Flexible working conditions can attract and retain top staff

Employees consider that flexible working hours at workplace can attract and retain top staff, a move that can also optimise businesses profitability of the companies, says a survey by global workplace provider Regus.

The survey, conducted among over 20,000 executives across 95 countries, noted that flexible working can be used to avoid employee churn as 73 per cent of the respondents believe that flexible working is a perk that attracts top talent.

A staggering 75 per cent confirm that flexible working also improves staff retention.

"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," Regus India Chief Operating Officer Sahil Verma said.

Many employees consider that offering flexible working is often the ‘make-or-break’ of job offers as 73 per cent of the respondents revealed that they would choose one job over another similar one, if it offered flexible working.

"Flexible working offers 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 is striking how mainstream the perk of flexible working has become, with many respondents actually choosing their jobs on the basis of flexibility," he added.

Moreover, 56 per cent of the employees said they would actually turn down a job that ruled out flexible working.

Another 62 per cent of employees said they would have stayed longer in their last position had flexible working been an option.