NFIB

Could Flextime Policies Work at Your Business?
05/ 15/ 2002

by Vicki Gerson

Whether it's a four-day workweek, job sharing, staggering hours or telecommuting, employers need to make a definite decision on what flexible policies they are willing to implement.

Will you allow an employee to come in later in the morning and work later in the afternoon? Will you allow an employee to come in earlier in the morning and leave earlier in the afternoon? Will you allow an employee to always take Friday off?

Before you say yes to all or some of these non-traditional work arrangements, here are some steps you may want to take before implementing any type of plan.

Take a survey
If you intend to implement a non-traditional working environment for your employees, get an indication of what appeals to them. Before you provide a list of choices, make sure you are willing to do everything on the survey. For instance, if you know you would never permit staggering work hours, don't have that choice on your list.

If you discover 70 percent of your employees favor having Fridays off, can you operate your business for one day without 70 percent of the employees? If not, decide what alternatives are available. Can you split this group into Fridays and Mondays? Can you alternate every month? What is best for your business? These are the questions you must ask yourself before you take any steps to implement a non-traditional work plan.

Put it in writing
Telling one employee it's OK to take off every Friday is not good enough. Your business needs a written policy of just what flexibility it will allow. Be sure to include in the guidelines every type of plan the company will permit.

If you're going to allow job sharing, be specific in the guidelines about what's permissible. For instance, explain that if employees works two-and-a-half days a week or 20 hours per week, then their salary is half of what they received as a full-time employee.

Also cover vacation time, employee benefits and holidays. It is important to avoid an employee coming to you and saying, "I thought I'd still get my two week vacation with full pay." You may decide to allow the two weeks, but only one week is actually with pay due to the amount of hours being worked. Whatever you decide, you must explain it upfront.

Make copies of the rules for every employee and have all employees sign the policy, whether they plan to change their work hours or not.

Decide who is eligible for each flexible policy
In order for this policy to work, the employer must focus on the job requirements. Certain jobs in the company may not be eligible for this plan. For example, administrative assistants may need to be available for all traditional working hours. Salespeople, however, may be able to work Monday through Friday or Monday through Thursday, as long as their quotas are met.

Flex-time work policies have numerous advantages to small and mid-size business owners and their employees. For example, they allow mothers with young children to stay in the workforce without being torn between home and their job. Employers benefit by keeping good employees and not having to train someone to take their place.

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