True flexibility isn't just about a flexible work arrangement policy or two. It's about a whole new way of understanding—and approaching—employees and the work they do. While plenty of smart companies are beginning to make their way toward this ideal, no one has gotten there yet. Nonetheless, having an idea what a truly flexible company would look like can help you make sound judgments about how flexible the real-world companies you encounter really are.

In a truly flexible organization…Flexibility RULES:

• Quite literally: flexibility is the rule, rather than the exception.
• It's applied broadly, to employees at all levels, and in a wide variety of forms.
• Everyone agrees that flexibility is not just good for employees, it's good for business.
• Leaders are truly committed to making it work—in part, because they are rewarded for doing so.
• People working flexibly have equal access to advancement, status, and good quality assignments. Their work is an integral part of the business.
• The fact that employees have lives outside of work is openly recognized and respected. Employees know it's ok to set boundaries on their work time or accessibility, as long as they get the job done.
• All those messages that come from corporate—the ones about values and mission and vision—talk about flexibility, too.
• Flexibility is embedded everywhere—it's built into performance management programs, leadership training programs, career development programs, health and wellness initiatives—it's everywhere.

Flexibility is seen as a way to ATTRACT strong employees, and to KEEP them.

• Policies are designed to make it easy to hire—and keep—people who want to work flexibly.
• Recruiters actually seek out people who want greater flexibility.
• When employees are stressed or unhappy, are seeking a change in their career, have big changes in their personal lives or want to pursue something time-consuming outside of work—in other words, at times when they might consider quitting—they are encouraged instead to see how they can change their way of working to make it work.

Flexibility is part of a strong employment BRAND.

• It's an important part of the company's "self-image."
• It's also a key to getting public recognition.

Flexibility is seen as an aspect of DIVERSITY.

• It's used to knock down any barriers to full inclusion.
• People understand that without flexibility, true diversity is impossible to attain.

OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS are aligned with flexibility.

• All the company's systems, from technology to business processes to reporting systems, are designed to encourage and support flexibility and to eliminate barriers to its success.

The results of all this flexibility are MEASURED.

• The company keeps track of who uses what kinds of flexibility, how they feel about it and how it affects their work.
• The company measures its progress in comparison with its peers to ensure that it keeps moving forward.
• It also tracks the overall impact of the flexible aspects of its culture on its performance as a business.