Stretching...Why Not?
Employers & Single Parents can benefit from Flexibility in the Workplace
Who has time to stretch? Stretching is something you do with a few extra minutes, before or after your workout. It’s not the main focus; it’s the heart-pounding, sweat equity that makes the difference, after all.
Not so quick! Stretching and flexibility combined with sweat equity improve performance and can reduce risk of injury.
The same principle applies to your company; if you're flat out sprinting to the finish, squeezing as much as you can from yourself and employees, be careful. With the economy seeming to improve, companies are jockeying for first position on the starting block, trying to attract the top talent, retain their current talent, predict their needs in unknown market conditions and appeal to the elusive Gen Y worker.
Better take time to stretch!
Adding flexibility to corporate fitness will improve performance, reduce risk and enable nimbleness, all getting your company to the finish line first. Why:
- Attract talent: More than three in five working adults (62 percent) agree that flexibility is one of the most important factors they consider when looking for new employment. More than one-third (37%) of Gen Y workers would take a pay cut if it meant more flexibility on the job.
- Retain talent: 79 percent of working mothers and 77 percent of working fathers agree they would stay with a company longer if it offered flexible work options.
- Respond quickly to change: Research conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests that agile firms grow revenue 37% faster and generate 30% higher profits than non-agile companies.
- Reduce labor costs: More than two in five working adults (42 percent) are willing to give up some percentage of their salary for more flexibility at work; about six percent is the average employees are willing to relinquish.
- Increase performance: Stanford study has shown utilizing virtual work can result in a 12% increase in performance of which 8.5% is from working more minutes per shift (fewer breaks and sick-days) and 3.5% from higher performance per minute (quieter working environment).
Sweat equity, stretching and flexibility? You bet!
Meet you at the finish line!
About the Author
Cindy Yared, President and Owner Mom Corps Dallas, TX
Cindy Yared is president and owner of Mom Corps Dallas. After working for more than 20 years as broadcast sales and marketing executive, Cindy decided to expand her horizons outside of broadcast media with a challenging career that also allowed her balance work with family and life. After discovering Mom Corps, Cindy was attracted to the concept of advocating for professional women like herself among companies who need access to exceptional, on-demand talent but are progressive enough to consider flexible work arrangements.
Mom Corps is a premier national search firm that provides companies access to an untapped pool of top tier, on-demand job candidates to meet their changing business needs and fluctuating market conditions. Mom Corps finds flexible work arrangements for professionals, many of whom are moms, seeking a challenging career and better work/life balance.
Cindy identified a strong need for the Mom Corps concept in the North Texas area where, until now, many talented professional and stay-at-home moms have been largely overlooked by traditional placement firms or have not had access to companies offering flexible work arrangements.
Prior to Mom Corps, Cindy was Chief Marketing Officer for Disiere Holdings, Qeo Group in Dallas, where she developed the launch and marketing strategy for a new personal auto insurance product. Before Disiere, she was National Sales Manager for Clear Channel Communications in Dallas, where she worked for 11 years selling radio advertising and managed 8 National Offices and 25 Sales Representatives across the U.S. Before joining Clear Channel, Cindy worked in radio broadcasting sales at a variety of other stations including CBS Radio and Cap Cities/ABC Broadcasting in Dallas and several broadcast stations in St. Louis, MO.
Cindy has been a speaker at numerous events, such as the National Association of Women MBAs annual conference and Dallas Women Executive Network Group. She holds a BA from Baylor University in Business Administration and Finance.
Cindy lives in Dallas with her husband and two children. She is an active member of the 85 Broads, Baylor Alumni Association and St. Alcuin Montessori School Capital Campaign and Annual Fund Committees.
