Formalized Flextime: The Perk That Brings Productivity - includes flextime web resources

Workforce, Feb, 2001 by Sarah Fister Gale

Companies are finding that flextime is a strategic business tool that improves productivity and quality of life for employees. Its popularity means that more companies are creating formal guidelines to ensure success.

Flexible scheduling, long considered a grudgingly given perk for working mothers, is turning out to be a strategic solution that reduces turnover, improves morale, and draws hard-to-get talent in a painfully tight job market. In 1997, more than 25 million workers varied their hours to some degree, with staggered start times, compressed workweeks, job sharing, and part-time hours, according to the article "Flexible Schedules and Shift Work: Replacing the 9-to-5 Workday?" by Thomas Beers in the June 2000 issue of Monthly Labor Review, But, he adds, most flexible workers alter their schedules on an informal basis. Statistics show that of those 25 million workers, less than 6 percent have formal arrangements.

However, as flextime grows in popularity, companies are realizing that informal schedule changes can create communication problems and hostility among employees. To combat this problem, more organizations are implementing formal policies that require workers to present solid business cases for going flextime, including how it will benefit their clients, and how they plan to communicate with team members and supervisors. Companies like Ernst and Young, Hewlett Packard, and PricewaterhouseCoopers have gone so far as to create work/life programs that help employees and their coworkers make the transition smoothly and assure that the changes benefit everyone involved. Here are their stories and advice.

Software helps employees plan schedules

"At Ernst and Young, the focus is on results, not face time," says Denny Marcel, a member of the company's New York-based Office for Retention. "Employees know that they can choose flexible work arrangements (FWA) and still be competent. We empower people to decide how, when, and where they get their jobs done."

It's this attitude that has made E&Y a pioneer in flex schedule options for employees--an initiative that was launched formally in the mid-1990s to address the balance of personal and professional obligations, especially among female employees. Today 1,600 of E&Y's 23,000 employees formally take advantage of the FWA program--79 percent of them women--and an estimated 50 percent occasionally take advantage of options like telecommuting, says Marcel.

To make sure the initiative was successful, the Office for Retention created two Lotus Notes databases--the FWA Database and the FWA Road Map--to guide interested employees through flextime planning options.

"There were people interested in flexible work arrangements who didn't know how to do it," says Marcel, The FWA database features profiles and quotes from existing flextimers about their experiences. Anyone interested can use it to find people to network with or mentor them through the process.

"It's an alternative to approaching your supervisor," says Marcel, noting that some. employees might not be ready to tell managers that they want to alter their work schedules. The database also debunks common myths regarding flextime arrangements, hosts a discussion board monitored by FWA experts and users, and has links to the firm's administration policies regarding work/life issues.

"The database educates all of our people about FWA," says Marcel. "It's not just for the people who want flexible schedules; it's for their supervisors, their colleagues, and other workers."

Marcel says that for a flex program to be successful, it's critical that team members have access to information on how to work with and manage flextimers.

Once they've reviewed the FWA database, the FWA Road Map is the next step for potential flextimers. It has a self-assessment tool that helps them evaluate their work/life issues, and whether they have the skills and personality to succeed on a flexible schedule. It explains their options, and discusses the challenges unique to each type of schedule.

Along with information and surveys, the Road Map walks employees through preparation of the business case. It has a Word document template that asks a series of questions about what they want, how it will affect their team members, and how they will deal with clients.

"Everyone at E&Y can be considered for the FWA program as long as they build a business case for it. The Road Map helps them think concretely about the impact that going flextime will have," says Marcel.

Employees can also get help from one of 12 FWA specialists to write their business case and negotiate the terms.

According to survey data gathered through the FWA database, 84 percent of flextimers say the FWA program is the primary reason they stay at E&Y And thanks, at least in part, to the program, E&Y was named by Working Mother and Fortune as one of "The Best 100 Companies to Work For"--one of only 16 companies to make both lists.

Flextime scheduling reduces stress and overtime costs

Hewlett Packard has offered employees flextime options since the 1960s, says Kathy Burke, Global Worklife Program manager for HP. "It's part of the fabric and culture of Hewlett Packard. It's in our DNA."