While a flexible work schedule allows employees to manage their workload more efficiently, it can increase the same for the managers. They may have to greatly increase their working hours to be available for their team members, or they may even find themselves completing tasks that were not their responsibility.

Hence, managers with teams that follow flexible schedules or hybrid work cultures, or work from home can find themselves constantly stressed or overwhelmed. However, the following tips can help:

Work on Fixed Schedule

A flexible schedule is an employee benefit that all employees must be able to enjoy equally, despite their position in the company. Therefore, if every employee picks a schedule they prefer, so should the manager. Like other employees and team members, managers must only work on their preferred schedule.

In other words, managers should not force themselves to work at times they didn’t sign up for. Moreover, managers should not feel forced to work more than their designated hours to be present for their team members.

Find Ways to Manage When Absent

Managers must stop feeling guilty for being absent if their team members choose to work on a different schedule. Instead, they should find ways to maintain communication and collaboration with the team members that don’t require anyone to put in extra hours.

A simple email update at the end of each day or notes along with each day’s assigned or completed tasks can help. Managers can also utilize team management software to allot designated time for tasks or set reminders for their team members.

Rethink Meetings

Meetings may be one of the most dreadful parts of the corporate culture. While meetings between team members with flexible schedules may be more comfortable when sitting on the couch in pajamas, they can feel as pointless as in conference rooms.

But managers with teams that follow flexible schedules can utilize meetings as communication sessions instead of project updates. Team members working from home can especially feel secluded from others. But meetings used for virtual team-building activities can bring the team together, even if they don’t work together.

Measure Performances through Data

Remote employees or team members that don’t often see managers at work can develop a communication barrier. This barrier can appear stronger if these employees see managers communicating freely with team members who work from the office.

During performance analysis or at the time of increments or promotions, this difference in communication level can seem more significant than it is. However, managers can ensure that the communication level of in-office workers does not compensate for their performance. Utilizing performance data and results to measure employee performance and accountability can greatly help emphasize this point.

Customize Work Policies

One set of policies cannot apply to employees working in-office and employees working from home. Managers and employers can develop different sets of policies according to the varied requirements of work from home, flexible schedule, hybrid work routine, and full-time in-office work. While the sets of policies can differ widely, the purpose and goals of these should be the same.

Finally, maintaining the same quality or standard of work should be the primary goal of any manager with a team that works on flexible schedules.