Balanced Workplace Flexibility: Avoiding the Traps

by Ellen Kossek, Rebecca Thompson, Brenda Lautsch


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Abstract

This article identifies three types of traps that can emerge when implementing workplace flexibility-altered work-life dynamics, reduced fairness perceptions, and weakened organizational culture-and provides core lessons for managers seeking a balanced flexibility approach. First, managers must become flex-savvy to understand the variation that exists in flexibility practices to align implementation with the workforce and organizational context. Second, implementing flexibility must not be treated as an accommodation but as a broader systemic organizational change empowering individuals and teams. The article provides a Worksmart case to highlight how to avoid traps and implement balanced workplace flexibility across multiple stakeholder interests.

California Management Review

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Published at Berkeley Haas for more than sixty years, California Management Review seeks to share knowledge that challenges convention and shows a better way of doing business.

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