A lot of experts talk about the need for more agile working. But what exactly does this mean and how can it make employees more productive?
As we turn to a more balanced working life, companies are talking less about maximum productivity and more about flexibility and agile working.
Work has become more focused on what it should have always been about: output, rather than office presence or number of hours put in.
Agile working is a phrase that has been bandied about a lot in recent years, but is it just about introducing more flexibility to working life?
Deloitte Digital’s Stephen Garvey said agile working is about flexibility in how and when you deliver a project, but it’s also about having the tools to offer this flexibility. “This should actually result in benefits such as greater employee productivity and a more motivated workforce,” he said.
Garvey told Siliconrepublic.com that agile working is particularly important to him as he and his family live in Mayo, but he works in Deloitte’s Dublin office. “Using new technologies and flexible ways of working, I can actually work remotely a couple of days a week,” he said. “When I need to, I can come up here and be meeting [colleagues and clients] face to face and in person.”
He added that while a big part of agile working is about being flexible, it is also about behaving differently. “It’s transformational and that’s what Deloitte bring to our clients,” he said.
Agile working means that those who need to travel overseas for work can do so with ease. Julieanne Fleming is a technology manager in Deloitte’s system integration practice and she has worked with clients both in Ireland and abroad. “There’s opportunity within Deloitte to experience other teams and client roles, and I got to do that when I travelled to the Netherlands,” she said.
As well as agile working, Deloitte also has a diverse workforce, which technology consulting partner Ita Langton said is the best thing about the company. “We have a diverse range of people in our organisation from many different backgrounds, from many different cultures, with a diverse range of skills,” she said. “I really think the diverse nature of our teams leads to the best for our clients.”
