Working towards achievements and not the clock, could it work in your office?

Finding and keeping the best people to work for you is not always about money. Instead of paying people more money how about paying them in more free time?

In offices all over the country people are clocking in and out at the same time every day, but is this the most efficient way to do things? What if you only expected your teams to stay as long as necessary to get the job done? Early evidence suggests this leads to staff that are happier, work faster and quality of work actually improves.

Before declaring staff free to leave when they feel they are done for the day, or maybe even the week make sure the right conditions are in place.

Is it feasible for staff to leave early some days and expect them to stay late on others? If you're requiring people to serve customers it's not going to work. If you have team members who need to leave by a set time each day for caring or other commitments, set hours may work best for them.

Do you have clear reasonable work plans for people? This is a key tool for managing this type of working arrangement. It should clearly show who is responsible for what and when it needs to be done by.

A strong work ethic across the whole team. This approach whilst freeing people to potentially more free time also holds them to account.  This is especially the case when people are working on tasks in teams.

For staff, this can give them time to do whatever it is that inspires them outside the office. For many of us what pays the bills isn’t always what inspires. If you are able to give staff the time to do this you can rest assured you are moving towards employer of choice status.

For you, there are also a few upsides you’re likely to see. Less time spent on social media, a greater focus on getting things done, no more endless meetings, better planning and best of all you may find yourself hitting deadlines early.