Fuchs und Consorten Unternehmensberatung GmbH

19.12.2011

What makes your working environment attractive?

A survey conducted by the market research institute TNS Emnid in Bielefeld found, as expected, that for 70 percent of respondents, adequate compensation was a determining factor in whether or not a position was attractive. But that's not all. One out of two respondents (56 percent) attaches great importance to receiving recognition for his/her work and 47 percent emphasised the distribution of workload and the definition of competencies. In contrast, flexible working hours and good social benefits were identified by less than one third of the 1,100 respondents as a factor in whether or not a position is attractive.

Yet the importance attributed the each of these points was clearly different between men and women. A high-paying position was of critical importance for 73 percent of men, but only 67 percent of women. On the other hand, the idea of flexible working hours was highly valued by 38 percent of women, whereas a mere 21 percent of male respondents set it as a priority.

However, this should not detract from the fact that more and more companies—in their search for suitable personnel—not only find themselves giving in to high salary demands from suitable candidates, but also being forced to develop targeted packages that make their company more attractive as a potential employer.

One concept to consider is flexible working conditions. An ever-growing number of working professionals are beginning to appreciate employers who are willing to adapt to changes in their employees' private lives and needs. Companies can also reap the benefits of reacting to industry-, company- and personnel-specific circumstances and needs. Another important concept to consider is the avoidance of paid overtime, demand-based operations, longer operating hours, incentives for customer-oriented work and flexibility with order fluctuations. The possibilities for implementing flexible working conditions are diverse and numerous.

There exist eight different possibilities, which can all be mixed and matched.

• Working time accounts

• Part-time work

• Job-sharing arrangements

• Working on-call

• Working in shifts

• Trust-based working hours

• Flexitime

• Teleworking

It's up to each company to decide which model best fits its needs. We'd be happy to help you develop a suitable plan.

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