Agile working - the great debate

The agile debate is a fascinating one because it raises so many questions. I have worked with numerous organisations, from start-ups to government.

I also chair events once or twice a week, which gives me an insight into different cultures and attitudes.

I have seen failure to accept any form of agile working damage a business and I have also seen clear reasons why agile working isn’t always appropriate and how it throws up some huge challenges.

My own career is a portfolio one. There is no doubt that it is in my ‘employers’ interests that I work for several different organisations; they gain from the cross fertilization of ideas and, even if I’m only giving them a few hours, they can always access my connections and ideas. However, I personally find it difficult to work for more than half a day at a time from home because I like to be around other people when I work. I also find myself resenting the 1.5 hours it can take to commute to different parts of London, so I have been looking at near home options.

Some of the most successful companies in the world are building the biggest offices. If you think of the new Apple buildings, they are a company that do everything they can to facilitate those water cooler moments that can’t happen if everyone is working remotely. But of course, applications like Skype, WhatsApp and Slack can make informal communication much easier than it was and, in a global economy, it is not possible to have teams working together all the time.

Having an office can give the impression of authority and stability to a brand. One co-working space owner confessed to me that some managers express concern at working for a company that uses a co-working space as they worry that the company is not ‘permanent’. The reality is that, for smaller companies and start-ups, the cost of an office can be seen as a waste of money. Can they instead simply get together once or twice a week?

If employers aren't more thoughtful, their traditional ways of working can exclude some of our best talent from the workforce. A close friend was refused permission to go down from 5 days to 4 days a week when she became a mother, except by accepting a huge demotion to an administrative role. She and all of the other senior female employees left that company over time, and with them went the leaders of the most profitable parts of their business. I found that quite extraordinarily short-sighted.

Small companies should find agile working much easier to implement, they can make decisions quickly and these decisions can flex around the circumstances and preference of the individual employees. Yet too many start-ups founders are working night and day in the mistaken belief that is what is needed to build productivity, despite all the evidence to the contrary. In doing so they then demand it of their employees, either explicitly or by their example. Having met hundreds of founders, my reflection is that is not the way that successful companies are built.

Total flexibility can also put huge pressure on people. If you tell employees that they can have the holidays they want they can then feel guilty, rather than entitled, to take holiday. If you tell people they will be judged by outcomes, not by hours spent at the desk, some people will hate the insecurity that brings. Some people want set hours on set days at a set place. Others will refuse to work for you (or you will lose them) if you don’t offer some degree of agile working. In an economy already constrained by skills shortages, this has to be a serious consideration.

Agile working presents a huge challenge for company owners and HR managers. How do you offer it in a way that is fair to all when ‘fair’to one person might be resented by another? I’m looking forward to hearing from people who have experience of introducing agile working, those that have struggled with it and even those who have simply started thinking about it, as I have, and found it difficult to decide how to manage it. What are the lessons? How can we get this right?  What does it mean for policy makers in government? And how can we make sure that this is a smooth evolution and not a bloody revolution?

Oli Barrett MBE - Moderator at the Great Agile Debate on 10th October. Oli is a co-founder StartUp Britain and social innovation agency Cospa. He is also creator of national schools competition Tenner.

For more informtation on the Great Agile Debate please contact megan.joyce@bps-world.com