Flexible Work Schedules Aren’t Just for Coders

You’re trying to finish up that sales report for your boss and your cell phone keeps ringing off the hook. It’s the doctor’s office trying to reach you about your upcoming appointment. You pause at the computer, trying to figure out what to do next. Which task do you give your attention to?

People used to think that the best way to transition between work and home life was to keep those two spheres completely separate from one another. After all, a stressful day at the office should stay at the office, and those pesky errands should be the domain of home, right?

Well, not necessarily. A new study shows that the best way to mentally balance work and home life, may actually be to combine them. Allowing employees to make calls about errands and do other “home” tasks during the workday for example, helps reduce the jarring effects of taking on and off that professional face. Flextime and flexible space arrangements help employees do that critical task of flowing from one domain to another, without losing productivity.

You’ve probably heard of flexible schedules, since they’re being taken up by big name companies like Asana, Dropbox, and Dell. These organizations have seen higher rates of employee satisfaction, and in many cases also saved money as a result of allowing their workers more flexibility. Dell, for example, is working to transition half of its staff to flexible work situations over the next few years. The company has already saved $21 million dollars since 2013 by doing so, and by consolidating office space as a result.

You might wonder if flexible jobs are limited to one type of career. Computer programmers, as in the examples above, might be one case that comes to mind. However, a study by the employment posting company FlexJobs, found that flexible work situations can apply to careers from business development to compliance management and beyond.

Are flexible positions the jobs of the future or just a fast fad? Only time will tell, but it seems like many employees are already reaping the benefits.