FlexPaths 2011

I am consistently struck by how important it is that we get beyond our own circles and collaborate with new partners whose interests align with ours – if we are to see truly flexible workplaces anytime soon. I’d like to see us pay more attention to business continuity planners.  

It’s easy to superficially add ‘business continuity’ to the list of advantages that flexible work practices bring -- businesses can continue operating in an emergency if teams are skilled at flexible work. But as I read more deeply about it I find some gems that make my eyes pop out.  One in five US businesses suffers a disaster that causes it to cease operations for a time. Of course there are the big ones – earthquakes, tornados, horrific manmade disasters, but did you know the scale? Seventy-five of them in 2008, says FEMA. And, 43% of companies that go through a severe crisis never open their doors again; another 29% fail within 2 years. Add to that the day-to-day basement-flooding variety that may not put a company out of business, just a kink in productivity and it’s clear why it’s taken seriously.

Disaster plans typically involve paying to reserve alternative space in which to operate in the event of a disaster.  Ah, but if people are already equipped, trained and comfortable working from home or some alternate workplace (that serves lattes), it means those costs are avoided and can be added to the plus column of direct savings (aka ‘hard dollars’) from flexible work. Put that in your flexibility ROI analysis! I certainly added it to our whitepaper on the business case for workplace flexibility public policies: Flexible Work: In Whose Best Interest?

The real kicker, though, is this. We proponents of flexibility struggle to get businesses to ‘offer’ flex. As disaster planners see that teams who can work on the spur of the moment from anywhere, anytime can literally save the business  – these flex workers know how to access files and each other because they have been doing it all along – the disaster planners have begun to do something we have not. They have begun to require (yes, I said ‘require’) that teams (individuals, managers, and executives) practice working flexibly on a regular basis. Otherwise, the reasoning goes, people will not remember the access codes, know the tricks for sharing documents, etc. – all the things that are critical to smoothly functioning in an emergency.

So when the disaster planning team says, ‘you will do this’….everyone listens. Now, that’s a partner.