The biggest impact of the COVID pandemic has been the shift in “how” and “when” people are performing work. As a result, we are seeing more employers adopting “flexible work arrangements” to both retain staff and lower overhead costs.
Like all policies, these are not “one size fits all”. When preparing a flexible work policy, you first must consider what type of “flex time” you want to adopt, and then consider which jobs in your organization are compatible with such arrangements.
Flextime is a plan whereby employees’ workdays are built around a core of hours that “must be staffed”, such as 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. For example, workers may opt to work from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. or from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Compressed Work Weeks allow employees to work fewer days each week, but each day they work longer hours. For example, some firms have four 10-hour day work weeks. Other workers—in hospitals, for instance—work three 12-hour shifts, and then take 4 days off.
Job sharing allows two or more people to share a single full-time job, for example, one working mornings and the other working afternoons. This can be particularly useful for retirement-aged employees because it allows them to reduce their hours while the company retains their expertise.
When crafting these policies, it is best practice to determine which hours and/or days of the week are “mandatory” that the employee appears at the office.
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