More than 47% of employers are passive jobs seekers casually but not actively looking to work every year. The rise in employee turnover and the improving economy is leading employers to consider creative options to retain their current workforce and new employees.
Work flex is fast becoming a great way to retain, recruit, and engage employees. Companies that provide these different types of flexible work arrangements are seeing increased employee retention, lower recruiting costs, lower employee absenteeism costs, and higher levels of employee productivity and engagement. The impact can be huge especially when you factor in the cost of employee turnover to range from 150-300% of an employee’s first year salary.
Oklahoma State HR Director, Laura Moxley says, “It’s realistic to consider that every employee is looking for work. Because of our busy employees are increasingly viewing flexible work options as an important employer benefit. Savvy employers are using telecommuting and flexible schedules to lure away top talent from competitors.”
Retaining talent is a concern for Oklahoma employers whose top candidates are not considering employers within the state but also in different popular metropolitan areas.
“Companies in other states can recruit your workforce by offering telecommuting options. The company does not pay for relocation because the employees can work from home,” says Moxley.
The numbers and business benefit to work flex programs like flexible work schedules, job sharing, and ROWE do not lie. Companies like UPS have seen an employee turnover reduction of as much as 50% after implementing their corporate work flex program. The trend is growing as 77% of employers are now said to offer some form of work flex according to the 2012 National Study of Employers. The transition to the new work flex mindset requires trust between employee and manager as well a new style of management where leader manage using many new technologies like video conferencing, instant messaging, and using internal collaboration and workplace tools.
The Oklahoma Ready to Work Conference meets October 26th in Oklahoma City to discuss the benefits and growing importance for employers to offer flexible work programs. Conference information can be found at http://b4j.co/2012-read2work. Attendees will receive 4 strategic and 2 general HRCI recertification credits.
Read the full article at http://b4j.co/work-flex-okhr.