Flexible working hours, a major asset for well-being at work

The advantages of flexible working hours

In our latest LinkedIn survey, 96% of participants said they were in favor of flexible working hours. This flexibility is increasingly appealing to employees and companies alike, improving quality of life at work. It's an approach that enhances employees'work-life balance, while offering numerous benefits to the company. However, it is crucial to understand the issues involved and implement a well thought-out policy to avoid potential pitfalls.

Flexibility boosts your recruitment

Flexible working hours have become an essential criterion for candidates and current employees alike. According to a LinkedIn study, 58% of respondents cite work-life balance as one of the main criteria when choosing a company. Flexibility makes a major contribution to this balance.

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Testimony of Caroline Lavalley, Responsible Recruitment Consultant

Caroline Lavalley, recruitment and talent development consultant at "Recruteurs Responsables", explains: "I believe in flexibility at work as a factor of attractiveness for companies and a response to today's societal and environmental challenges." She stresses that flexible working hours are not only beneficial for work-life balance, but also a significant lever for inclusion. "Flexibility benefits women, single parents, people with disabilities, and family carers. It enables greater inclusion and contributes to professional equality in the workplace".

An effective recruitment strategy

Flexible working hours are a real differentiator in a competitive job market. "It's a real marker of differentiation and a response to the skills shortage," says Caroline. By offering flexible working hours, companies can attract and retain talent looking for greater autonomy and a better life balance.

As we can see from the testimony of one of our corporate customers, working conditions have a positive impact on recruitment: "Now, I often receive unsolicited applications, even when I'm not looking to recruit".

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Flexible working hours improve working conditions

From the employee's point of view, flexible working hours offer many advantages. A 2018 OpinionWay study reveals that 8 out of 10 employees want more flexible working hours.

Testimony of Valérie Cousin, Occupational Psychologist

Valérie Cousin, occupational psychologist and HR consultant, explains that it's not just young people who are demanding this flexibility. "The 40-60 age group, often burdened with family responsibilities, is also very keen on flexibility to better reconcile their professional and personal lives." This flexibility helps to reduce stress linked to daily constraints, improve lifestyle hygiene and reinforce the feeling of autonomy and trust within teams.

According to Valérie Cousin, flexible working hours are "a preventive action that acts on several psychosocial risk factors. It's a concrete way of taking care of employees in a win/win relationship that contributes in the long term to attracting, retaining and developing commitment." It improves the employee experience, but also employee commitment!

The risks of flexible working hours

It's essential to understand that the implementation of flexitime must be well thought through to avoid disadvantages. Caroline Lavalley warns, "Decreeing flexibility just to ride the trend would be counterproductive." Indeed, without good management, it can complicate communication and team cohesion, and requires strong mutual trust.

According to Caroline Lavalley: "If decision-makers aren't prepared to lose control, or if the job doesn't allow it, every employee who leaves early will be a source of tension". We talk about this in our article on the right to disconnect: granting employees this freedom implies having a corporate culture that supports it. If certain benefits are given to employees on paper, then they should feel free to take advantage of them without feeling pressured, and without this having any negative consequences on their quality of life at work.

On the employee side, this can have the opposite effect for some. Firstly, because some need a framework, and prefer more rigid rules. Secondly, as their name suggests, flexible working hours set fewer limits than strict schedules. This can blur the boundaries between work and personal life. Some employees may end up over-investing in the company, while at the same time impacting on their physical and/or mental health. This can lead to a work stoppage or burnout.

Setting up flexible working hours: practical tips

Our experts recommend that flexible working hours be introduced in consultation with all company players. Here are a few tips to help you achieve this:

• Raise awareness and communicate: draw up a clear charter defining the rules, terms and limits of flexibility.
• QVCT survey: conduct regular surveys to adjust the flexibility policy in line with employee feedback.
• Manager training: prepare managers to manage flexible teams and adopt a posture of trust.
• Transparent communication: make sure the company's objectives are clear to everyone.
• Documentation and sharing: promote asynchronous information sharing so that all employees are informed, even if they are not present.

Moha Council

At Moha, we have opted for semi-structured flexibility: employees can start their day between 8am and 9am and finish it between 4pm and 5pm. This compromise enables the team to strike a good work-life balance.

Conclusion: implement greater flexibility with Moha

Setting up flexible working conditions requires careful preparation, tailored to the specific needs of each company. At Moha, we

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