Being a Flexible Workplace — or Expecting Flexibility From Employees?

We need someone who is flexible to work during weekends because we provide a flexible and positive working environment here. We leave the office sharp at 5pm to encourage people to spend time at home as well.

I heard this at a previous workplace, and the sentence sat strangely with me.

Not because working on weekends is inherently wrong. There are industries, programmes and roles where weekend work is simply part of the job.

What stayed with me was the use of the word “flexible.”

It made me wonder: When organisations say they offer flexibility, are they actually being flexible — or are they expecting flexibility from their employees?

Those are two very different things.

## Flexibility should work both ways

Malaysia’s conversation around work is changing.

We are talking more about flexible working arrangements, work-from-home options, commuting time, traffic congestion, rising living costs and the reality that employees have responsibilities outside their jobs.

And I think this is a good conversation to have.

But somewhere along the way, I have also noticed that flexibility can become a very convenient word.

An organisation may expect employees to sacrifice weekends when programmes require it, stay beyond their usual hours when something urgent comes up, adjust their personal schedules for organisational needs, or be available outside conventional working hours.

Yet the same workplace may have a very fixed clock-in window.

A very fixed lunch hour.

Difficulty obtaining emergency leave.

And even medical leave can sometimes be spoken about as though an employee is requesting permission to be unwell.

That contradiction has been difficult for me to digest.

Because if flexibility only appears when the organisation needs something from the employee, can we really call the workplace flexible?

## Leaving at 5pm is not necessarily flexibility

I also think we sometimes confuse healthy boundaries with workplace flexibility.

Allowing employees to leave when their working hours end is a good practice. Encouraging people to spend time with their families is wonderful.

But leaving at 5pm when work ends at 5pm is not, by itself, flexibility.

Flexibility is tested when life does not fit neatly into the company’s schedule.

What happens when an employee has an emergency in the morning?

What happens when someone needs to adjust their hours for an important personal responsibility?

What happens when an employee who has worked over the weekend needs some breathing room during the week?

What happens when someone asks for an arrangement that is slightly inconvenient for the organisation?

That is where workplace flexibility becomes visible.

## Flexibility is reciprocity, not unlimited availability

To me, a genuinely flexible workplace does not mean employees can work whenever they want or that organisations should have no structure.

Structure matters. Accountability matters. Deadlines matter.

But flexibility should involve trust, communication and reciprocity.

If I am expected to understand that the organisation sometimes needs me on a Saturday, I should also feel that the organisation will try to understand when life occasionally needs me on a Tuesday morning.

If employees are expected to accommodate the organisation during exceptional circumstances, there should be some willingness for the organisation to accommodate employees during theirs.

Otherwise, what we are describing is not really flexibility.

We are describing employee availability.

And I think organisations should be careful not to confuse the two.

A flexible workplace is not one where employees are willing to bend whenever the organisation requires it.

It is one where both the organisation and its people are willing to bend when reasonable circumstances require it — without breaking trust, boundaries or accountability.

Perhaps the question organisations should be asking is not:

“Are our employees flexible enough for us?”

But:

“When we ask our employees for flexibility, how willing are we to offer the same in return?”