Flexible HRM

No matter which side of the fence, employer and employee alike can agree that they have been impacted by similar, if not identical, external environmental forces such as technology, economy, globalization and more. These external factors have altered the way each approach their work, including how they interact with each other.   

Flexible Peoples

The economic conditions of the past few years have taught employees the need to pivot, to develop new skill sets, to relocate or to reinvent themselves. Workers today anticipate changes in financial markets and they rebrand themselves, learn new skills, adjust titles and are receptive to changing their work hours to better take advantage of future opportunities that may accompany their company's growth spurts. In other words, employees have learned to be more flexible and responsive to the dynamic workplaces that they are a part of.

Flexible Companies

It used to be that companies would follow this steady path along the business lifecycle towards growth and profitability. Today, we find companies expanding and contracting their business in and out of periods of economic duress. These changes may occur as part of business strategy and may have to do less with current market pressures and more with future catastrophic events. Companies are becoming more flexible and becoming more efficient at hiring and firing and then rehiring again.

Flexible HRM

We observe that technological advances have introduced new opportunities for both the employee and employer to work more harmoniously together. For instance, there is more opportunity to work remotely, reduce paper and improve processes. We also note that today's workforce is more international than ever before. Diversity is at its peak due to globalization, immigration dynamics and an incremental increase to business travel. 

These factors along with the employer and employee responses lead to new considerations about how to best manage this modern company and modern workforce. As a result, HRM has become more flexible. A Flexible HRM strategy is required to better deal with these internal and external changes that are taking place across all industries.