Flexible working: The Dutch may have the answer but is there enough trust?

The accelerated clamour for more flexible working practices (initially driven partly out of COVID lock-down necessity and partly by way of cost-cutting opportunity) requires us to examine the basic tenets of our work contract to duly consider (and presumably seek to 'legitimise') possible change. However, a frank analysis can expose a myriad of underlying features and prejudices in our working practices that are so deeply ingrained that they are simply accepted without question. 

For instance, a person whom is not omnipresent in an office or whom takes all of their prescribed 'leave' may be automatically identified as lacking sufficient commitment. Someone whom has little social or human interaction with colleagues may be considered aloof and not a team player. Another, whom embraces opportunities for publicity, may be seen as a shameless self-publicist. 

The impact and acceptability (or not) of such behaviours may turn on nuance, including the culture and requirements of the working environment in question, and the trust in and values of its constituent individuals. What sort of a workplace do you need and want to create? Like most things in life, coherence is required when grappling with such potentially thorny issues.         

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