Spending more time with a family or focusing on hobbies can be a lot more rewarding than clocking in to work five days each week. There are a number of ways to make work more flexible, at least a few of which should apply to the average person. A quick look at seven of the best of these follows.
1. Try Coworking
One of the reasons work seems so restrictive and rigid to so many is that traditional offices are designed to foster such feelings. Heading to the same office day after day tends to make work feel like a heavy burden.
Coworking is an option that makes sense for many professionals and can contribute to greatly increased flexibility. Freed from the confines of an office, just about anyone will enjoy increased flexibility.
With the average Coworking Cost being quite reasonable, even low-level workers can typically justify such arrangements. Employers who allow workers to use coworking spaces will sometimes even pay the bill themselves.
2. Work Fewer Hours
Some jobs ostensibly require forty hours of effort each week but end up demanding a lot more in practice. Many workers do not realize that negotiating reduced working hours is often a realistic option.
Even notoriously overworked physicians frequently meet with success when they bargain for fewer working hours each week. Many workers end up being more productive when they work less, which can easily benefit their employers.
3. Become a Freelancer
Signing a contract with an employer typically means enjoying a certain amount of subsequent security and predictability. An increasingly popular option is to skip that step and opt for self-employment.
Freelancers typically need to hustle more than salaried workers. The increased flexibility that comes from freelancing can make up for that and more.
4. Share Your Duties With Someone Else
Large companies do not always enjoy laying off large numbers of experienced, proven workers when economic trouble strikes. One increasingly common alternative is to split up duties between workers who are willing to give up compensation in exchange for reduced responsibilities.
Some companies are now even open to such agreements when times are still good. While it will not be an option in every case, switching to a job-sharing arrangement can be a great way of making work more flexible.
5. Work Fewer Days
Many nurses today work twelve-hour shifts three days each week. Others head to hospitals four times weekly for ten hours at a time.
Similar schedules can provide welcome flexibility to people in entirely different industries. Even when the hours worked remain the same, devoting fewer days each week to work will open up new options.
6. Work From Home
Employers are increasingly open to having employees work from home, whether several days a week or all the time. Working from home can make it easier to integrate the professional and personal sides of life in ways that make every day feel more rewarding.
7. Get a Different Job
In some cases, the best way to achieve new levels of flexibility will be to switch to a new job or even a new career. Some jobs and professions are traditionally so restrictive and imposing that no other approach will make a difference.
At least a couple of the seven options above should be available to just about anyone who would like more flexible work-related arrangements. In many cases, simply talking to a manager or other representative of a company will be enough to get the ball rolling.
