The Future of Flexibility at Work

You can tailor programs and policies to fit your employees’ needs. by Ellen Ernst Kossek, Patricia Gettings and Kaumudi Misra

September 28, 2021

The Big Idea Series / Rethinking “Back to Work”

Summary.

As organizations tentatively plan how to get work done amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus, both leaders and employees are touting the benefits of flexibility. But what does flexibility at work look like in practice? And how can you know whether your team or organization is using it successfully?

Read more on Work-life balance or related topics Remote work, Managing employees, Balancing work and family, Time off, Gender, Leading teams and Virtual teams

Ellen Ernst Kossek is the Basil S. Turner Distinguished Professor of Management Emerita at Purdue University and the 2025-2026 VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. She is editing a special issue on remote and hybrid work for Organization Science.

Patricia Gettings is an assistant professor of communication at the State University of New York at Albany. She studies the intersections between personal relationships and organizational commitments and how individuals and organizations negotiate those overlaps.

Kaumudi Misra is an assistant professor of management at California State University, East Bay. She studies the role of work-life flexibility practices as a strategic human resource lever for individual and organizational productivity.

The Big Idea Series / Rethinking “Back to Work”

Read more on Work-life balance or related topics Remote work, Managing employees, Balancing work and family, Time off, Gender, Leading teams and Virtual teams

The Future of Flexibility at Work

Summary.

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