Whether you are an executive, a department manager or a human resources professional, part of your job involves bringing out the best in your employees. Some workers thrive within the confines of a traditional office environment, and others may find your standard practices to be less than optimal for their personal needs.
For example, perhaps you have night owls on your team. Their natural rhythm simply runs later than others in your workplace, and they would much rather work later in the day than early in the morning. Despite being excellent workers and overall very organized, they may show up late to work in the morning or perhaps even turn in subpar work earlier in the day, only to really hit their stride later.
They may stay long after standard business hours, doing their best work late at night, which can you see offsets their occasional morning tardiness. How can you help support and encourage the best from your night-owl employees?
Consider flexible scheduling
Many businesses are unnecessarily rigid in their scheduling practices. While it is usually as many employees in the same space at once for efficiency’s sake, there’s something to be said for having a late afternoon or evening presence in the office.
So long as there are overlapping hours between your night-owl employees and those who more easily handle a first-shift schedule, you won’t have to worry about a breakdown in communication or similar issues just because of scheduling differences. Allowing workers to start their day a bit later and then stay later in the evening can be a viable compromise for businesses with night-owl employees.
Use tools that promote accountability and communication
Depending on the kind of work your company or team handles, you may need to keep each employee up-to-date on many constantly-changing details. Using tools that provide quick and effective communication among team members, as well as having details in a central location for everyone to verify, will be important when direct communication between workers won’t always be possible due to different schedules.
You will also need to make a point to communicate proactively with workers when they start making use of a more flexible schedule. With the right approach, you can continue to meet all performance metrics without losing team members who prefer to start their days later.
Taking appropriate steps to consider the unique needs of your workers will help make you more efficient at managing them and can lead to better results from their daily work.