Entrepreneurs take lead in offering best
work-life options 

(Article originally published by WFC Resources, January 2006, as a Guest Column written by Laurie Young, Principle and co-founder of Flexible Resources, Inc.)

Small business owners say flexible professionals are their ‘secret weapon.’

Just prior to Hurricane Katrina, many entrepreneurs were reporting 2005 was shaping up to be a banner year, their client rosters growing in part because many big businesses needed to augment their downsized staffs with outside marketing, public relations, human resources, financial services, project management, brand management, and more.

But as we have seen, a cataclysmic event can change the economic outlook virtually overnight. While many entrepreneurs continue to thrive, some are scrambling.

But the ones who are best equipped to weather bad news and thrive in good times are the growing number of small business owners who hire flexible professionals, what we sometimes refer to as “MBA Moms” − a workforce of moms who are eager to put their advanced degrees and years of in-depth expertise to work – on a part-time and flexible basis. Of course, not all of this highly talented, motivated and productive workforce is either a mom or possesses an MBA. But all have a strong desire to succeed in a flexible situation and are highly motivated to make it work, making them loyal and deeply committed employees.

When business is good, the small business owner needs to have the right people in place to serve clients while they continue to focus on growing the business. But inevitably business will go through cycles, sometimes as the result of an unforeseen global or domestic event. When that happens, the small business that survives is the one that has a loyal and productive staff already in place to serve existing clients, while overhead costs remain low due to flexible scheduling. Flexible professionals are the only ones who can give the small business owner this level of talent and experience on a budget.

In the past five years, in particular since Sept. 11, we have seen a remarkable trend; more and more small businesses are hiring professionals on a flexible and part-time basis as more and more large companies are reverting to their old ways, and sticking with a full-time workforce.

Here's one reason for this dramatic turn-around. In the post-Sept. 11 economy, big businesses were looking to cut payroll. Reducing their part-time workforce was the fastest and the least expensive way to reduce headcount. Thus, many companies lost all or nearly all of their flexible employees, who fell under the category of ‘part-time.’

Family friendly perks but no flexibility

While many big companies still offer ‘family-friendly’ perks like on-site childcare, maternity leave and more, they have greatly reduced what is perhaps the most important factor to a woman deciding to return to the workplace after having children – the need for a less-than-fulltime arrangement.

Now, for the first time in our 16 years in business, we are seeing the small business owner take the lead in flexibility, not because they have suddenly awakened to this new HR philosophy, but because it makes the most economic sense.

Perhaps nothing is more effective and cost-efficient for the small business owner than a staff of part-time professionals who possess good judgment, who offer great depth and breadth of experience, who can hit the ground running, require no training, and can serve clients at the highest levels. This gives the entrepreneur the freedom to do what he must – grow the business − knowing his ‘lean and mean’ staff is giving him the highest level of productivity and talent at a cost well within budget.

Flexible Resources has pioneered flexible work arrangements at the professional level for more than 16 years and in fact created a new definition of flexible: it means anything outside the traditional 9-to-5- arrangement and can involve permanent part-time arrangements, telecommuting, job-sharing and more. Telecommuting in fact is a huge factor for a small business owner who can have a relatively large staff of talented people at his disposal without having to incur the overhead of leasing more office space. Our technology makes it possible for ‘virtual’ employees to serve clients needs 24/7 anytime, anywhere.

We recently placed a high-level account executive with a small ad agency in New York City, near Ground Zero; PR agencies are quick to hire top media specialists who need only have the right contacts to give clients what they need. Our other small business clients include financial advisors, architectural firms, health care companies, communications businesses, marketing firms − all are currently enjoying the enormous benefits of a part-time professional staff.

Here are some remarkable statistics we recently compiled that are turning the flexible workplace on its head:

In 2000:

• 56 % of all Flexible Resources part-time placements were with small companies;
• 77 % of all big-companies placements were part-time.

In 2004; that trend is reversed:

• 64% of all our part-time (flexible) placements last year were with small companies;
• 34 % of all our part-time placements were with large companies;

At the same time, the majority of fulltime placements were with large companies in 2004:

• 76% of all our fulltime placements in 2004 were with big companies
• 23% were with small companies.

For the first three-quarters of 2005, that trend is continuing:

• 66% of all our small-company placements were part-time;
• While the majority of our placements in 2005 so far have been with large companies, slightly more than half of them – 56% are full-time!

The result is that much of the talent seeking flexibility is gravitating to the small business realm. Certainly big businesses can offer a wider array of benefits and opportunities for promotion. But for the professional who puts work-life balance at the top of their list, look to small businesses for the best opportunities

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Flexible Resources, Inc. is a staffing and consulting firm located in Connecticut, New Jersey and Chicago, that specializes in creating flexible work arrangements at the professional level. The company was founded in 1989 by Laurie Young and her partner Nadine Mockler in response to the growing number of educated women who were seeking ways to balance career and family. Ms. Young is a graduate of Tufts University and holds a masters degree from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. She is the mother of two daughters and a son. She and her partner are authors of "The End of Work as We Know It."