We have two drivers who work with us. One of them, named Vaibhav, drives us to our offices and outstation. The other one, who was a recent hire named Abhijeet, picks and drops the kids to school since the school is a little far from house.

Last week there was a death in Abhijeet’s family. He had to go to his village to attend the unfortunate event. He promised to return same night so that kids schedule doesn’t get disturbed.

Come next morning, and he didn’t show up! Instead, our phones rang, and he informed us that he is still in village! Appalled as we were, yet kids had to go to school as it was their cooking day. They wouldn’t miss it for anything at all. To top it, their Granny was going to volunteer to help them in their class!

All of us had our morning workouts scheduled after kids went to school. Now what since Abhijeet wasn’t going to come, probably one of us had to sacrifice. One of the immediate options was to call the other driver Vaibhav and request him to come early to drop kids.

He said that he too was dropping his kids and might get late. I asked him to check if he could drop his kids and come immediately. After discussing at his home, he called back to say that he will come over and drop Anay and Aavya to school. And hence our workouts continued as planned before.

That’s when I realized that one of the most important qualities that we must look for in an employee is – FLEXIBILITY!

Yes, other things are important like – experience, education, family background, skills, connections, analytical skills, creativity, resourcefulness, and so much more. But we must also try to understand how flexible they are. Not everything in business/ profession goes as planned. There are always some or the other surprise. In such situations, such hires who are flexible are the most helpful ones. They will pull you out of the situation. They will stand by you – shoulder to shoulder.

As employers, what kind of flexibility should we look at?

• If you have deadlines, are they willing to stretch HAPPILY/ WILLINGLY?
• In a situation where things aren’t working out in routine way, can they think out of the box to find a solution?
• Can they step out of their comfort zones, when you need help?
• If there is a change, we expect out of them for the better of the organization, are they willing to accept? Or are they rigid about an upgrade?
• Do they have support in their family? For, if you need them to stretch, unless they have backups at home, they won’t be able to help you
• When you have to ask for any extra work, how do you feel – comfortable or uncomfortable?

On the other side, as employers, we need to understand that sometimes we might have to be flexible for them too. If they are going out of the way for us, we should extend our support to them too. Flexibility cannot be one-way traffic. We need to accommodate their requests too.

Ever since this incident with Abhijeet, I have stumbled upon this gem about flexibility as a criterion during a hire. Personally, henceforth I am going to put FLEXIBILITY as the most important benchmarks over everything else while I choose my employees. Those who are already with me and are flexible will get elevated faster than those who are rigid. All new hires will have to face this flexibility test before walking into my organization.

What is your take on this thought? Would you put FLEXIBILITY as top priority over everything else?

#business #employer #employee #flexibility