Creating Agile Working Spaces

Agile working is very much a 21st Century concept, popular more specifically within the last 5 years or so as attitude and behaviours to the working lifestyle have evolved.

But, do you know what agile working is, how it’s different to flexible working and how agile working is beneficial to your business?

As office interior experts we thought we would provide you with everything you need to know about agile working.

Plus, we have added some thoughts on how you can implement agile working within your business and learn whether it’s right for your team and your circumstances.

Use our links to jump to the subjects that interest you…

What is agile working?

The Agile Association defines Agile Working as

“bringing people, processes, connectivity and technology, time and place together to find the most appropriate and effective way of working to carry out a particular task. It is working within guidelines (of the task) but without boundaries (of how you achieve it).”

In other words, as long as the task in hand is effectively and appropriately carried out, on time and successfully, then it really doesn’t matter how, where and when it was done.

How is agile working different to flexible working?

It can be difficult to ascertain the difference between flexible and agile working as they are similar in nature to the outsider looking in. However, there are some significant differences and understanding these is key to successful implementation of these working practices.

Flexible working

Flexible working tends to focus on ‘working from home’ or remote working, coupled with a long day here and a shorter day there. Childcare commitments, for example, may require a working parent to start later or finish earlier, making the hours up in other ways.

Flexible working is typically requested by the employee instead of the employer and was once looked upon as a one-sided benefit – a benefit to the employee and disruption or cost to the employer.

More commonplace today than ever before, however, employers are free to offer an element of flexible working to their entire workforce, with most choosing to do so to attract the very best staff they can.

Job satisfaction and work-life balance are enhanced for most employees who opt for flexible working, and both productivity and longevity of their employment increases.

However, the most important thing to remember is that the number of their weekly contracted hours must still be adhered to.

Agile working

When it comes to agile working, the view is that employees are no longer needed to ‘go to work’, but instead, they are ‘doing work’…. where they want, when they want. Viewing performance over presenteeism is essential for agile working.

Presenteeism has long been associated with negative connotations, for example, going to the office even when feeling unwell due to pressures or constraints of working expectation levels – never more so than since the start of the pandemic.

Working longer hours should never be expected of employees, although agile working means that employees can choose to do so if they wish to complete their workload.

Some individuals don’t like having to stop work when they are super focused, just because the office needs to close for the day, for example.

Similarly, there is no need to make their hours up if they’ve had a dip in productivity, but instead embrace the time when productivity strikes at its highest level. Set hours of work are not appropriate for agile working.

Where ‘duvet days’ is becoming increasingly popular amongst businesses – giving freedom for employees to have a guilt-free day off from work if they’re tired, for example – agile working offers the same concept, without counting or even needing to provide a reason.

Why is agile working beneficial?

Where time and attendance is focused on, it stands to reason that performance and results will be second in line.

Some creative people will have a burst of ideas at 2am and work on those straight away from their bed, for example. If that individual is paid for a 9-5 office-based role, they may not be inclined to utilise or act upon those ideas at 2 am when they know they have a ‘day of work ahead.

With greater freedom and faith from employers, employees will work more productively with less stress, they will be able to achieve a healthy work/life balance, and more importantly, they will want to stay at such an agile business.

How can my business benefit from agile working?

There are countless ways in which your business can benefit from agile working capabilities.

Work-life balance: improved

The daily grind can wear thin, and it’s here that traditionally businesses begin to see a loss of productivity or the mental wellbeing amongst staff decline. By removing a daily routine or work pattern, you will garner the best from your staff, as they work when they want to instead of when they have to.

With a greater work-life balance within their lives, being able to go to the park with their children on a sunny afternoon at the drop of a hat, for example, employees will be happier and less likely to succumb to stress or anxiety surrounding missing out on life events.

It’s reasons such as this that employees turn to call in sick, look to change their careers or scope competitors’ job openings.

Highest quality talent retention: increased

As aforementioned, in tandem with an optimum work-life balance, employees will want to remain in their role at your company.

Beverley Gedge, MD of executive recruitment specialists Skybridge Recruitment, highlights that top talent will also be attracted to your business to capitalise on the opportunity to work with freedom and faith.

Anyone wishing to move to another city, or even another country, no longer has to hand in their notice and, inevitably, take up a role at a rival business. Where agile working is offered, employees can simply work as they always have done as their location is truly irrelevant.

Loyalty to you as a business will be stronger if the employee feels secure in the way that they need to work and that their work is subsequently valued just as much, if not more, than if they were present within the office every day from Monday to Friday 9 am until 5 pm.

