How Flexible Work Models Support Business Growth

What's the relationship between company flexibility and revenue growth? For the first time we have an answer. The hottest debate on remote work is about productivity. Some CEOs have been adamant that remote workers aren't productive. Employees feel just as strongly that the opposite is true. Through a Flex Index <> Boston Consulting Group (BCG) collaboration, we analyzed the 3 year revenue growth of 554 public companies between 2020 and 2022. To account for industry differences in high- and low-growth sectors, we then normalized each company's growth rate based on its industry growth rate. What did we find? Companies that are Fully Flexible -- meaning they do not require time in office -- outperformed their peers by 16 percentage points in revenue growth between 2020-2022. Companies that are Structured Hybrid -- meaning they require some time in office, but not full time -- outperformed their Full Time In Office peers by 2x. Why does this matter? Executive teams and board rooms are regularly discussing flexible work policies. Now a CFO can go to a CEO or Board and say: (1) There is no data that public companies offering work location flexibility underperform. In fact, there is data that public companies offering work location flexibility are growing revenue faster than those that do not. (2) Offering work location flexibility enables us to attract more candidates, retain more employees, and drive higher employee engagement. (3) Offering work location flexibility also saves us cost on real estate footprint. That's a powerful argument, and one that will drive more and more companies to adopt work location flexibility over time. Link to the full research: https://lnkd.in/ech_NUG2. And a big thank you to Debbie Lovich, Rosie Sargeant, and the BCG team that we collaborated with on the analysis! #futureofwork #flexibleworking #remotework

✨ RTO flexibility isn’t just about employee preference—it’s about performance. At Cushman & Wakefield, our Experience per Square Foot™ research shows just how powerful choice can be: 🙂 #WorkplaceExperience scores jump +36 percentage points with location choice and +30pp with schedule choice. 🙌🏾 Employees reporting they’re doing their best work rise +42pp with location choice and +32pp with schedule choice. 👌🏼 #Wellbeing increases +32pp with location choice and +28pp with schedule choice. And the business case is just as strong. Brian Elliott and Work Forward just released the Q3 2025 Flex Report. They reported where the Flex Index and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) analyzed 493 public companies from 2019–2024 and found that flexible companies outperform #mandate-driven peers. 📈 Fully Flexible firms grew revenues 1.7x faster. 📊 Even after adjusting for industry and size, growth rates were 34% higher. The evidence is clear: #flexibility directly improves both #EmployeeExperience and #BusinessPerformance. #FutureOfWork #RTO #WorkplaceStrategy #Leadership

Every few months, we see the same headlines: “Remote work is dead.” The data tells a different story.   The latest report from Flex Index by Brian Elliott cuts through the headlines about CEOs demanding full-time office returns to reveal what's actually happening. Some key findings👇   1️⃣ Flexibility is still the norm: Only 34% require full-time office presence – a 2-point increase from Q1 of 2024, and half that change has been driven by federal and state government agencies.   2️⃣ Flexible firms drive faster growth: Joint BCG research shows that Fully Flexible companies grew revenues 1.7x faster than mandate-driven firms from 2019–2024. Even adjusting for industry and size, the growth advantage remains: growth rates 1.3X above peer companies.   3️⃣ The mandate vs compliance gap persists: average number of days required in-office increased 12% over the past year, while office attendance grew 1-3%. Will the gap close as the job market weakens?   4️⃣ Smaller firms remain far more flexible: 67% of companies under 500 employees are Fully Flexible, covering half the US workforce. Even excluding tech firms, smaller employers offer dramatically more flexibility than large enterprises.   So here’s the question leaders should be asking: 🤔 Are your policies helping you compete for talent and growth, or putting your company at a disadvantage?   Full report in the comments below for anyone who wants to dig deeper👇

I recently spoke with Hailey Mensik of WorkLife News about a new report from Scoop and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) that found #flexible companies outperform those with more restrictive work policies. One compelling stat shows 20% revenue growth from 2020-2022 at companies without in-office requirements compared to just 5% at those companies with hybrid or fully in-person arrangements.     We’re not surprised that companies that have embraced #flexiblework models are outperforming those who have not. As I said in the article, “This research is dollars and cents data,” and it reflects and validates what we’ve been finding for the past ten years in our research: flexibility drives business outcomes.   Like our research, the Scoop/BCG data points to the increasing need to bring leaders and employees together to reimagine how, when, and where we work. Addressing the current divide is key to moving forward in a way that benefits both the business AND its people:   “There is a gap between the employees working flexibly that did translate into operational growth, and the way leaders are seeing flexibility, that is going to stand in the way of leaders being able to prepare their organizations to be future ready.”     #remotework #hybridwork #returntowork #returntooffice #talentretention #employeeengagement #workflex #flexiblework #flexibleworkplaces #workplaceflexibility #highperformanceflexibiity #futureofwork #reimaginework https://lnkd.in/gQSn8hkN