07/ 20/ 2004
by Charles McConnell
"Flextime" is one of the alternative scheduling practices that have grown steadily in popularity over the last 20 to 30 years. (Others include permanent part-time, job sharing and the compressed work week.) In one form of flextime, management defines days worked and total hours for the week, and employees choose their starting times and work hours. In another variation, management defines days and hours per day, and employees choose their starting times. Complete flextime, in which employees come and go at will, is rare.
In flextime's most popular form, employees work within a two-part arrangement. There is a core period during which everyone must be present, and flexible periods at the beginning and end of the shift during which employees schedule their own arrivals and departures as long as they work the total hours expected of them. Consider the plan that one company established: the normal workday encompassed eight hours and 45 minutes, an eight-hour day and a 45-minute unpaid lunch break. The core was set at 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. During that time everyone had to be present. Outside of the core, employees were free to arrive as early as 7 a.m. and leave as late as 5:30 p.m., as long as they put in eight hours exclusive of the lunch break.
What are the advantages of a flextime plan? In a considerable number of applications, flextime has resulted in increased productivity and enhanced customer service, often yielding a substantial improvement in employee morale and attitude. Other frequently cited advantages of flextime include:
- Measurable reductions in tardiness and absenteeism.
- Reduced turnover.
- The ability to accommodate working parents with child-care arrangements.
- Easing commuting problems for some employees.
- Facilitating the scheduling of certain employee needs, for example medical or dental appointments, without having to miss work time.
Some organizations have also experienced increased productivity, thanks to a more flexible timetable in which employees could get their work done. Also, longer hours of operation, facilitate communication with branches and businesses in other time zones.
All is not positive with flextime; there are some drawbacks that can overshadow some of the advantages. Disadvantages include:
- Under flextime the manager's job can become more complex and involved. Flextime makes it harder to schedule work and more difficult to coordinate meetings.
- In the presence of flextime, there are often periods during which supervision is lacking and there are occasional times when understaffing occurs or when employees need to interact with others who are not present.
- Keeping track of worked hours is more difficult under flextime than with traditional scheduling.
- Flextime plans are susceptible to employee abuse, most frequently in the form of reporting eight hours though working less.
In determining whether flextime might be appropriate in your company, consider the following:
- The selection of the functions and employees that will flex requires considerable care. Usually a number of employees want to flex; doing so is clearly to their benefit, but it may not be appropriate for the business. Employee desire and convenience must be secondary to business needs.
- Only certain departments may be eligible to flex, those being the functions having little or no interaction with other elements of the company or with customers and other outsiders.
- It's usually easier to flex in a manufacturing environment, where human interaction may be limited, than in a service environment, where there's regular customer contact and interaction. Management must ensure that work patterns fit the job to be done, and in a service environment management must maintain greater control over employee availability.
- Under any flextime plan it's necessary to establish minimum staffing requirements and see that they are faithfully observed. Also, any flextime plan must comply with Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements, state regulations and labor agreements.
When implementing flextime, make sure that it doesn't affect output negatively. As long as productivity, quality and customer service are maintained at or above their former levels, the business will benefit. Improved employee morale and attitude will have positive effects as flextime becomes the norm at your business.
Will flextime appeal to your employees? To most employees, yes. Most will be eager to try flextime, although a few may resist. If you're considering flextime, it might pay to make a simple survey of employee opinion or raise the topic in one or more employee meetings. However, if there's a union in the picture, it will most likely be necessary to coordinate a proposed flextime plan with union leadership and perhaps present the plan as a joint undertaking. But remember, your first consideration should be how flextime will help your company.
