Flexibility wasn’t something hiring managers dwelled on a decade ago, but a new economic landscape has brought the strategy to the forefront of the recruitment world. Companies today offering flexible working arrangements for their employees—such as telecommuting options and scheduling flexibility—are finding numerous rewards from that approach.

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Similarly, organizations willing to be flexible about using interim and contract-to-hire workers are finding plenty of benefits via that strategy as well.

Here’s a look at just a few ways flexible hiring philosophies are helping modern companies improve their bottom line.

EXPANDED OPTIONS

Perhaps the most crucial aspect of all in being flexible about your hiring policies is you can vastly expand the talent pool of candidates for any given position. For example, by allowing employees to work from home a few days a week, working parents might suddenly have the opportunity to seek employment with your organization. Similarly, by allowing full-time telecommuting you expand your field from people within commuting distance to possibly the entire world.

The more flexible you’re willing to be—including with job scheduling—the more viable candidates you’ll have to select from. It really is that simple.

COST-CUTTING

How can flexibility with your hiring approach save money? Here are just three ways:

1. By allowing telecommuting with your workers, you can save substantially on a physical office presence.
2. By being open to interim and contract-to-hire workers you can often save money on employee benefits and paid vacation time.
3. By expanding the potential talent pool through flexibility, you open up the field of qualified candidates more likely to work within your salary range.

EFFICIENCY BOOSTING

Let’s face it, by being flexible in your hiring dynamic you’re more likely to fill jobs quickly—and companies lost massive sums (literally billions of dollars) every year in the U.S. through ongoing vacancies. By being open to quickly filling a key opening via a remote worker or interim employee—or even a contract-to-hire candidate—you prevent slowdown, keep your company moving forward and don’t hamper the rest of your staff from having to pitch in with work that might not be their area of expertise.

MORALE IMPROVEMENT

A happy workforce is usually a more-successful staff, and by allowing employees to work flexible schedules, telecommute and be more independent you’ll show them you trust them and also offer a better work-life balance that keeps them satisfied and trying their best. While this clearly isn’t an option with every type of company or job, for the ones that are it makes no sense to make your employees feel tethered to a desk from 9-to-5. And with today’s amazing technology it often makes no difference if a co-worker is right down the hall or halfway across the world.

DRIVEN DIVERSITY

There are plenty of boons to a more-diverse company staff, and flexibility is a definite driver of diversity. By growing your potential talent pool, that alone will provide more diverse options within your choices. And by allowing telecommuting and flexible hours, you open up your staff to workers from all over the planet—all bringing their own cultures and ideas to the table and potentially providing plenty of great ideas you might never have thought of.

A more flexible company is usually a more-diverse one, and a more-diverse organization is a better one.

IMPROVED IMAGE

Today’s top candidates in their given fields can pretty much pick and choose where they take their talents, and that’s where your company’s reputation with how they treat employees can come into play. Through flexible hiring and working hours, you can pose your organization as one that cares about its employees’ contentment and work-life balance. And companies that gain real buzz as a great place to work rarely have to stress about finding top talent—they have talented workers knocking at their door and hoping to come onboard.

These are truly just a few of the ways that a little hiring flexible can pay off big for companies willing to think outside the box.

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