Relaxed Rules Increase Aspirations in MBA Careers: MBA News

A survey published this week has revealed that MBAs thrive when offered flexible working arrangements (FWAs), which in turn increases aspirations during one's MBA career.

Catalyst, a non-profit organisation that aims to expand opportunities for women and business, surveyed 726 graduates from top business schools around the world about their MBA careers. The results show that not only have flexible working arrangements become the norm at most organizations, but that for those that do implement them, high potential employees, in particular MBAs, have greater internal career aspirations.

"90% of high potentials who had access to FWAs in their workplaces reported aspiring to senior executive/CEO level versus 77% who worked at a firm without such programs," the report says.

The survey asked the MBA graduates which types of flexible working arrangements offered during their MBA careers that they made use of:

•    Flexible arrival and departure - 64%
•    Telecommuting - 32%
•    Flex time - 31%
•    Compressed work week - 7%
•    Reduced work/part time - 3%
•    Job share - 1%

Women Thrive More with FWAs in Their MBA Careers

However, when analysed between the sexes, though both genders appreciated flexible working arrangements, women were particularly receptive to them during, increasing their MBA career potential within an organization.

"Among women, the impact differential between workplaces with and without FWAs was nearly a 30% drop," says the report. "83% of women with access to FWAs aspired to the C-Suite level vs. just 54% of women without FWA access."

The results provide striking contrast to recent theories and reports that global companies have been reducing access to their flexible working arrangements, with Yahoo! and the USA's Best Buy hitting headlines for doing so.

"The bottom line is that face time doesn't lead to top performance outcomes. Employers and managers need to learn to trust their employees to get the job done and not be so concerned about when and where the work is completed as long as deadlines are met."