The strictly business flextime request form

HR Magazine, Feb, 1996 by Alessandra Bianchi

What's the number one issue for employees trying to balance work and personal life? Hint: it's not on-site child care. Flextime - broadly put, the alternative work arrangements that allow workers more control over their scheduling - consistently tops the list.

The good news is that about 42% of employers already offer some sort of flexible scheduling, such as job sharing or working a compressed week. The bad news for employees: "There's still a sense it's something you do at the risk of your career," says Charles Rodgers, a principal of Work/Family Directions, a $50-million provider of referral services for work-and-family issues.

So flextime is a career killer? Consider the case of Virginia Daley. She recently filed a suit against her former employer, Aetna Life & Casualty, alleging she was wrongfully terminated because after returning from maternity leave she asked to work at home one day a week. In a surprising move the judge in the case directed Aetna, well-known for its family-friendly programs, to survey its 2,000 employees who have alternative work arrangements, to uncover any inconsistencies in Aetna's flextime policies. The case may prove to be an isolated example, but it reminds employers of the importance of administering flextime equitably.

Work/Family Directions does not share Aetna's problem, but it is already confronting the fairness issue head-on. Last fall the Boston company introduced a "Flexible Work Option Request" form to its 300-odd employees in a bid to give structure to the squishy process of handling flextime requests. Applicants answer questions that elicit descriptions about their desired work arrangements and, more important, about how their proposed schedules will benefit the company. The form deliberately does not ask the reason for the request, so the request is easier to approve or deny strictly on business grounds. "You want to get your staff to think about flexibility not just as a way to accommodate people but as a way to get good business results," says Rodgers.

Removing the "accommodation mentality" also makes asking for flextime less awkward for employees. "I have no lingering questions like, Are they doing me a favor, and could it go away?" says Carol Newlin Searles, a business-development director who recently used the sheet to set up a telecommuting arrangement.

The form also wins plaudits from managers. "From an efficiency perspective, it's fabulous," says senior vice-president Rebecca Haag, who approved Searles's proposal in a week. "I didn't worry that I was forgetting to ask something." Haag also praises the form's effectiveness: "It lays out all the issues, has a potential resolution of those issues, and gives you time to pilot the new schedule to be sure it's working."

Work/Family admits that its form is not a magic bullet; it can't erase the subjective nature of the judgments managers must make. But Fran Rodgers, Work/Family's CEO and Charles's wife, considers it important to establish mutually acceptable ground rules. Last spring Work/Family set up an employee task force to decide which questions should be on the form and which shouldn't. There's continual training in how to use the form; managers and employees take turns role-playing, asking for and granting or denying flextime requests.

It's those processes, not just the form itself, that the co-founders believe can help provide protection against legal disputes. "You have to help people create a process that promotes fairness and consistency," says Fran Rodgers. "We hope that the courts will say, 'If you've done that, you've done what you should do.'"