Close Menu
  • News
  • Home
  • In Profile
  • Finance
  • Legal
  • Technology
  • Events
  • Features
  • Wellbeing & Mental Health
  • Marketing
  • HR & Recruitment
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Events Calendar
  • Business Wall
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • 0843 289 4634
X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
Trending
  • Let’s Talk – Business In Profile, Paul Day, Filestream.
  • How SMEs can create effective marketing and advertising creative on a budget
  • Why Fraud Prevention is No Longer Just a Finance Function
  • I’ve been in employee benefits a long time: it’s about time we supported SMEs
  • SMEs say funding is vital – so why are a third not applying?
  • The CEO of Nothing. Why You Should Avoid ‘Gurus’
  • Can an ex-employee be silenced by an NDA in 2025?
  • E-Invoicing: The Lifeline UK Small Businesses Can’t Afford to Ignore
X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
SME Today
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Events Calendar
  • Business Wall
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • 0843 289 4634
  • News
  • Home
  • In Profile
  • Finance
  • Legal
  • Technology
  • Events
  • Features
  • Wellbeing
  • Marketing
  • HR & Recruitment
SME Today
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Events Calendar
  • Business Wall
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • 0843 289 4634
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
You are at:Home»HR & Recruitment»Flexible working – the Future?
flexible working

Flexible working – the Future?

0
Posted By sme-admin on May 11, 2022 HR & Recruitment, Wellbeing & Mental Health

The latest data from employee engagement experts Sodexo Engage, reveals that 76% of employees are more likely to apply for a role if there is an option to work flexible hours, highlighting that flexibility is no longer a nice-to-have but an expectation for today’s workers. 

According to the research, many employees do not believe that SMEs offer sufficient flexibility. Of the 52% of employees who would rather work for a big corporation, 45% said they were put off by SMEs due to the lack of flexibility. Similarly, 44% of the female employees surveyed cited the lack of flexibility as a major turn-off from working at an SME.  

Research from the CIPD found that almost half (46%) of employees say they still do not have access to flexible working arrangements, so it is unsurprising that people do not expect SMEs to be any better.  

SMEs can play an important role in challenging these perceptions and responding to the needs of their workforce. Sodexo Engage’s research showed that almost a quarter (24%) of SME employees listed flexitime as a top benefit they wish they had, making it crucial for SMEs to respond to these requests, or risk losing out on top talent.  

Alongside this, Sodexo Engage also found that just 13% of SME employees have felt engaged in their role over the past 12 months, and to help make them more engaged, 36% are after a better work-life balance. As such, SME employers must look to leverage strong flexible working policies to keep their workforce invigorated, along with other competitive benefits and rewards.  

While 45% of SME employers acknowledge that the biggest challenge to employing good talent stems from competition with larger corporates, who can often offer greater flexible working, it is important that they have the right solutions in place to overcome this. For 40% of SME employers, their top employee related focus is preserving work-life balance, and through flexible working options they can put this priority into practice.   

Emma Yearwood, Director of HR at Sodexo Engage, comments:  

“The benefits of offering flexible working are hard for SMEs to ignore and extend beyond offering employees a better work-life balance. Flexible working comes with the ability to attract and retain top talent, across a truly diverse spectrum. Through flexitime, for instance, working parents have the freedom to map out their hours around childcare commitments, and disabled employees may experience fewer barriers with the autonomy to work when it best suits them. 

“In the current war for talent, it is crucial that SMEs take stock of the changing priorities of prospective employees and reflect their desires in the roles that they are offering. Of course, offering a fair salary has its place, however, in today’s market, it is not the only deciding factor when it comes to applying for a job. For SMEs to get the right people through the door, the key is to offer flexibility where they can, and help their workforce pursue a career that supports both their personal and professional priorities.”  

 

The shift to hybrid and flexible working patterns has revolutionised the way small and medium sized businesses and employees think about productivity, company culture, and how to organise their operations to best support their needs.

BarbadosResearch from GoTo, the flexible-work support and collaboration company, reveals that 70% of employees are unwilling to accept a job without the option to work flexibly, and companies are continuing to step up their investments to remain competitive.

The findings are published in GoTo’s latest report, Flex Appeal: The Work-From-Anywhere Future, which looks into the current flexible work environment and how it is impacting small and medium sized business decision-making. They are drawn from a survey of 1,000 key IT decision-makers across the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Germany, Italy, India and Australia, conducted by Frost & Sullivan. 

The report shows that IT department workloads increased 72% in 2021 versus 2020, with the main reasons being more challenges related to flexible working (49%), more tasks to perform (44%), increased pressure (41%), and software underperforming/wrong tools (31%). With many small and medium sized businesses pushing to increase their IT budgets significantly in 2022, now is the time for IT teams to reevaluate the tools they need to keep pace with the new realities of working from anywhere, while balancing an increased and complex workload.  

Hybrid work is the way to go, but it is not without complexities:  

The survey shows that hybrid and flexible work models can lead to more productivity and positive impacts on company culture. Still, it can also result in complexities for IT, especially when SMBs lack the right tools. 76% of respondents found that the workload of IT workers has increased due to flexible work models, with 43% agreeing that IT jobs have become more difficult. After two years of increased focus on tools to quickly make remote work possible, businesses are now evaluating service duplications within these tools and areas they can consolidate. The study found that 95% of companies plan to consolidate their tools in 2022, with many already under evaluation.   

