Negotiating For Flexible Work Is Key As Return To Office Mandates Rise

"Imagine walking into your boss's office. Your heart is racing. You're about to ask for something that could dramatically improve your life: flexible work arrangements. Maybe you need to pick up your kids from school or to care for an ageing parent. Or maybe you simply work better with a different schedule or from a different location. Now imagine your colleague made the exact same request: same job, same performance, but with a different outcome."

"There is a significant workplace disconnect between employees who desperately want flexible work and managers who are increasingly reluctant to provide it. Unless specific policies are in place, if you want flexible work, you're going to have to negotiate for it. Over 70% of employees report dissatisfaction with their current level of workplace flexibility. Yet managers continue to express skepticism about work quality and productivity under flexible arrangements."

"When flexible work is an option, it's often distributed unequally through what researchers call flexibility idiosyncratic deals, or i-deals for short. I-deals are negotiations for flexible work that occur between individual employees and their supervisors. These i-deals sound fair on the surface, because all employees can book a time and make an ask. But when flexibility depends on individual negotiation, the result is: Power imbalances determine outcomes, Personal biases influence decisions, Access becomes"

There is a significant workplace disconnect between employees who want flexible work and managers who are reluctant to provide it. Over 70% of employees report dissatisfaction with current workplace flexibility. Managers often express skepticism about work quality and productivity under flexible arrangements. The COVID pandemic widened the divide as employees experienced remote work benefits during lockdowns while many organizations later implemented return-to-office mandates. Flexible work is frequently granted through individual negotiations called idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) between employees and supervisors. Negotiation-based access leads to outcomes shaped by power imbalances, personal biases, and unequal access, producing frustration and inequity among similar workers.

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