In my last post, I wrote about the pernicious impact of a long-hours culture on both individual and collective performances, so I thought I'd spend a bit of time in this post talking about the benefits of flexible working.

There has been a long list of studies trumpeting the virtues of flexible working, with one of the first revealing that flexible workers were generally a whole lot more productive than their 9-to-5 peers.

Over a nine month period they found that flexible workers:

achieved more

were off sick less often

worked longer hours

were happier in their work

These findings were replicated in a recent study conducted inside a Fortune 500 company.

It found that employees who were placed on a flexibility program were both happier at work and less prone to burnout and psychological stress than their colleagues who were not on the program.

Focusing On Results

The study, which is believed to be the first randomized control trial into workplace flexibility, saw participants divided into two groups. The first were taught various practices that aimed to increase their control over their work. So employees were trained to focus more on outcomes than face time.

Once trained, they were then encouraged to put their learning into practice. So, for instance, they might shuffle their work so more is done from home, or reduce the number of meetings that they attend.

Managers in this group were also given specific training to ensure that they encouraged employees to have good work-life balance and strong professional development.

When this group was compared with the control group, it emerged that they were far more empowered and supported by their boss, whilst also having more time to spend with their families.

They also reported higher job satisfaction levels and felt less stressed than their colleagues.

Overcoming The 'Stigma'

The researchers believe that the key to securing these benefits is to de-stigmatize flexible working as an option.

"The worker thinks, 'If I ask for special treatment, it will kill my career and I won't get promoted.' The manager thinks, 'If I give in to this employee, others will ask me too and no one will get their work done.' Even many academics take a skeptical view flex of programs and see them as a way for Corporate America to take advantage of workers," they say.

This needn't be the case however, and the study reminds us that when we empower employees to exert control over where and when they work, it tends to have a big impact on productivity and wellbeing.

So flexible working is certainly to be encouraged, but a note of caution comes via a study published recently in the Academy of Management Discoveries.

Giving People Choice

They also studied flexible working, but rather than focus on those who took advantage of such opportunities, they studied the employees who remained working in the office in traditional hours.

They found that people would typically come into work because they enjoyed the social interaction with their colleagues, and the productivity gains that could be achieved through this.

Of course, if most of your colleagues are working remotely then those benefits quickly melt away. This had the effect of then forcing those who would like to work in the office to work externally.

It underlines the challenges of providing an environment that works for everyone, but hopefully if you're sensible about how you manage things then you can do just that.

I'd love to hear your own experiences with flexible working. Does your employer offer it, and do you feel more productive as a result? Are you someone that prefers working in an office? Let me know in the comments.

Also on Forbes: