Flexibility in the Workplace is Your Ticket to Success

For our parents and grandparents, finding a full-time job was the cornerstone of a reputable existence. You were supposed to gain a qualification, get a 9 to 5 and work out your days in that single career, maybe changing companies once or twice before retiring at 65. However, for our generation, the future of work looks very, very different.

One of the main differences in the future of work is where and when we do it. Basically, the working week is moving away from the 9 to 5 model, whereby you work a single job for your entire career, and it’s becoming more fluid. Flexibility has become the name of the game.

“It’s independent work, so you’re working for yourself or in a small collective, you’ll often be working from a shared office space… working for multiple companies a week rather than just one.”

That was Peter Bradd, the chairman of Startup AUS and CEO of entrepreneurial training company the Beanstalk Factory. He told Fairfax Media that up to 60% of the workforce could become freelance or contractor in the next five years.

At the moment, entrepreneurs, software developers, designers, writers, photographers, social media managers and drivers are some of the roles that are becoming increasingly flexible. Companies like Uber and Airtasker are providing people with opportunities to work when it suits them, rather than adhering to a normal working schedule.

But flexibility is both good and bad.

For a young professional, job flexibility is a liberating concept. It could mean that you get to sleep in, choose your own hours or work from home. Instead of 9 to 5, you may be able to choose to work from 4pm until midnight. You might be working for multiple companies on a freelance basis, then if you don’t like one of your jobs you can move on without having to start again from scratch. And with multiple employers and contacts, it’s easier to expose yourself to new and better opportunities.

On the other hand, flexible work can make workers more vulnerable and expendable. Full-time employees enjoy certain rights, such as sick leave, holiday pay and sometimes, additional perks such as a company car or a phone. Full-time workers are also protected by trade unions – organisations who fight for workers’ rights if their employers don’t treat them fairly. Freelancers and contractors, on the other hand, don’t have the same safeguards in place. The eight-hour working day, which was won by the trade unions, is becoming longer and longer. Additionally, if a freelancer is sick and can’t work, they generally don’t get paid.

Older generations traditionally seek safety and security in the job market, often because they have families, higher living costs and debts. Young people, on the other hand, see flexibility as something liberating because it provides more freedom and time for leisure. Love it or hate it, the future of the job market demands flexibility.