Wigisource, a wholesaler of widgets, decided to roll out a new flexible working program. They decided the program would include many facets, including the ability to work from home at least once a month and core hours being the biggest components. Wigisource hoped the program would increase engagement and, in turn, lead to improved widget sales.
About six months after implementation, Chris Friend, a human resources representative, announced the engagement scores had increased from the previous year. Next, Sally Saleson, head of sales, announced sales increased during the quarter following the flex rollout.
The CEO, Pat Sample, was pleased. He was happy to find that the program worked and encouraged all employees to take part in the program.
When rolling out an initiative – whether it be flexible work, casual Fridays, or free coffee – many organizations like to look for subsequent improvements in company performance metrics and then declare their initiative a success.
But truly understanding the effectiveness of any program requires careful measurement. While Wigisource did provide hard data showing that positive outcomes occurred after the program, they were not as diligent as they could have been. A critical eye should have many questions:
- How could they be sure everyone took advantage of the program?
- If they did take advantage, how often did they use it?
-Did they take advantage of both working from home and the flexible schedule?
-Does it really affect these outcomes that quickly?
-How do we know it was flexible work that impacted engagement and not something else?
Conduct a Survey
While there are many ways to collect this information (observation, focus groups, looking at outcomes alone), the easiest is to conduct a survey. A survey is a fairly inexpensive and a fairly fast way to find out this information.
If you are evaluating the success of a flexible work program, here are a couple of staple questions to include. (All items can assume an agreement scale: strongly agree to strongly disagree.)
-I participated in the flexible working program offered at COMPANY this year.
-I worked from home at least one day every month.
-I adjusted my work schedule to better fit my needs.
Correlate to Engagement
As you evaluate the results, look for a connection between positive answers on these questions and positive answers on engagement questions. In addition, see if there is a connection between these questions and your productivity measures.
In the Wigisource example, the productivity measure was increased sales. The expectation would be that better salespeople have higher scores on the flexible working questions.
You may also wish to ask some other questions directly related to flex work that also relate to potential desired outcomes. Sample questions include:
-I would continue to work at Wigisource without the flexible working program.
-I feel the flex work program has helped me balance personal and work responsibilities.
Evaluate for Cause and Effect
While including these items certainly provides better information than looking at outcomes alone, it is possible to go a step further, using advanced statistical analysis.
While we know that flexible work had an impact on engagement and productivity, how important was it compared to other aspects in the workplace? What else might have been going on at Wigisource? Were people feeling more recognized by their bosses for hard work? Were they having a lot of fun with their co-workers? Did they find that their work was more challenging?
This is where the importance of the engagement survey itself comes in. A well-balanced engagement survey should include more than just general questions about engagement. It should ask about the work environment, the manager, the company image, the work itself, as well as any programs rolled out such as flex programs. These are all things that can impact engagement.
In an ideal world, a company would take great lengths to make all of those things better for employees. However, understanding what impacts engagement most will yield the best engagement results. This is done through a process called Key Driver Analysis. A Key Driver Analysis will examine all of the different questions on a survey expected to impact engagement, and provide insight as to which ones are the most important.
Should the items pertaining to use of the flexible work program come out near the top, you can finally rest easy knowing that your program has made significant impact. If it hasn’t, you may wish to revisit your flexibility consultant to determine how you might add more value to the program.
How has your company measured the impact of flexibility? What types of questions would you ask?
Amanda Harms | Associate Consultant
Questar’s research partner, LifemeetsWork, is a consulting firm that helps organizations improve performance through flexible work. If you are interested in adopting flexibility initiatives in your organization, contact Teresa Hopke, Senior Vice President of Client Relations, at thopke@lifemeetswork.com.
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