IT teams have more responsibilities and more scrutiny than ever before:  

The study also shows that leaders are prioritising their IT needs more than ever to ensure their business operates effectively. Senior leadership involvement in software purchasing has increased 75% since the start of the pandemic. In 2021 there was a 73% increase in IT budgets and another 73% increase in 2022 to make hybrid systems run smoothly. Leadership must continue to devote time and energy to support IT organisations to ensure their company can successfully run from anywhere.  

“Time and time again, we see that businesses struggle to work from anywhere without the right tools to support their people. In particular, small and medium-sized businesses have been lacking a simple and achievable solution for the hybrid and flexible world of work we now live in,” said Paddy Srinivasan, Chief Product & Technology Officer at GoTo. “Our dedication towards bringing enterprise-grade technology, unified communications and support solutions into one affordable application is a direct response to the needs of our SMB customers. We aim to partner with them to create a truly sustainable, resilient, and future-proof work from anywhere strategy through great technology.” 

Additional findings 

  • Employees demand hybrid work: Staff turnover is significantly lower in a hybrid model (22%) than in completely remote work models (43%) and work from office models (44%).  
  • Hybrid has a positive impact on company culture: 77% view hybrid/remote work as having a very positive impact on company culture. 
  • In-office requirements are not needed: The majority (78%) of hybrid companies have guidelines on how many days in the office are required (an average of 2.7 days per week) which nets out to about the same as those without mandatory days in the office (2.5 days per week). 
  • Flexibility is key: 20% of leaders with a remote work policy would prefer to move to a hybrid model. Of the leaders with a work from the office policy, 25% would prefer a hybrid or fully remote model. 

The right technology for SMB success: 

While demand for a flexible work model is high, SMBs often find reliable remote IT and communication tools out of reach. To solve this, GoTo, formerly known as LogMeIn, launched the only unified application designed for SMBs with two affordable flagship products: GoTo Resolve offering IT management & support and GoTo Connect providing a unified-communication-as-a-service (UCaaS) experience.  

GoTo is the only flexible-work support and collaboration company built to support small and midsize businesses. Its combined solutions allow businesses of any size to work from anywhere, with an easy-to-use and easy-to-deploy model. 

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

Gary parsons champions face equality and mental health in leadership after transformative tv experience

Project Brains Launches AI-Driven Job Description Platform ProdigyPB

Global whistleblowing reports of discrimination rise in 2024, overtaking harassment

Comments are closed.

Follow SME Today on Linkedin and share all the topics you find interesting
Invest in your pension

The Newsletter

Join our mailing list for the best SME stories, handpicked and delivered direct to your inbox every two weeks!

Sign Up
Events Calendar
    • Marketing
    May 19, 2025

    How SMEs can create effective marketing and advertising creative on a budget

    May 6, 2025

    Why WordPress Remains One of the Best Website Platforms for Entrepreneurs

    • Finance
    May 19, 2025

    Why Fraud Prevention is No Longer Just a Finance Function

    May 16, 2025

    SMEs say funding is vital – so why are a third not applying?

    • Health & Safety
    January 29, 2025

    UK takeaways guilty of shocking hygiene failures:

    December 18, 2024

    Comment on Covid Corruption Commissioner Investigation

    • Events
    November 19, 2024

    Seventeenth Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW)

    October 22, 2024

    Winners Announced for Sheffield Business Awards 2024

    • Community
    May 14, 2025

    Social care experts launch an online marketplace to disrupt a sector in crisis.

    May 1, 2025

    A Marathon Effort: Managing Director Raises Over £4,000 for Charity

    • Food & Drink
    April 16, 2025

    Cutting Down on Business Costs in Your Cafe

    April 15, 2025

    Allergy Awareness Advocate Julianne Ponan MBE To Address Gousto   

    • Books
    April 24, 2025

    Values-Driven Professionalism: A Path to Client Loyalty

    December 2, 2024

    Banish the banshee boss: how to lead without fear – addressing the issue of fear-based management and how NOT to be this manager

    About

    SME Today is published by the same team who deliver The Great British Expos’. We have been organising various corporate events for the last 10 years, with a strong track record of producing well managed and attended business events across the UK.

    Join Our Mailing List

    Receive the latest news and updates from SMEToday.
    Read our Latest Newsletter:


    Sign Up
    X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    Most Recent Posts
    May 19, 2025

    Let’s Talk – Business In Profile, Paul Day, Filestream.

    May 19, 2025

    How SMEs can create effective marketing and advertising creative on a budget

    May 19, 2025

    Why Fraud Prevention is No Longer Just a Finance Function

    May 19, 2025

    I’ve been in employee benefits a long time: it’s about time we supported SMEs

    May 16, 2025

    SMEs say funding is vital – so why are a third not applying?

    Categories
    • Books
    • Community & Charity
    • Education and Training
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Features
    • Finance
    • Food and Drink
    • Health & Safety
    • HR & Recruitment
    • In Profile
    • Legal
    • Marketing
    • News
    • Property & Development
    • Sponsored Content
    • Technology
    • Transport & Tourism
    • Wellbeing & Mental Health

    Copyright © 2020 SME Today.

    • ABOUT SME TODAY: THE GO TO RESOURCE FOR UK BUSINESSES
    • Privacy
    • Contact
    Copyright © 2025 SME Today.
    • ABOUT SME TODAY: THE GO TO RESOURCE FOR UK BUSINESSES
    • Privacy
    • Contact

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.