Flexible Work Schedules

Flexible work arrangements are made between employers and employees. Flexible work arrangements are also called flex scheduling or flextime. Since flextime is essentially an unregulated area of employee benefits, it's up to you and the employee to work out an amicable, mutually beneficial arrangement.

Variations of flextime include telecommuting, hoteling, four-day workweeks, and job-sharing.

Telecommuting involves working at home and using electronic communications to take the place of face-to-face meetings and work. Some telecommuters routinely put in a quarter or half of their work time from home offices or other locations. Hoteling involves two or more employees sharing a desk or office to keep down overhead expenses.

Using flextime may be a human-resources strategy that is well worth pursuing. Flextime allows employees to take care of those goals and priorities that are important to them. Flextime often shows up in surveys as one of the benefits that employees value most.

Flextime can have some negative side effects. It's important that participating employees are trustworthy. You may consider making such arrangements available only for certain positions or after the employee has passed a probationary period of employment.

Flextime alone cannot altogether replace the periodic face-to-face meetings that are necessary to keep the human factor an important part of running your business. Key employees must be available to service customers and provide the organizational glue that any business needs to function well. However, a well-designed flextime program safeguards against abuses and can supplement a traditional workplace.

Flextime doesn't necessarily offer any concrete cost savings. Instead, flextime is a psychological benefit that likely often yields intangible rewards such as increased employee productivity, reduced sick leave, and reduced turnover.

Finally, increased congestion in some American urban areas actually encourages the use of flextime measures. Increasingly, local government leaders encourage employers to offer flextime to help ease road congestion.

Adopting a well-designed policy of flexible scheduling shows your employees that you trust them and respect their personal aspirations. By offering flexible scheduling where possible, you may be able to boost employee morale and productivity.