Why Work Needs a Redesign

Over the past few years, "flexibility" has become a buzzword in conversations about sustainable work. While flexible work arrangements have undoubtedly brought improvements, many organizations have fallen into the “Flexibility Trap”—treating flexibility as a quick fix rather than an opportunity to rethink how work is structured.

This second installment in our series on sustainable work practices explores that flexibility itself isn’t the issue but rather that unlocking its full potential depends on how it is integrated into the broader work ecosystem.

The Progress We’ve Made with Flexibility

While flexibility is not a cure-all, it has undoubtedly made work better in many ways. Organizations that have embraced remote and hybrid models have seen tangible benefits for the employees and employers alike.

1. Improved Employee Satisfaction - Flexibility is a major contributor to job satisfaction, which in turn reduces turnover and absenteeism. Recent research found that resignations decreased by 33% among employees who transitioned from full-time office work to a hybrid schedule (Stanford, 2024).

2. Enhanced Productivity - Flexible work arrangements can significantly boost productivity. According to Gartner research, employees with flexible work options reported being 43% more productive than when working exclusively in the office.

3. Expanded Talent Pools - Remote work allows companies to hire beyond geographic limitations, accessing a broader range of talent. Organizations that embrace flexible work tap into broader and more skilled talent pools, improving diversity of thought and, as a result, innovation.

While these benefits are clear, flexibility alone will not resolve deeper workplace challenges - many employees still feel disconnected, stressed, and uncertain about their careers.  The problem isn’t flexibility itself but rather how many organizations have implemented it. Instead of redesigning work to support flexibility, they have simply layered it onto outdated structures, inadvertently creating new challenges.

Why Flexibility Isn’t a Standalone Solution

While flexibility has the potential to empower employees, it cannot be treated as a standalone policy. When introduced without structure, leadership support, or clear expectations, flexibility can unintentionally shift the burden onto employees, creating greater uncertainty rather than empowerment. Some common pitfalls of unstructured flexibility include:

1. Poor Work-Life Balance - Without guardrails, flexible work can lead to an “always on” culture rather than true work-life balance. As we explored in our previous blog on wellbeing, when flexibility is left undefined, employees may feel pressure to be constantly available—leading to stress rather than relief. 

2. Lack of Progression or Support - Autonomy is valuable, but without direction and support, it can lead to confusion. Employees in highly flexible workplaces experience 1.5 times more role ambiguity than those in structured settings (Sustainability, 2023). Employees shouldn’t have to navigate flexibility alone—leaders must actively guide, support, and clarify expectations.

3. Flexibility Stigma - Unstructured flexibility can weaken collaboration, creating silos that limit knowledge-sharing and creativity. It can also give rise to “flexibility stigma”, where employees feel penalized for using flexible options, fearing negative career consequences (Springer, 2018). Without a cultural shift that normalizes flexibility, these issues will persist.

When companies don’t structure flexibility well, employees bear the burden of figuring out when they should be online, how to stay visible for promotions and how to separate work from life when there are no clear boundaries. It is clear that flexibility alone has its benefits for both employers and employees but when it’s part of a broader work redesign it could be transformational.

Flexibility as Part of a The Redesign of Work

The takeaway is not that flexibility has failed—but that it’s only part of the solution. For work to be truly sustainable, organizations must integrate flexibility into a larger work redesign strategy that balances autonomy with structure, freedom with clarity, and individual choice with organizational cohesion. To do this, organizations should focus on:

• Intentionality – Flexibility should be a deliberate part of the company’s work design, not just an afterthought.

• Redefining Productivity – Move beyond outdated productivity metrics (see Blog 1 for more details).

• Structured Collaboration – Ensure employees remain connected and have access to knowledge-sharing.

• Balancing Autonomy with Predictability – Provide freedom within a clear framework to avoid ambiguity.

The first step is understanding what employees actually need to work sustainably. This requires a deliberate, data-driven approach to redesigning work:

1. Identifying the issue - Before implementing any changes, organizations must first understand the core challenges they are trying to address. Many assume that flexibility is what employees need but, as we've seen, unstructured flexibility can create just as many issues as it aims to resolve. Leaders need to take a step back and assess whether the root of these challenges stems from outdated structures, unclear expectations, a lack of employee support or something else entirely. Without this broad perspective, any flexibility initiative risks being a temporary fix rather than a sustainable solution.

2. Work out how flexibility fits - Flexibility should be designed to support—not replace—broader workplace strategies. Companies need to determine how flexible work arrangements contribute to solving the issues they’ve identified. The key is balancing individual preferences with broader organizational goals. This requires integrating people analytics across HR functions—from recruitment pipelines to leadership development—to understand where flexibility enhances sustainable work practices rather than creating new inefficiencies.

3. Building the guardrails - Leadership must play an active role in modeling and reinforcing these structures to prevent flexibility from becoming a source of confusion or inefficiency. This means setting expectations around availability, communication norms, performance measurement, and leadership accountability. By helping employees establish a sustainable work rhythm that suits them, organizations can develop a sustainability strategy that integrates flexibility rather than depending on it.

The goal is not to abandon flexibility, but to enhance it—making it a core part of how work is designed, rather than a standalone fix. People analytics tools, like Parita’s, enable organizations to move beyond surface-level solutions to tackle the root causes of workplace unsustainability. As the future of work continues to evolve, companies must go beyond debating remote vs. in-office work and start building work environments that truly support employees in the long run.