Our firm has been around for quite awhile and we have an internal office culture that has evolved along with the firm. As a boomer, I can clearly see that the way we interact with each other has changed a lot, especially over the last few years with email, blogging, facebook, twitter, teleconferencing, live meeting, etc. Traditionally, we've always required that everyone be at the workplace with everyone else during normal working hours. We think there are a lot of benefits from working and learning together.
However, there are now more requests than ever for allowing flexible working hours, especially for allowing one to work from home. We think a lot of this trend can be explained by understanding generational differences in our staff. All firms want to attract and keep good staff. And one criteria that future staff take into account when choosing who they want to work for is the culture of the firm, as well as the physical working environment. We know that a satisfied staff is generally a loyal and productive staff, and this can be affected by more than just the satisfaction provided by money. (I've discounted for the economy and how those conditions can change someones needs and priorities.)
We have our policies, and like many policies, they tend to get out of date. We are currently exploring the well-being of our staff and exploring things we can do to generally make their lives a little easier. Currently, we require that all staff work from 8 to 5. It's been that way for decades. But our staff, especially our younger staff, has expressed a strong desire for more flexible working hours, including occasionally working from home. We know there is a lot of pressure on young families with both spouses working, trying to juggle their hours, meet obligations and yet keep their employers happy. But we also know that we have clients and contractual obligations that have to be met. And it's also hard to not imagine that utilization and efficiency aren't also affected, if not diminished. This can also be influenced by responsibilities on projects and within the firm. It is this balance that we are struggling with.
I'm sure many other firms are also facing issues like this and I'm just interested how others might be approaching it.
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Clarence Lind AIA
HDR Architecture, Inc.
Omaha NE
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