Benefits of flextime work arrangements

We discussed many benefits of flextime in the previous two articles. Lets discuss two more important benefits of this alternative work arrangement.

Lower attrition rate or higher employee retention:

Organizations can lower their attrition rate and hence increase their employee retention figures with flextime programs. Satisfied employees are less likely to leave the company. An employee may not be sure if he will get the same flexibility with work timings in a new company and hence will be reluctant to leave the organization. As per an article by Kimberly Weisul (2000, ), in a recent survey of 667 working Americans, stock options and a more flexible work schedule were both chosen by 12% of respondents as the most important retention factor. In the same article, it has been mentioned: "In a similar survey conducted in 1999, only 43% of respondents chose "a raise." Non-monetary factors, including flextime and benefits, were cited by 51% of the respondents." Similarly employee surveys conducted among IBM workers in regions throughout the world found that worker flexibility is the second most important reason employees remain with the company, next to compensation. IBM's flexible working policy has evolved as a result of such employee surveys (Paul Harris, T+D, 2007).

Reduced absenteeism:

Flextime schedules reduce absenteeism because the employees have more flexibility in their work schedules to take care of personal needs and commitments. The same is echoed by the State of New Jersey Department of Transportation on their website- "flextime results in less absenteeism for personal needs because of greater flexibility in scheduling appointments."

Decrease in overtime expenses:

Flextime results in decreased overtime expenses. An employee, instead of working overtime could simply come early the next morning and complete his work. Or an employee A could handover the remaining work to a colleague B who may be working in office for 2-3 hours more after employee A has gone home.

Greater job satisfaction:

When employees work in a flextime environment, they tend to feel more responsibility and accountability towards their job. This leads to greater job satisfaction. Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of the Families and Work Institute, a New York City-based not-for-profit research organization, says that work-life initiatives such as flextime are one component of an effective modern workplace, one that is "highly correlated" with job satisfaction, loyalty, engagement, retention, and better mental health. She says well-run organizations listen to their employees and give them more control over flexibility, while at the same time make them more accountable for improved results (Paul Harris, T+D, 2007).

Benefits of flextime to entrepreneurial ventures:

Entrepreneurial ventures and small companies tend to offer more non-monetary benefits to employees. In the article 'In Box' in (2001), it is mentioned that "64% of small companies offer flextime, vs. 58% of all companies." According to Nichole Torres (2006, Entrepreneur), 43 of the 100 fastest growing entrepreneurial ventures of 2006 offered flexible work schedules (up from 34 companies in 2005 and 2004). Please read further in part six of this article series.