helpful for parents who struggle to pay for childcare or who have limited childcare options, and for caregivers who look after ill or disabled family members with little outside support.
Caregivers are more likely to rate flexibility and improved work life balance “highly important” than employees without caregiving responsibilities, and three in five single parents want flexible schedules or telecommuting options.

More staff leasing service

What is staff leasing?

Employee leasing or staff leasing is a service whereby one entity (often a temporary employment agency or Professional Employment Organization) lends its employees to another employer for a specific period of time or for a specific task. The employer is the entity that initiates the hiring out of employees and a written consent of the employee is necessary for hiring out employees.

Temporary work as a type of employee leasing

Most often we talk about employee leasing in the context of an employment agency. An employee employed by a Professional Employment Organization perform work for a specific User Employer on the basis of a temporary employment contract. In this case we are dealing with a tripartite employment relationship, the parties to which are: the leasing/recruitment agency, the User Employer and the Temporary Employee.

In the case of temporary work, unlike in the case of employee leasing between two entities without the involvement of the leasing company, the recruitment and employment processes are the responsibility of the employment agency with which the company has signed an employee leasing contract.
The employee leasing service is ideal for industries characterized by high seasonality, as well as during unexpected increases in demand, when large numbers of employees need to be recruited and hired in a short period of time, or during crises (like nowadays pandemic), when it is necessary to quickly reduce costs. Making the employment structure more flexible allows you to react quickly to changing trends in the economy.

Costs of Employee leasing

From the perspective of the User Employer, the employment of temporary employees allows for budget optimisation and reduction of fixed costs related to employment. An example can be the employment of foreigners under civil law contracts where the costs of employment are significantly lower than in the case of a similar contract for Polish workers. A company using employee leasing services settles accounts with the employment agency for the actually worked man-hours at a fixed hourly rate. It is the employment agency that bears all the costs related to recruitment, employment and settlement of employees and the User Employer receives one invoice for the service of hiring out employees.

Employee leasing – what are the advantages for companies?

The most commonly emphasised benefits associated with employee leasing services include:

Making the employment structure more flexible – the ability to react quickly to market changes
No burden on the internal HR department – all HR and payroll matters are on the side of the staff leasing company
Reduction of the costs of overtime
Simple budget planning and control process – based on a commission agreed with the Professional Employment Organization
Start benefiting from the employee leasing service – the staff leasing company offers comprehensive support for the process of hiring employees for your company

Staff leasing like a flexible crisis solution

The professional team of Horizons Bulgaria will hire the people and will lease them to your business. Horizons Bulgaria is a licensed company in staff leasing services according to the last changes in Labor Code and holds a license for Temporary Staffing Agency.
We will take care about documents, social payments and institutions – You will pay us the salary, securities and our comission as a single amount.
Save your time for the important business issues and give us a call to learn more about the service Staff Leasing in Bulgaria and how your business can benefit from it!

Conclusion

While it is anybody’s guess when Covid-19 will dissipate, it is not the first or the last global crisis. So let’s embrace workplace flexibility (like work from home, flexible working hours and staff leasing). Let’s start with the right mindset – in order to respond to a growing demand from the younger workforce while preparing ourselves better for a volatile, uncertain and ambiguous future. Employers can use what we learn from this experience to create more inclusive, empathetic, and supportive workplaces for all employees, and to be better prepared to weather any future disruptions to the way we work.

Photo credit: Freepik

Cited Sources:

https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/
https://www.guardianlife.com/

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