The flexible working model has now taken an important place in the lives of every employer and employee. In the results of the research conducted within the scope of the “Flexible Work Management System Development Project” carried out by Istanbul Bilgi University with the support of TÜBİTAK, it was emphasized that the ways of working changed with the new normalization period. In the research, it was stated that especially remote working, working from another city and country, and boutique offices will be on the agenda.
Working life began to change with the new normalization period. Workplaces, which employees of all ages see as a socializing space, have changed with the effect of the pandemic. The flexible working model, which was very popular during the epidemic, revealed that socialization is also a great need. In this process, the number of online activities for social purposes was increased apart from
Istanbul Bilgi University Organizational Psychology Graduate Program Director Assoc. Dr. In the research carried out within the scope of the “Flexible Work Management System Development Project” carried out by İdil Işık, the Director of Comparative Labor and Social Security Law Practice and Research Center Prof. Dr. Kübra Doğan Yenisey and Faculty of Management Lect. Member Assoc. Dr. Deniz Kantur worked as a researcher. In the project supported by TÜBİTAK, it was aimed to present an application model and guide to the Turkish business life by developing work management standards with time and/or space flexibility.
A total of 81 private and public institutions and sectoral non-governmental organizations participated in all phases of the project. In the qualitative phase of the project, in-depth, semi-structured, online interviews were conducted with 53 senior managers from 27 institutions. A total of 26 human resources managers and 27 managers in charge of operations participated in the interviews. Interviews with participants from the fuel, gas, production, energy, metal, medicine, chemistry, cosmetics, aviation, travel, tourism, technology, telecommunications, fashion, ready-made clothing, bank, insurance, finance sectors are minimum 27.53 minutes, maximum It took 58.34 minutes, an average of 41.34 minutes. In the research, flexible working models such as working from home, working remotely, working in a place other than the central office, working from another city and country came to the fore.
Boutique offices are coming
Compared to the pre-pandemic study, the rate of employees from the workplace decreased by 39.6%. The ratio of employees with location flexibility increased by 35.6%. Alternating work was observed as a relatively less preferred practice. The manager of a business in the metal sector says that investments in stylish and high-cost buildings will be abandoned, and more field-oriented and boutique offices will come to the fore. Another practice that goes beyond the removal of city limits is to work from another country. A manager in the fashion industry expresses his positive attitude about the flexibility to work from another country: “For example, nine of my nine designers in the UK currently work from home. I don’t need to bring it here; A creative world can do it from home.”
Modeling should be started immediately
Mutual trust between managers and employees is an underlined value among the main determinants of flexible working. Among the reinforcers of his confidence are the supportive approach of the managers towards their employees, the positive attitude of the senior management towards flexible working, and their dominance over the process, especially in crisis conditions. Providing information about the purpose of the research, Assoc. Dr. İdil Işık said, “A modeling that will be customized for flexible working processes should be started urgently. Based on the findings we have conveyed so far with this report in our project, we have obtained clues about many issues that need to be considered while handling the flexible working process with a management systematic. By blending the findings in an interdisciplinary manner, covering the areas of business/organizational psychology, management and organization, and labor law, we were able to define the essentials of a management system standard for flexible working. The scope of modeling should be well described. The activities included and the target audiences (person, institution, sector, etc.) to be served should be clear. Boundaries should be well drawn. Topics and audiences that fall outside the scope of the standard should also be clear. The content, rules and conditions should be determined by taking into account that this document cannot exceed the legal regulations.