Work/Life Balance
Structuring Flex Time Arrangements:
Employer And Employee Perspectives Within Private Industry
By Linda J. Rippel, CPA
Flextime arrangements are becoming more and more the “rule” in most workplaces rather than the exception. With the economy in constant turmoil these days, companies are forced to make some hard decisions. Included in these decisions are possible reductions in the work force. Flex-time can help employers by enabling them to keep good employees, along with reducing costs for those that can work part time.
Employer’s Perspective
Flex-time can mean part time, or full time, but basically it involves a non-traditional work schedule. Hiring new employees can be a very large cost for a business. Employees that are happy with their work, and their work schedules, become much more productive and efficient. It also keeps them from leaving and finding other employment opportunities. By offering flex-time to certain employees, employers are providing a very nice benefit to their employees. This can be more meaningful to some employees than a monetary benefit.
Flexible Schedules
In order for flex-time to be successful, it needs to be consistent. For example, a controller in a private company wants to work 3 days a week. They must be certain that it is always the same three days, and that the hours are consistent. Next, this work schedule needs to be communicated to all the employees in the company, along with vendors, customers, and any other people the controller is in daily contact with. If you don’t have a consistent schedule, it will frustrate your clients and other employees. I personally have had a flexible work schedule for the past couple months, and have found that communication and consistency is the key for it to be successful.
In addition, the employer needs to “sell” the flexible work schedules to their full-time employees. Full-time employees can tend to be “jealous’ of the flexible time, especially if they have to work extra to cover for any excess workload that the flex-time employee may create.
Overall, if flex-time employees cannot complete their necessary work, then the employer may need to possibly contract out some of the flex-time employee’s duties, or possibly add responsibilities to other full-time employees’ plates. Additional compensation must also be provided for the extra work and responsibilities.
Full-time employees need to be reminded that they are receiving more benefits and compensation than flex-time employees, and that the company will become more profitable by allowing some flex-time arrangements to happen. In short, all employees need to feel appreciated, needed, and fairly compensated.
On the opposite side of the fence, the flex-time employees need to know that they should not feel guilty for not working a full-time schedule. They should try to be accessible to the employer when they are not in the office. In turn, the employer needs to not take advantage of this, and only contact flex-time employees when absolutely necessary.
Conclusions
Flex-time arrangements can be a great benefit for both employers and employees. The advantages need to be communicated to everyone, and the flex-time schedules must remain consistent from week to week. Employers must communicate to company personnel that everyone has a role and that each one is equally important. Working together will make a company profitable, which will ultimately benefit all employees, as well as the employer.
A Personal Experience
I would like to conclude with a real-life example of how being flexible helped my former company solve a critical situation. I worked for a graphic design/ web page development company that was hit especially hard by the downfall in the economy. Here was our story:
Company management was faced with a decision that many companies have had to deal with—we did not have enough revenue to sustain our current number of employees. We either had to lay off at least one employee (we had already had to terminate a few people prior to this) or, if everyone was willing, the company could try something different.
Management proposed to all employees that express what they felt would be most beneficial to the company. The options included laying off one employee or we all share in a 10 percent pay cut (including management) while reducing the work week from 40 to 35 hours a week. Stipulations included that the five-hour reduction be taken as one hour per day, rather than taking a 1/2 day off all at once.
We voted and our employees unanimously voted to share in the 10 percent pay reduction. By doing this, we involved the employees in the decision-making process, and subsequently, they were part of the solution. By letting them share in the decision, they were much more efficient and productive.
As a side note, our company kept this reduced pay, reduced hours schedule for one year. We were then able to restore everyone back to full time. However, some employees enjoyed the reduced schedule so much that they wanted to keep it. Today, flexible schedules remain a part of the success of the company.
