What does flexwork mean?

The aim of flexwork or flexworking is to achieve a better work-life balance and to cater to the needs of employees.

This can be achieved through various approaches, such as working from home, flexitime, part-time work, job sharing or trust-based working hours. These concepts aim to increase employee satisfaction and productivity by giving them more control over their working day.

Flexible working time models

Flexible working time models do not prescribe rigid working hours. Flexible working time models include: 

• Flexitime
• Weekly, monthly, annual or lifetime working hours: here, working hours are settled per week, month, year or over the entire working life. Employees distribute their work independently over the working days depending on the workload.
• Trust-based working hours: Employees have tasks to complete, but no, or only partial, working hours are specified and recorded.
• Such working time models are sometimes supplemented by block times. In such cases, we speak of partially flexible working time models. They give employees freedom at off-peak times.

Flexible work locations

Flexible are all work locations outside the regular workplace in a company or organisation. These include

• Home office
• Coworking spaces
• Temporary workplaces
• Public transport
• Cafés, restaurants, hotels
• Virtual space

It is very important to specify exactly which locations are flexible.

Flexible working models

Flexible working models differ from the ‘permanent full-time job with a fixed salary’ model. These include

• Part-time work
• Multiple employment: a person works in more than one job.
• Temporary work
• Gig working / platform work: Work is assigned via an internet platform, often using an algorithm. The best-known example is Uber taxis.
• Job sharing: Two people share a job and coordinate the tasks and responsibilities between them.
• (Partial) self-employment / freelancing
• Work on demand: Employees are called in when there is enough work to do.
• Unlimited holidays: Employees decide for themselves how many days holiday they take and when. The number is not limited, but the work must of course be done.

(This article was revised and first published on 16.2.2023)