Extended office hours for the organization:



This is a direct benefit to the organization. If a company always has some or the other employee working from 6:00 AM till 8:00 PM, it will project a positive image. The clients of the company could call at 7 in the morning or 7 in the evening and receive support or any other relevant information they desire immediately.

Sharing of physical resources:

When two employees work at the same desk and computer but at different times of the day, the company saves money as it does not have to allocate additional office space, furniture and hardware for two employees. Two years back, I used to work in a small Internet data-center. There, a team of fifteen employees shared five computers and desks. This was possible only because of flexible working hours. The employees worked in three shifts and hence the company could provide technical support for 24 hours with just five computers.

Flextime program as an alternative work arrangement has some potential drawbacks. These are reluctance from employees, flextime is not applicable to every job, supervision problems, inadequate staffing, coordination challenges, increased utility costs, etc. Let us discuss each of these problems or drawbacks of the flextime program.

Increased utility costs:

The organization experiences an increase in utility costs like electricity bills due to the extended working hours from 6:00 AM to around 7:00 PM. This adds to the overall expenses of the organization.

Potential drawbacks of flextime work arrangements:

Reluctance from employees:

A report from HR Focus (2004) says that "Although flextime is more available now, many workers are dissatisfied with their work schedules, the report found. Nearly half (49%) of employees would prefer a different shift. The report also found that 39% of respondents said employees who use flexible work options are less likely to get ahead in their jobs."

Another report in Law Office Management & Administration Report (2005) mentions that "According to the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce conducted by the Families and Work Institute (New York City; ), although flextime is available at 68% of all the organizations polled, 79% of employees say they would like even more flexibility. This includes men, women, parents, non-parents, employees with and without elder-care responsibilities, employees at all earning levels, and workers in goods-producing and service industries. Of employees who have access to flextime (currently only 43%), 68% of men and 79% of women use it." Thus, even though companies are providing flexibility with work timings, employees are not really using them due to the above mentioned reasons.

Not applicable to every job:

According to Robbins and Judge (2008, p.95), "flextime works well with clerical tasks for which an employee's interaction with people outside his or her department is limited. It is not a viable option for receptionists, sales personnel in retail stores, or similar jobs for which comprehensive service demands that people be at their work stations at predetermined times." Back office jobs, technical jobs like programming, designing, etc., manufacturing jobs can also be worthy candidates for the flextime program. But jobs where an employee is required to be present in the traditional 9-5 work hours cannot adopt the flextime schedule. Apart from jobs listed above, jobs in banks, stockbroker offices, newspaper offices, senior management jobs, etc., are some for which flextime is not a viable option. Please read further in part seven of this article series.