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

Workforce, Feb, 2001 by Sarah Fister Gale

* Compressed Workweek

* Flextime

* Telecommuting

Part 2 Considerations

6. Reasons/benefits for yourself. Identify reason for request. What are the perceived benefits for you? Are you meeting your career and personal goals?

7. Describe current and proposed work schedules (include hours per week and per day if different from standard office hours).

8. Summarize your current workload and client responsibilities/relationships and proposed changes--transitioning clients to other Staff, relinquishing main contact relationship, etc.).

9. Based on the above, provide the proposed number of hours you anticipate you will spend in each area of your job.

Using the completed proposal as a guide, discuss the proposed arrangement with your supervisor, coach, and local HR representative. The agreed upon arrangement should be reviewed, evaluated, and discussed quarterly to ensure it is successful for the individual, the office, the clients, and staff.

Flextime Web resources

The best way to get skeptical managers to support a flex policy is to benchmark other success stories. The following sites catalog statistics, advice, and stories from companies that have made the move with great success.

Catalyst: www.catalystwomen.org/

This nonprofit organization, which works with businesses to advance women, has published several reports on the effects of flextime in the workplace, including "Flexible Work Arrangements III," a study tracking 24 women who first used flexible work arrangements more than a decade ago.

Work in America Institute: www.workinamerica.org/

This nonprofit organization focuses on improving productivity and quality of work/life balance. It recently published "Holding a Job, Having a Life: Strategies for Change," which catalogs a two-year study investigating how some companies have adopted flex programs to improve business results and achieve work/life integration.

The Alliance of Work/Life Professionals: http://awlp.org/

The AWLP is a membership organization for professionals to promote a healthier balance between work and personal life.

The Boston College Center for Work and Family: www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/csom/executive/

This research organization, which focuses on increasing the quality of life of working families, recently published "Measuring the Impact of Workplace Flexibility," a two-year research project to assess the effect of workplace flexibility.