Merck conducted a global survey among its employees and learned some important insights about the importance of flexible work arrangements as a tool to drive employee engagement and higher levels of productivity and retention.

Key Findings

• Employees who were satisfied with their flexible work arrangements were 29 percent more engaged than those who did not have such arrangements.
• Flexible work arrangements play an important role in retention. The expected turnover rate for employees who did not have the flexibility they needed was more than twice the rate of those who did have such flexibility.
• Access to occasional flexibility had a positive impact on employee satisfaction. This feature was rated as "very important" to 49 percent of employees in the global survey.
• A large majority of managers of flexibility users saw a positive impact on productivity, morale and employee satisfaction.
• Employees using flexible work arrangements were far less likely to leave the company and much more likely to recommend the company as a good place to work.