Flow Communications has joined the likes of GitHub, Twitter, Google and Facebook – announcing that staff may choose where they want to work from, with immediate effect.
The company, which has been in business for 15 years and has a staff complement of about 60 people, will no longer expect its employees to be physically present at an office. Instead, Flow staff will work from wherever it makes most sense.
“Flow has always been innovative and flexible,” says Tara Turkington, CEO of Flow Communications. “Now, our flexibility is at another level. We’re excited to chart this path, along with our amazing team.
“The forced work-from-home arrangement during Covid-19 made us realise that teams who choose when and where they work create more innovative work and offer even better and more responsive client service.
We’re grateful to be among those South Africans for whom working remotely has proven to be not just a necessity, but an advantage. At Flow, we’re embracing this opportunity to offer our staff what is, after all, widely predicted to be the work experience of the future for knowledge workers.”
And the advantages to clients? They are myriad:
- Our teams are more focused and available than ever
- We are able to work with more clients in more countries
- Flow has a reduced carbon footprint
- It’s easier than ever to have a quick meeting with us
- Access to a wider range of staff
- Teams are more integrated
- Teams are more innovative
- We are able to spend more time than ever on client work (lots of time spent in traffic saved!)
- Our agility, flexibility and responsiveness are all improved
For Flow Communications, remote working does not equate to working from home – it’s a choice, not a necessity, and enables teams to embrace opportunities that include:
- Being able to work from anywhere in the world
- Reduced travel costs and eliminating the frustration that comes from commuting to and from work
- More family time
- Better health
- More accountability and productivity, and more opportunities for people to shine
- Less micromanagement
- A tighter-knit culture, including integrating all our offices into one big online Flow family
- The opportunity to learn new skills and embrace learning opportunities
- Being responsible for our own working times, productivity and office space
- Customising the work environment to suit individual needs
- Less hierarchy, the democratisation of the workspace and making people more accessible
- Remuneration based on productivity rather than presenteeism
“It’s our experience that this new way of working is not at all remote, but rather closer, more accessible, more flexible and more agile – retaining our unique Flow culture while offering more,” says Tiffany Turkington-Palmer, Flow’s managing director.
“We have all the tools at our disposal that have enabled us to make this transition smoothly, including our bespoke TimeSponge time-tracking system, developed in-house by our developers and designed to suit our clients’ unique needs.
We’re also embracing the opportunity to develop an even closer Flow culture, with morning check-in meetings that have already become a daily highlight and include a “culture club”, a joke of the day, and the opportunity for staff to share insights with their colleagues.
“All in all,” says Turkington-Palmer, “we wonder why we didn’t do this sooner. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead, and are reminded of the old adage that there is no challenge that does not represent an opportunity.”
About Flow Communications
Flow Communications (Pty) Ltd is one of South Africa’s leading independent marketing and communications agencies. As a Qualifying Small Enterprise, Flow Communications has a level 2 B-BBEE rating. We have a 28% black shareholding and the company is 67% women-owned.
At Flow we call ourselves an integrated communications provider because we tackle your communications challenges with a full suite of services, including brand, print, digital, social media, public relations, and media and communications training services. We have won more than 50 awards for our work, many of these in the area of digital and social media. We are a young, innovative company and we strive to deliver cutting-edge solutions.
Flow is a certified member of WEConnect International, a global association of majority women-owned businesses. We are also a member of thenetworkone, the world’s largest and fastest-growing network of respected independent creative, media, public relations and marketing agencies (we were only the third South African agency invited to join).
