Flexible working may stem costly staff turnover

Business people in the Philippines reveal flexible working is often the make-or-break deal of job offers.

Seventy-eight percent of traders said that they would choose one job over another similar one, if it offered flexible working. A staggering 75 percent confirmed that flexible working also improved staff retention, according to the latest survey of Regus, a global workplace provider.

Recruitment is an expensive process that many global businesses are keen to reduce. CIPD estimated that the cost of an employee leaving stood at P345,097, for managers and professionals, it was P373,078.

With employee retention said to be a priority for over a third of business, what measures should businesses take to slash hiring costs, attract and retain top staff?

Flexible working, respondents revealed, provided a solution to all three.

The survey, canvassing the opinions of more than 20,000 senior executives and business owners across 95 countries, confirmed that, in the Philippines, flexible working could be used to avoid employee churn (and the consequent expense of recruitment agencies) as 76 percent of respondents pointed to flexible working as a perk that attracted top talent.

The research also found that:

74 percent of respondents said offering flexible working would make employees more loyal;

60 percent of workers would actually turn down a job that ruled out flexible working; and,

66 percent said they would have stayed longer in their last position had flexible working been an option.

“Hiring and retaining top talent is an age-old priority for successful businesses. But not all companies can afford to offer golden bonuses or mouth-watering salaries while remaining competitive. Stemming churn is also vital to avoid incurring recruitment agency costs and the inconvenience of starting the hiring process,” said John Henderson, regional director, Apac at Regus.

“Flexible working, which is lower cost than fixed office working, offers the attractive perks of lower stress and better work: life balance to existing and prospective employees, and provides a low cost solution to attracting and retaining those top workers.  It’s also striking how mainstream the perk of flexible working has become, with many respondents actually choosing their jobs on the basis of flexibility.”

Regus is a global workplace provider. Its network of more than 1,700 business centers in 100 countries provides convenient, high quality, fully serviced spaces for people to work, whether for a few minutes or a few years. Companies like Google, Toshiba and GlaxoSmithKline choose Regus so that they can work flexibly and make their businesses more successful.

The key to flexible working is convenience, and Regus is opening wherever its 1.5 million members want support—city centers, suburban districts, shopping centers and retail outlets, motorway service stations and even community centers.