Too many companies are standing in the way of a practice that will open the doors to a more motivated and loyal workforce, higher productivity, increased work-life balance and greater wellbeing? When asked why, the primary reason given by companies is 'a lack of trust'; that employees will be doing something else instead of working. If you are one of those companies then you don't have a flexible-working problem, you have a management problem!

It's hard to scroll through social media these days without coming across posts, articles, videos and podcasts about wellbeing; in particular debates around flexible working including the 4-day week. Just like early pushes around gender equality, it is those wanting flexible working that are shouting loudest supported by advocates like Anna Whitehouse (a.k.a. Mutha Pukka) who are standing-up for the cause. This is a great start but we mustn't forget who is really standing in the way of flexible working; the managers within companies that currently have the choice to allow it and don't. Despite reports of increased productivity, not enough companies are jumping on the bandwagon. Why?

When you talk to most managers about why they are uncomfortable with flexible-working they generally say that they can't trust their people; they can't be sure whether people are really working or instead sitting watching television or doing housework. But why do you care whether they are working or not? Surely you should only care about whether they are achieving their goals, targets or objectives (or whatever you choose to call them).

When I confront managers with this statement, they look at me a little confused. Not because they don't understand, but because most of their people don't have well defined targets. Without those, it's almost impossible for any manager to assess how their people are getting on with achieving them. Of course they have a 'trust issue'! The next stop for such managers is the standard safe-haven; managing people based on the number of hours they work and wanting to be able to see them as they do it; Goodbye flexible hours and goodbye remote working.

If you reject a flexible-working request due to trust then you ARE the problem.

If you are one of the managers who are sceptical of flexible-working, ask yourself; When you put your car into a garage for it's annual service, do you stand there and watch the mechanic to see how many hours they spend working on your car and and where they spend that time? Of course you don't. All you're concerned with is that your car no longer as a little light telling you that a service is required and that you have a stamp in your service book. You are only interested in the OUTCOME.

Now ask yourself; if one of your people had clearly defined OUTCOMES that they had to achieve and you were 100% SURE they were on track to achieve them, would you really care where they did their work or what hours they worked as long as they achieve them? If your answer is yes, then I would suggest you consider whether you really are 'management material'.

Who's job is it to make sure that your employees have clearly defined targets or objectives? If you EVER reject a flexible-working request because of 'trust' then you've actually got a wider management issue; The problem is YOU.

Having clearly articulated targets that are regularly monitored is the essence of managing. Every single person that works for you, whether they work flexibly or not, should have clear targets and part of your job is to check that all is well and your people are on track to deliver them. Once you have this, you will have removed they only serious barrier to implementing flexible working.