Companies are finding the option enhances morale, productivity

Natalie Tate would be struggling to pay her medical bills if it weren’t for her flexible work schedule at ADT, a security company in Salt Lake City.

By Kathy Gurchiek
The Salt Lake Tribune

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Mar/03012004/business/business.asp

A 6 a.m.-3 p.m. shift allows her to put in 40 hours and still undergo two-hour treatments for fibromylagia, a central nervous system disorder.

The administrative processor is among eight of ADT’s 68 employees working flextime. Most work 10 hours a day, four days a week. A few arrive and leave late to accommodate class or family schedules.

"It’s all on an individual basis," said ADT’s human resource manager, Jessica Behnke, who has found allowing flexible schedules results in happier, more productive employees.

Flextime is a low-cost way to enhance employee morale and retention and is a good recruiting tool, said Kathleen E. Christensen, director of the Program on The Workplace, Workforce and Working Families at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York City. It takes various forms: a compressed four-day schedule; late or early shifts such as Tate’s; telecommuting; two people sharing one job; or working full time 90 percent of the year with five weeks off.

"Companies are just beginning to realize they could have certain business advantages . . . if they adopt or allow for more flexible schedules," Christensen said. She noted about 29 percent of U.S. employees have flexible schedules.

A 2003 benefit survey by the Virginia-based Society for Human Resource Management found flextime is among the most common family-friendly benefits organizations offer, SHRM spokesman Frank Scanlan said in an e-mail. While not on par with health, dental and retirement benefits, paid time off and life insurance, flextime ranked above professional development, educational and child-care assistance in the survey as benefits most important to overall job satisfaction.

Research by Christensen’s program shows the workplace, on average, is not as flexible as employees would like. One reason some businesses balk at flextime is those that use rigid head-count systems see flextime as an accounting nightmare. There also is a cultural bias, with some companies fearing an employee who is out of sight is somehow less committed. But flextime actually breeds loyal employees, Christensen said.

ADT’s Behnke agreed. Allowing flexible schedules sends the message that "my company cares for me," motivating employees to work harder for the company, she said.

Christensen predicts flextime will become more common as baby boomers age.

"They want to continue working as they get older but they want flexible schedules," she said. By their sheer numbers, "they’re going to continue to leverage their desires in the workplace."

Flexibility also is a priority for working mothers, Generation Xers and Yers and those caring for aging parents, she said.

"It can make the difference between a normal life and having to struggle through," Tate said.

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