Flexible working hours

According to the Confederation of Danish Industry, many companies have collective agreements that provide flexible working hours - but not all companies have followed suit yet. Here we'll go through the importance of you as a manager offering your employees a job with flexible working hours, and that you as an employee have the opportunity to come and go to fit in with the rest of your daily life.

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Flexible working hours can benefit both the employee and the manager

Flexible working hours have long been an important part ofemployee retention, but especially post-corona, it has also proven to be a way to increase employee efficiency. By giving your employees flexible working hours, you're boosting theirjob satisfaction and motivation in the workplace because they have optimal opportunities to organize their working hours.

For many people, flexible working hours can be a welcome opportunity to balance their busy schedules and give employees some extra space to balance work and personal life.

If the company offers its employees the opportunity to organize their schedule with flexible working hours, it can be a great part of the company'semployer branding. It gives the impression to the outside world that the company trusts and empathizes with its employees when they meet the need for flexibility. If a company can offer a job with flexible working hours, it can help recruit new, talented employees. Flexibility in the workplace is also about e.g. sick days, child's first day, vacation, etc. Therefore, flexible working hours can benefit both managers and employees.

Flexible working hours at work can include, for example

• The ability to work from home

• The ability to work at other times

• The option to work half a day in the office and half a day from home

• Flexibility to come in between 7-9am and leave between 3-5pm, allowing the employee to organize their own workday

As an employee, it's important that you can organize your day so that you can balance your work and personal life. And in fact, you are well within your rights to ask for flexible working hours - however, you can't expect the workplace to give you permission. But you can always ask.

If you have or will have a flexible working hours agreement in place, it's a good idea to record the hours you work, for example. That way, you can always demonstrate to your manager that the flexibility in your working hours doesn't compromise your work tasks and your efficiency at work.

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Does your company not yet offer a job with flexible working hours?

Then it's time to get started! Most workplaces in Denmark offer a job with flexible working hours so that their employees have the opportunity to attend breakfast at the nursery, carnival at the kindergarten, pick up early from after-school care, go to the gym, or to the hairdresser. It also gives employees the incentive to attend evening meetings if required from time to time, or show up early every now and then to attend an early department meeting or important meeting with a customer.

By giving employees flexible working hours, you as a manager are providing them with the optimal work-life balance. Remember that flexibility goes both ways - the more flexible a workplace and working hours are, the more flexible employees are likely to be. At the same time, it will benefit the efficiency of employees' work because they have the opportunity to organize their working hours and tasks according to when they are most effective - and because they have been given the right amount of freedom by you as a manager, they will be more willing to go the extra mile or put in extra effort when needed.