Beware Flex-Washing!

Have you ever had that experience when the promise of a new job doesn’t live up to what was sold to you during the recruitment process?

I have. And more than once.

What was it like for you?

I found it really frustrating. I came into the role ready to give it my best only to find something quite different was what was really required. And that something wasn’t me. Or at least it wasn’t me at my best.

This is happening around flexible work too. The Financial Times recently referred to it as ‘flex-washing’.

Employers have been guilty of offering flexible work to attract a wider range of candidates only to provide a lived experience that doesn’t reflect the promise of flexibility.

There is a lot of talk at the moment in New Zealand of Flex-First, Flexible-by-Default and other similar slogans promising a modern approach to flexibility at work. 

Sometimes these promises are backed up with flexible work practice that really delivers. I take my hat off to those workplaces. They have worked really hard to get there.

Others though have a long way to go.

How is that showing up? Here are a few I’ve seen...

• Delivery expectations far outweighing the resourcing available which means flexible work is only about being ‘always on’

• Untested assumptions that senior leadership roles can’t be delivered in any other way outside of a full-time (plus) working arrangement

• Having a narrow definition of flex, restricted to working from home, shutting down other forms of flex, eg job-sharing, compressed hours, four-day week, part-time etc

• Managers want to do the right thing but are given no training or support in how to manage a flexible team

Are any of these familiar to you?

Let’s not be victims of flex-washing. If we get it right then the productivity and wellbeing benefits for us all are huge.

Get in touch if you need some help to step beyond the risk of flex-washing and into truly rewarding flexible work practice. I would love to help. It’s what I do!