‘An absolute game changer’: Why this CEO maintains flexibility is key to retaining employees

Despite some businesses looking to lure staff back into the office, the head of a recruitment agency says it’s undeniable the value employees place on the flexible conditions introduced during the pandemic.

COVID-19 undoubtedly changed the way we work. While the negative consequences of the pandemic are constantly thrown out, there was a silver lining in the form of increased flexibility for workers.

A Future Forum survey from last year found that 94 per cent of workers want workplace flexibility, and it ranks second for employee satisfaction, only behind compensation.

This was made possible by COVID-19. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency said that 80 per cent of organisations embraced pandemic flexibility — perhaps the only positive of prolonged lockdowns.

Speaking to HR Leader, co-founder and chief executive of recruitment agency Collar Group, Ephram Stephenson discussed how the pandemic has pushed flexibility to the forefront.

“COVID-19 has been an absolute game changer, certainly in the world of recruitment, where a lot of the larger global organisations, through no fault of their own, just can’t really afford to offer their entire workforce working from home days. It’s not commercially viable for them as a business. They’ve got shareholders,” explained Mr Stephenson.

“So, we’ve seen that as a really unique opportunity for us to actually be able to hire consultants who, quite frankly, normally would have been interested in joining a start-up because of the security, the stability. But because of everything that we offer from a work/life balance to manage that burnout is they’re putting that first over the brand of the business that they’re working for.”

He continued: “[Candidates are] looking for a company that’s going to support and help them during these difficult times [and] if there is ever a situation for burnout, they know they’ve actually got the support and guidance from the leader all the way down.”

Mr Stephenson noted how flexibility at a workplace could be a great way to support the mental health of employees.

“Mental health is something that is so prevalent in the workforce at the moment. COVID-19 has obviously heightened that. For us, we’re always trying to, you know, manage everyone’s workload and make sure that they have the resources and the support around them,” he said.

“Flexible working-from-home policy, work from home for a couple of days a week, we have a 3pm finish every single Friday. And again, being a recent dad, for me, the weekends are all about spending quality time with family. And that 3pm finish is definitely something that we’ve gone from a standing start over 18 months to now having north of 100 employees.”

Flexibility isn’t only beneficial for the employees. According to Forbes, it’s actually beneficial to overall business productivity, engagement, and turnover.

With workers expecting these policies, and studies showing it’s good for company success, flexibility may be here to stay.

Mr Stephenson added: “Historically, the burnout is really common amongst recruitment consultants. So, by giving them the flexibility to truly choose their own hours, as long as the work [has] been done, we can have people starting at six o’clock in the morning, finishing early in the afternoon, starting later in the day, finishing later in the evening.”