Voices in Leadership • 6 MIN READ
Flexibility Is Now a Baseline Expectation, Not a Premium Benefit
MAR 25, 2026
Organisations that still treat flexible working as a special perk are losing candidates and employees to those that treat it as standard. One CPO explains the mindset shift required.
How the market has moved
Five years ago, a flexible working policy was a differentiator. Today it is a baseline expectation for the majority of knowledge workers. The organisations that recognise this have redesigned their working models around flexibility by default: the question is no longer 'can I work flexibly?' but 'what does flexible look like for this particular role?' The organisations that have not recognised this are presenting flexibility as something that must be applied for and approved, which signals a fundamentally different cultural posture towards trust and autonomy.
The business case beyond wellbeing
The business case for genuine flexibility extends beyond employee wellbeing, though that alone would be sufficient. Flexible working expands the talent pool to include parents returning from parental leave, carers, people with disabilities, and candidates who live outside commutable distance. It reduces voluntary turnover among people who value the arrangement. And it has no measurable negative effect on productivity for roles where flexibility is feasible, which is most roles in most knowledge-work organisations. The resistance to flexibility is rarely evidence-based; it is usually culture-based.
