There is no doubt that flexible work has been a buzzword over recent months and years, and it could well be the case that you are looking to build some more of this into your career. Perhaps you are looking to seek out an entirely remote situation to help balance your work life with all the other commitments in your life. Otherwise, it could well be the case that you simply want to build some more flexibility into your working schedule so your time doesn’t feel so rigid. Here are some of the plus points of flexible work that are worth bearing in mind.
1. Reduced Stress and Burnout
There is no doubt that stress and burnout are very real and need to be contended with in all sorts of different ways. If not, they can easily become entirely overwhelming. High levels of stress can lead to susceptibility to illness and lack of sleep as well as larger physical and mental health problems. Burnout can take months and even years to recover fully from and affect every aspect of your life. Therefore, you need to make sure that you are combating them properly. Flexible work can help with this as a lot of it allows the daily commute to be cut out – regaining hours of precious time that could be used on self-care and fundamentally reducing your costs which can be a leading cause of stress for many.
Social interactions can be done behind the safety of a computer screen, which many people find provides them with a great sense of comfort. It allows interaction with others on your own terms and to work in an environment that can be altered in whatever way you need. People work best in such a wide variety of ways that working the same timetable in an office is unlikely to work for all; for instance, some might prefer to work to music while others prefer complete silence wearing earplugs. If all are forced to be in the same place at the same time, then music is likely banned as a distraction, and the office will never be quiet enough for the rest.
Remote work can also help people to focus on their work in times of tight deadlines, and flexible timings mean you can work when you are most productive. This higher level of control can help many reduce their stress levels.
2. A Healthier Work/Life Balance
Next up on the list, there is the idea that you can have a healthier work/life balance if you build in some more flexibility. This way, you have the freedom to pick and choose the hours that work well for you. For example, if you have kids, you may prefer to miss out on the school run in the morning, but this means you can finish early enough to pick up in the evening, or vice versa. Alternatively, you could be working in a freelance or a casual capacity and only looking to work at certain times, perhaps long days for some of the week and half days the rest. You could always find shipping work on a forum such as https://www.shiply.com/us/load-board to help with this problem.
Different working hours and working different times of day will suit different people, but it allows everyone to balance all the commitments they have in their lives. Often when people live busy lives, something will be left behind – that might be self-care, maintaining relationships with friends or family, or building a career they feel sustained in. Turning to flexible work can create some space in the day that is needed to better manage your time.
3. Higher Level of Job Satisfaction
Ultimately, many people are looking for the kind of work that provides them with a high sense of satisfaction in what they are doing and the feeling that it is worthwhile. The daily commute into the office is one that many people would like to avoid, as well as the opportunity to take on work at their own pace. Performing the same routine every day, particularly if your work is similar on a day-to-day basis, can lead you to feel stifled and as if your contributions to the company do not matter.
This, in turn, leads to low morale and can negatively affect your mental health and overall well-being. When taking on a more flexible working arrangement, you can take more ownership of the work you are doing and feel like you have more control over where your working life is heading. Therefore, there is the sense that a higher level of job satisfaction can be achieved through the act of working in a remote or freelance capacity. With more control over the work produced, many people feel more satisfied in their working life. Ultimately, this can also lead to higher levels of satisfaction in other areas of life, which is what many people would like in the first place.
Work is a large part of our lives, and if you spend the whole time demoralized and wishing you were elsewhere or uncaring about the work produced, it is hard to remain cheerful for the rest of your lives. When people feel more in control of what they are doing, they generally feel more motivated to succeed. Thankfully, modern technology has made turning to remote or flexible work easier than ever before, so it is possible to change routines to suit your day and to take control over the work you are producing.
These are three of the major advantages of flexible work that are worth bearing in mind. First of all, there are reduced feelings of stress, and a lower risk of burnout can be achieved. Not only this, but a healthier work/life balance is also on the cards, which is the holy grail for a lot of people in the modern world.
Finally, better levels of job satisfaction are what keep people working for longer and in a job role that they may well have wanted to leave much sooner. Of course, flexible working might not work for everybody or for every job – some people might try to switch to remote working but find that it isn’t for them, some may not enjoy working to a rigid timeline every day but find they are most productive this way or that they can work better in the rest of the team. Part of the benefit of flexible working is being able to find all this out.