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Flexible Schedule
Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to have an extra day
off every week or so--without a reduction in pay? Flexible
scheduling, or “flextime,” offers employees more
days off by rearranging their work schedules.
Flextime refers to several arrangements that allow you to
work a non-traditional schedule. You and your employer agree
in advance on the hours you’ll work.
Flextime is a popular option for good reason--it lends balance
to busy lives. Fortunately, flextime also benefits your employer.
Study after study has found that allowing employees to work
schedules that best suit their lives results in more productive
(and happier) workers.
The most common flextime arrangements include:
- Compressed Workweek
This arrangement allows you to work a full, 40-hour schedule
in 4 days by extending the hours you work each day. The
compressed week can also be scheduled over 2 workweeks,
during which you work 9 longer days and have the tenth off.
In any case, the compressed workweek maintains the same
overall number of hours, just divvied up differently. Your
workload, benefits, and pay are not affected by the arrangement.
-
Adjusted Lunch
Working an adjusted lunch schedule doesn’t actually
allow any additional days off. Instead, you can take a longer
lunch each day, making up the hours at the beginning or
end of the day. For example, your employer may allow you
to take your lunch from 11-1 so you can run errands, go
to a doctor’s appointment, or work out, but in exchange
you work that additional hour at the beginning or end of
your day.
This sort of arrangement may be an unofficial privilege
of every worker, especially if it’s used only occasionally.
As with the compressed workweek, your workload, benefits,
and pay are not affected.
- Core Hours
Next to the compressed workweek, this is the most popular
scheduling strategy because of the flexibility it offers.
With this schedule, you work certain hours every day, and
as long as your schedule is built around those hours, you
can adjust as you please.
For instance, if your core hours are 10-3, you must work
10-3 every day, but your starting and ending times can vary.
You may choose to work 10-6, or 7-3, or any other combination
as long as those core hours are covered. If you maintain
the same total number of hours, your workload, benefits,
and pay remain the same.
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