Flex time, in my opinion, is an accommodation, not an entitlement.
Five days a week, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., for 40 to 50 hours a week has been the typical work schedule for the majority of Americans for many decades. But increasingly, employers and employees are finding that the traditional work week no longer represents the optimal work arrangement.
By allowing a more flexible work schedule, employers are attempting to accommodate and adapt to the combined needs of an employee’s demanding professional life and a busy personal life. As we all know, there are a lot of demands from both sides, and so flex time seems to be a very useful tool to help accommodate employees.
Flex time offers benefits for both the employees and the employer and by accommodating employees who need flexibility in balancing their jobs and their families, employers can retain those employees that may have otherwise decided to quit.
Examples
Here are some situations that come to mind:
- An employee wants to accompany their elderly parent to physical therapy. However, the only appointment that the parent can get is from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. three days a week. Normally that would interfere with a traditional work schedule. However, in a flex time arrangement, it could possibly be accommodated by letting the employee come in early and leave in time to get to the appointment.
- The child of an employee is starting kindergarten and will now need to be picked up at 3:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., which was the case when the child was in daycare. By allowing the employee to begin work early and take a one-half hour lunch, the employee can still maintain a full-time work schedule and arrive to pick up his child from daycare on time.
- An employee is taking a class in order to finish her degree, and the class meets twice at week at 10 a.m., but this is when she is usually at work. So creating a flex time arrangement a couple days a week would allow the employee to stay working full-time, and also take her class.
An interesting phenomenon nowadays, often called the “Sandwich Generation,” refers to the situation where an employee might have a child in kindergarten that needs to be picked up and an elderly parent who needs an escort to medical appointments. As a result, in my opinion, the value of working with employees on a suitable work arrangement is even more necessary now than it ever was before. It’s important for employees to be able to balance between work and family life.
In my next Insight, I’ll talk about the mistakes I’ve seen employers make regarding flex time arrangements, and give steps to take in order to create successful arrangements.
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