Flex work: Five ways to foster engagement and belonging 

Employees now want work to fit in with their lives. They are re-imagining their social contract with work, what we at Mercer call the “lifestyle contract.”  

Of course, the usual career drivers of pay, benefits and security still apply. In today’s world where people see flexible work as an option and well-being as an imperative, it is choice, connection and contribution that are fuelling job fulfilment and cementing employee loyalty. 

Policies and tools can set clear guidelines for action, but it is managers and leaders who live it and “bring it to life.” Here, intentionality is key — companies must be committed to maintaining engagement and fostering belonging. 

Overall, this calls for a more nuanced, personalised and compelling employee experience (EX). Leading organisations can deliver such a package by focusing on the following actions:

Employee listening tactics can be used to provide a foundation of understanding. Maintain a continuous dialogue that is facilitated, but not dominated, by managers. Ensure you close the feedback loop so people feel heard, valued and supported.

The insights you gain can then drive the development, refinement, nurturing and evolution of your new EX. This will ensure you create a tailored solution that dovetails with the things that employees care about.

As part of the EX development process, personas can be used to empathise with target segments.  This will help ensure you invest in the things that matter most. Measuring EX progress through careful listening and monitoring is also vital.

This listening can extend outside of your business too. Use external market research or social listening activities to gauge the views and values of potential candidates. In response, your EX and employee value proposition (EVP) can be refined to attract the people you need. In other words, they can be brought in line with the needs and wants of the talent that your business is looking to attract. Naturally, both EX and EVP should also reflect the promises made in your company’s employee deal.

Even though three quarters (74%) of employees believe hybrid and remote working will lead to greater success for their business, absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder. In fact, almost seven in ten (67%) workers note that they would struggle to build and cement relationships working permanently in a remote or hybrid model. Employees want access to choice, yet for some, this may be detrimental to their ability to connect with others.

Opportunities for social interaction are essential to foster a sense of belonging. Not surprisingly, it’s remote workers who are the least likely to report feeling like they belong in their teams, as they may lack opportunities to socialise with their teammates.

A flexible world calls for employers to intentionally create opportunities for employees to connect, such as:

• Employee resource groups
• Formalised coffee breaks
• Employee pulse surveys
• Mentoring opportunities
• Open dialogue around the business’ cultural values

The evolution of the lifestyle contract has expanded the list of managerial responsibilities. Pressure now falls on managers and leaders to drive initiatives that bolster employee engagement and belonging. These initiatives are all well and good, but they require considerable time and resources.

HR must therefore act as a support system for managers. HR should:

• Help provide managers with necessary upskilling opportunities
• Ensure that managers can thrive while effectively supporting their teams, whether with knowledge or skilled-based work

Businesses are increasingly relying on their employees’ ability to adapt, flex and embrace change. Indeed, according to the World Economic Forum, core skills like resilience, flexibility and agility are ranked highly by employers. Looking to the future, two thirds of employers believe these same skills will only continue to grow in importance. Managers will therefore be called upon to embody these traits and should be supported in this endeavour.

Redesigning jobs with both flexibility and well-being in mind will also help managers to meet their responsibilities. This will also make their teams a more attractive place for people to work.

This redesign can be achieved using data from listening initiatives, including focus groups and ethnographic surveys. To support this activity, managers can partner with their teams to understand what level of flexibility is needed.

This can highlight ways to reduce the frictions that sap the energy of employees, and pave the way for the implementation of more successful, productive and flexible working models.

The following questions can be asked to improve the way jobs are performed:

• Why is a job frustrating, overwhelming, exhausting or over-demanding?
• Where are the bottlenecks in the process?
• How can the job be designed to connect (and meet) the needs of the company and the individual?
• How effective is our technology stack in driving efficiency and removing friction?
  

Opening up dialogue in this way will build a solid basis for successful relationships between managers and the teams that report to them. In turn, employees will be less likely to “check out” when they face frustrations at work, and will be more likely to share their thoughts and experiences. Overall, this will help to maintain employee engagement.

A Harvard Business School study has found that while higher performing teams don’t necessarily make fewer mistakes, they are better at talking about them. What’s their secret? Psychological safety, which strengthens team bonds and nurtures a sense of belonging as people feel able to share their views or raise concerns. This enables an employee to feel they are an active contributor to the team’s success, as it helps to galvanise action and champions the employee’s voice, whatever their experience or seniority in the business. 

As with the EX, the policies laid out in a risk and compliance strategy are only enabled through an organisation’s culture. Take remote access and cyber security, which tops the list of HR concerns in relation to remote work and digitalisation. As part of the onboarding process, a new team member may well sit and watch numerous videos on risk mitigation, but for these to have any effect the employee needs to feel psychologically safe so they can speak up when it matters. 

Almost three quarters (74%) of employers agree that culture is crucial when implementing flexible working. Managers and leaders should live and breathe this through their behaviour. Over half (54%) of businesses say they have already institutionalised flexibility into their cultures, yet nearly two thirds (63%) of employees are concerned that they’ll become disconnected or disenfranchised from the culture and people in a permanent flexible working model. The reality of a company’s culture, and a manager’s understanding of it, is tested in unexpected moments. Ask the following questions to see if your company is really committed to flexibility:

• What can employees expect from their employer when life gets in the way?
• What happens when a last-minute doctor’s appointment comes up, a sick child needs to be picked up from school, or an employee needs to visit a relative in the hospital?
• Does the company policy reflect and adapt to reality in these moments?
• Do managers still have a flexible mindset in these situations?

Embracing all forms of flexibility calls for intentional leadership behaviours, coupled with intentional managerial actions that centre employees. This will pave the way for an engaged workforce where each person feels they belong.