Why flexibility may be one of the most valuable retention tools AEC firms can offer.
Most mornings at my house start somewhere around 6 a.m., and from there it’s a race. I have three young daughters to get out the door, which means three kids to wake up, three outfits to negotiate, three heads of hair to brush, and breakfast to get on the table. There are water bottles to fill, lunches to pack, backpacks to check, and, inevitably, something we can’t find. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I’m checking my calendar and mentally running through my workday. By the time I sit down at my computer, I’ve already lived a whole day. And that’s just a regular Tuesday.
I’m also ambitious about my career. I care about my work, I like being busy, and I take a lot of pride in getting things done well. I don’t want to choose between that part of myself and being the mom who shows up for the school program, makes the doctor’s appointment, or stays home when someone wakes up with a fever. Thankfully, most days, I don’t have to.
I work in a hybrid environment where there’s an understanding that life doesn’t always fit neatly between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. I’m trusted to manage my time, take care of my family when I need to, and still get the work done. That trust is worth a lot to me.
Flexibility is compensation, too
We tend to think about compensation in dollars – salary, bonuses, raises. And of course those things matter. A lot. But I think most of us are doing another calculation in our heads, too: What does this job allow my life to look like? Time has value. So does having some control over it.
Flexibility looks different depending on where you are in life. Maybe it’s picking up a child from school, caring for an aging parent, squeezing in a doctor’s appointment, taking a class, training for a race, or actually using the gym membership you keep paying for. What matters to us at 25 probably won’t be the same thing that matters at 45, and that’s kind of the point. Flexibility can move with us.
It doesn’t mean working less or lowering expectations. Sometimes it’s simply being trusted to figure out when and where the work gets done. Two jobs might come with nearly identical salaries on paper, but if one gives you more control over your time and your life, are they really paying you the same?
Trust is the tradeoff
Flexibility only works when there’s trust on both sides. My employer trusts me to manage my time, and in return, I take seriously the responsibility to meet deadlines and be there when my team needs me.
Last Halloween, my daughters’ daycare had its annual costume parade in the middle of the workday. It wasn’t an emergency. It wasn’t something I had to attend. But it mattered to me, and especially to them. So I blocked the time on my calendar, watched a very cute and slightly chaotic parade of toddlers and preschoolers, gave some hugs, took way too many pictures, and then went back to work. Simple as that.
I didn’t take the afternoon off, use my PTO, or miss a deadline. My team knew where I was, and they knew I’d get my work done. That’s what real flexibility looks like to me. Clients and coworkers still need you. Deadlines are still deadlines. But when you consistently show up, communicate, and follow through, there’s room for a little give and take.
Trust isn’t being told you can work whenever you want. It’s knowing your clients and team don’t have to wonder whether the work will get done. They know it will.
There’s no one-size-fits-all balance
I realize a lot of my examples involve kids. That’s my life right now. But you don’t need three kids at home to have something in your life worth making time for. Maybe it’s a dog that needs a midday walk. A workout class you actually look forward to. A partner you want to have dinner with, aging parents who need more of your time, a volunteer commitment, travel, friends, hobbies, whatever. Sometimes you just want to go to the dentist at 10 a.m. without feeling like you’ve committed some sort of workplace offense.
I don’t think employers need to decide what “balance” should look like for everyone, or which reasons are worthy of it. Give people room to figure that out for themselves. When people have room for the things that make their lives full, I believe they bring more energy, focus, and commitment to their work, too.
The manager makes the benefit real
A company can have the best flexibility policy in the world, but if people are afraid to actually use it, what good is it?
For me, the difference is the people I work with. If something comes up and I can’t make a meeting, my manager will jump in and cover for me. If I’m on PTO, I know my team has things handled. And it works the other way, too. When my manager or teammates are out, we cover meetings and tasks for one another, answer questions, and keep things moving.
It sounds pretty simple. Maybe it is. But I think that’s what a healthy team should feel like. Nobody should have to take a vacation and spend half of it secretly checking Teams from the pool. And nobody should feel like they need to give a five-minute explanation for a doctor’s appointment.
Policies can give employees permission to be flexible, but managers and teammates make people feel comfortable actually doing it. That’s the difference between offering flexibility on paper and building a culture where people believe they can use it.
Retention happens in the small moments
I don’t think loyalty to a company is built through one big gesture. It happens in the little moments, over and over again. The Halloween parade. The sick kid. The meeting someone covers for you. Taking a vacation and actually being on vacation.
Could another firm offer me more money? Sure. And money matters. But I’d have to think pretty hard about what I’d be giving up to take it.
I care a lot about my career. I also want to be the mom who shows up. I don’t want to feel like I have to choose between the two. Because I work somewhere that gives me room to be both, I feel more committed to the people who make that possible. That’s a retention strategy that’s hard to put a dollar amount on.
The people we’re trying so hard to retain have full lives. Firms that give great employees the trust and flexibility to build careers that fit into those lives give them a pretty compelling reason to stay.
 |
Melanie Hawley, Senior Marketing Specialist at Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, Inc. Connect with her on LinkedIn. |
