Companies can improve their work flexibility by connecting their HR systems and making more intelligent use of the available data. This adaptation is important to respond to the needs of employees, who today prefer flexible working hours that fit their private lives.
In Italy and Europe, a significant percentage of employees choose a company based on work flexibility .
However, only a minority of employees in Italy believe that their company is working to improve work-life through greater flexibility. The majority think that this is not yet a priority goal for the company .
Flexibility thanks to data
Companies can increase the efficiency of their employees using data . 76% of Italian employees keep track of their working hours and 46% use recording systems.Italy ranks sixth in Europe in terms of working time recording, preceded by Norway, Spain, Germany, Sweden and Finland. Time recording improves work-life balance for 47% of employees in Italy.
Companies should use data analytics to improve workforce planning and increase flexibility for employees . Only 40% of Italian employees have flexible working hours and 59% believe that companies do not have the main objective of improving the balance between work and private life.
In Europe, one in three companies invest in Employee Self-Service (ESS) applications that allow employees to enter and manage their own data for workforce planning. In Italy, however, only 14% of companies use these applications, even if 66% believe HR reporting and data analytics are important.
The Nordic regions (30%) and Ireland (29%) are leaders in use of these tools. The investment in these applications makes employees responsible for controlling their own working hours, freeing the HR department from the manual processing of attendance and hours worked.
Bruce Fecheyr-Lippens, Chief People Officer of SD Worx
Bruce Fecheyr-Lippens, Chief People Officer of SD Worx, commented: “We see a growing number of companies making conscious decisions to make more consistent and intelligent use of data. By adopting a holistic approach that focuses on both quantitative (on capability) and qualitative (on employee skills and talent) data, companies can focus more on perfect matching between talent, assignments and available time”.