6 Ways Organizations Can Provide the 'True' Flexibility Women Need From Their Job

True flexibility starts with recognizing that 'flexibility is much more than the option to choose the location one works from.'

Flexible work is here to stay, yet there are drastic differences in the way women and men experience flexibility the workplace, a new study says.

While men are significantly more satisfied with the flexibility that their workplace offers, women indicate their workplace is less supportive of their flexibility needs, which are not being met, according to research by Werklabs, the research division of The Mom Project, a platform for supporting the economic advancement of working mothers.

Clear demographic differences arose regarding male and female respondents. Women, who viewed themselves as the primary caretaker in their families, expressed a higher need for flexible hours and days of work, owing to needs such as attending to family appointments, picking up children from school, and being able to respond to last-minute needs.

Managerial support for flexibility is helpful for women, but it is not enough, as many are reluctant to be perceived as receiving special treatment or less committed to their careers, according to the research, which involved surveys of more than 1,700 full- and part-time workers to gather data.

One research participant explained: "While we now work in a hybrid model, I have to request and explain why I need to only work two days in office even though I'm willing to work four days … the following week. There is rigidity in what is supposed to be a hybrid work arrangement."

True flexibility, rather than prescribed flexible "benefits," must become part of an organization’s DNA, said the study. True flexibility starts with acknowledging that “flexibility is much more than the option to choose the location one works from; true flexibility includes key traits such as the autonomy to get the job done on one's own terms and flexible working hours during the day and across the work week, among others,” the study says.

Without true flexibility, women are significantly less likely than men to recommend their current employer to others as a compassionate place to work, anticipate an increase in their productivity, or remain with their current employer at all, the research indicates.

"The reluctance of women to take advantage of flexibility in the workplaces or advocate for their needs reflects long-standing biases against working women, particularly working mothers,” said Pam Cohen, PhD, chief research and analytics officer at WerkLabs.

“This study highlights the incredible importance of corporate cultures and managers truly understanding the needs of working moms and actively giving women permission to exercise flexibility so they can bring their fullest selves to work, and contribute to closing the gender pay gap,” she said.

The research identified six factors in creating true flexibility:

1. Organizational support: the degree to which employees believe their organization values their work contributions and cares for their wellbeing through flexibility
2. Personal autonomy: the degree to which employees are empowered to make choices about where and when they work, defining flexibility on their own terms
3. Managerial support: the role in which managers play in establishing flexibility through practice
4. Paid time off: the sense employees feel they have a reasonable number of PTO to accommodate both their own and their family’s needs
5. Workload: how manageable, supported, equitable and consistent employees’ workload is
6. Team support: the ways immediate colleagues contribute to a culture of flexibility

Many employers still don’t understand the subtleties of flexibility at work and how to implement practical changes so that they may see progress toward building more flexible work structures, the study says.

“A coordinated focus on organizational support and personal autonomy,” it concludes, “highlights significant opportunities for consequential change in the workplace.”