Financial impact: savings

Square footage of office space is valuable, especially in major cities where, traditionally, trendy office spaces are snapped up as soon as they become available. When employees have the freedom and responsibility to decide where to carry out their work, this dramatically reduces your overheads in office space and all of the equipment and expense in conjunction with it.

Perhaps you have historically offered a commuting benefit such as a travel allowance for areas that require tolls or congestion charge, for example. With agile working, you can save this money and invest it elsewhere.

Just as some businesses allow employees to buy annual leave, candidates and employees are much more likely to accept a lesser salary favouring personal benefits such as a greater work-life balance or the removal of hierarchy and micro-management within their working day.

Self-determination: boosted

Knowing that they have a job to do and are free to do it how and when they choose boosts employees’ determination to prove that this works better for them, and in turn, your business.

In light of a study carried out by Trinity Solutions on micromanagement, the following statistics explain why boosted self-determination is more favourable than traditional micromanagement within an office environment. Of the respondents:

• Micromanagement has been experienced by 79%
• Of those, 69% had considered changing jobs
• A further 36% actually did change their job
• 71% said being micromanaged interfered with their job performance
• 85% said their morale was negatively impacted

How has Covid-19 led to more agile working?

With society shutting down during the covid-19 pandemic, office-based working was halted overnight as even local travel became outlawed across a high proportion of the globe. Businesses had no option but to close until the lockdown was lifted or change their working processes and procedures quickly and efficiently.

However, working from home was not as simple as diverting office telephones or providing laptops to staff. As schools closed their gates or family members suffered from the virus, working from home wasn’t physically practical as much as it wasn’t mentally viable, especially if agile working was a completely new concept thrust upon businesses and their staff.

Employee flexibility

Agile working allowed employees the flexibility to complete their roles in the evening once the children were asleep, for example, or perhaps when they were taking a mid-afternoon nap.

Slowly but surely, the concept of a set number of hours of work needing to be done, or a set work pattern within the working week, was becoming less important as businesses had to focus on the results and performance of their organisation but also the mental wellbeing and physical care of their employees.

Helping to keep businesses afloat

Almost forced to implement agile working, businesses began to realise that it was, in fact, keeping them afloat during a catastrophic economic downturn in the face of an unknown killer virus that was affecting those around us every day.

Not only were the principles of agile working keeping businesses afloat, but it was saving them money, making them money and producing better results in terms of productivity than they had seen before.

Agile working across the globe

The pandemic of covid-19 had led to more agile working across the globe, even when restrictions began to ease. Safety and Health Practitioner reported that 71% of businesses plan to adopt more flexible and agile working practices post-pandemic.

As businesses plan to reduce their overheads to account for any financial impact during the lockdown, office space and potential downsizing is a way in which they can do this thanks to the new-found agile working principles in place due to covid-19.

With social distancing and enhanced hygiene now being the new normal, investing in office space planning is just as high a priority to ensure collaborative working and meetings can still occur.

How do I implement agile working?

Agile working isn’t for everyone, and that goes for employers, employees and offices in general.

To achieve a truly agile working organisation, you should start from the very ethos of the business before you can work down.

Implement culture change – and stand by it

Implementing agile working means remembering that there is no work pattern to speak of.

For agile working to be a success, there must be 100% support across the board with the full understanding that sometimes, it may appear that the staff aren’t around or are doing very little.

Ensure that leadership strategies, behaviours and working attitudes are cemented and fully committed to before introducing an agile working policy.

If employees require something to complete their task, you must be open to swift change, supportively.

Office infrastructure for in-house agile working ability

Ensure all employees have the tools for the job and that collaboration can still occur as and when required.

Think about:

• IT needs
• Communications and telephony
• Policies & procedures within the office space which promote agile working without disrupting business functions that may not require agile working
• Proper office design, including the availability of hot desks or activity spaces for collaboration or break-out requirements.
• Can you reduce the number of local offices you have to maintain a regional office instead?

Infrastructure for external agile working ability

Given that agile working does not have to mean being near the office, you should ensure that your employees have the tools they require to work anywhere, any time that they choose successfully.

Use the same points as the in-house office environment but be prepared to invest in technology and tools that employees can keep in their possession. With that comes the security elements that need to be looked into, from VPN permissions to access server-hosted files to ensure software updates are taken care of in keeping with cybersecurity policies, for example.

Helping to transform your business to agile working

As a result of the pandemic more businesses than ever are now reviewing the way they work, with more than ever considering flexible and agile working.

If your business is looking to the future and considering implementing new ways of working, talking to an expert team like Source One Consulting will help you understand what is the best fit for your organisation and how you can optimise your workspaces most effectively.

Source One Consulting chairman, Pat Lewis, was recently featured in the latest editions of the Suffolk Director and Norfolk Director magazines discussing ‘agile working‘.