What is flexible work?
Everything's been abuzz in the past few years about flexible work and terms like hybrid and remote. But do you know how many types of flexible work arrangements exist? There are a lot of options for negotiation at your current or future employer.
A remote job is any role that can be done from another location. There are even several different remote work scenarios.
Flexible schedule. This arrangement can be made in an in-office, remote, or hybrid scenario. It allows you to decide when you work each day, so if you need to drop off and pick up your kids or Toto from dog daycare, you can! However, you're typically expected to be available for calls, meetings, or other matters that arise during the company's core business hours.
Full-time to part-time. Another option is to convert your hours from full-time to part-time, where you're working under 40 hours per week. One word of caution: I've seen this happen where people end up working more because they're forced or asked to finish tasks at home that didn't get completed during their normal work hours.
Alternative schedule. If there's a timeframe that's conducive to your most productive time of day or works best for you and/or your family, you can propose to work an alternative schedule. For example, you want to work from 6:00-2:00 instead of 9:00-5:00.
Condensed work week. You can work your regular schedule within 40 hours from Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday. Some companies don't even make you do that, and instead simply operate on a 4-day work week.
Job sharing. This is when one job is split between two people. While it's not always ideal, it can work well for certain types of jobs, especially where projects are short-term or tasks can be easily completed by more than one person without a lot of back and forth.
Leave and sabbaticals. Sabbaticals are no longer only for teachers! Lots of people are opting to take leave without pay from their company to rest and detox. Many employers will allow you to return after an extended period of a few months or so.
Phased retirement. If you're close to retirement, you can agree on a schedule that gradually reduces your commitments. This period can be used to train a replacement or redistribute your tasks among colleagues.