It seems you can't move on Twitter these days for people taking a picture of their home office set up or of them working from a laptop in a Costa Coffee, calling it 'agile working'. I have to be honest, it's one thing that really annoys me, as people use it without knowing or committing to its true ethos, so to start with, I want to clarify what #agileworking actually means in the context of this conversation:
“Agile working is a way of working in which an organisation empowers its people to work where, when and how they choose – with maximum flexibility and minimum constraints – to optimise their performance and deliver “best in class” value and customer service. ”
So being allowed to work from home during standard office hours for your usual 7.5 hours, to be clear, is not truly agile working (it's more like mobile working). It's a step along the right path, and any employer than encourages it should be applauded.
However to be truly agile, your employer would encourage you to work how, when and where you want, as long as the key outcomes you are responsible for are met. You'd be operating at peak productivity and creativity because you know yourself better than anyone.
I'm a huge fan of killing off the 9-5 - I appreciate that some people like the structure, but for me its hugely inflexible and its a well known fact that individuals have different circadian rhythms which determine which times of the day they are at their most productive. I'm a huge night owl and have always done my best work in the afternoon/evening, so for me, a flexible approach means my employer can get the very best of me, 100% of the time. And if that's just me, imagine if you were getting the very best from your entire workforce 100% of the time!
Seeing as we think this is a really interesting topic, we thought we would give you lucky lot a week's notice of the questions for #BLABCHAT! Here they are...
Remember, label your answers A1, A2, A3, etc and most importantly, don't forget to use #blabchat in any response, even if its just replying to someone else's thoughts. Have a scan of potential other hashtags to use in conversation too (and don't be afraid to share!), we know this is a subject that will draw many different viewpoints and we want to hear as many of them as possible.
So, don't forget, next Thursday 3rd May 2018 from 8pm - it's going to be a good one!
