Workplace Diversity
...iness reasons a particular option be implemented. Whatever the arrangement, Human Resources should be consulted to provide practical advice and ensure consistency. Research and experience has documented that: Flexibility protects the company's investment in good workers. When a company loses good employees, it not only loses the investment it has made in that individual, it also incurs additional costs of downtime and recruitment. The changing values and priorities of the workforce have made quality of life an important issue. There is strong evidence that companies can retain good workers by offering flexibility. Flexibility helps gain a recruitment edge in a tight labor market. How workers feel is more important to employers in a tight labor market. Today, workers who have the skills and competencies many employers are seeking place high value on having personal time available and control over when they take it. In order to attract those workers, organizations are being forced to change. Much of that change focuses around issues of time. Advertising the availability of flexible work arrangements like job sharing, flextime or telecommuting increases the number and quality of candidates that respond. Flexibility may improve the link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. More and more companies have been measuring the link between employee satisfaction and the bottom line and finding that employee attitudes drive customer service satisfaction and revenue. Flexibility reduces office space and overhead expenses. Working off-site, in less expensive satellite centers or in shared office space (such as a -"virtual office" or a "hotel" facility) can reduce the need for high-priced office space. Extending hours through compressed work scheduling, job sharing and part-time employees also means expanded use of expensive equipment, providing a greater return on investment. Flexibility improves coverage. Flexible schedules and new forms of part-time work let companies redesign schedules for positions or work units that need broader or more intensive coverage. By overlapping their schedules, job sharers can provide double coverage during peak periods of activity. A combination of full and part-time employees will give employers more staffing options, particularly if the workflow or demand for service is uneven. Flexibility helps upgrade and expand employee skills. Allowing a full-time employee to reduce his/her work schedule can provide another employee with an opportunity to work in that job part-time and learn new skills. Sabbaticals help enrich a worker's skill level by providing opportunities for cross-training or on-going education. For example, at American Savings and Loan in Palo Alto, CA, a vice president of human resources opted to job share with a lower-level employee who will eventually move up to VP status. Flexibility retains older workers' skills and experience. Many firms are experiencing "brain drains" as a result of early retirement programs. Polls indicate that a significant number of older workers would continue if they could do so on a part-time basis. Flexibility improves productivity, morale, commitment and quality of work. Despite widespread fear that flexibility would hinder productivity, there is growing evidence that the opposite is true. Most studies report no fall-off, and even an increase in productivity when flexible work arrangements are used properly. In general, productivity improvements are credited to the higher energy that comes from reduced stress or better morale; improved quality of work; more focus on task rather than time; and extended service with the same number of employees. Flexibility creates a more responsive organization. Companies continually face challenges, be it a departmental "baby boomlet", recruitment for a particular job classification, or external pressures like the introduction of new technologies or the onset of a recession. Managers must be able to respond creatively with policies that are already in place before a crisis hits. Flexibility is imperative to success in the new millennium. Companies today implement workplace flexibility to promote a motivated effective work force. In addition, today's workplace includes more dual-income families, singles and single parent families than ever before, so flexible work arrangements will allow companies to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse work force. In survey after survey, employees voice the same concerns: lack of time and flexibility and the inability to satisfactorily manage work and personal life responsibilities. While employees certainly are primarily responsible for resolving conflicts that may develop between work and personal lives, managers and employees should be encouraged to address these issues through the programs and policies that are part of the company. Although many companies experience the benefits of telecommuting - lower real estate costs, reduced turnover, increased productivity and an increased ability to comply with workplace laws (such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and Family Medical Leave Act) that require companies to accommodate their workers - growing pains persist, some experts say. And both the benefits and disadvantages of the work option are difficult to measure with certainty. A study of employees and managers by Boston College's Center for Work & Family in Chestnut Hill, Mass., found that telecommuting can present serious disadvantages. The study found that telecommuters work more, rate their work/life balance and life satisfaction significantly lower, believe they have worse relationships with their managers and co-workers, and are less committed to their jobs. Telecommuting also causes more stress than other types of flexible work arrangements, such as daily flextime, the study found. Many companies are shying away from flextime because they are concerned about possible legal pitfalls. Flexible work arrangements can be affected by the Fair Labor Standards Act, workers' compensation, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and even anti-discrimination laws. Companies that ignore these issues do so at a considerable risk. There is, of course, no law demanding that a company must offer employees flexible work arrangements. FlexPlace is a concept, not a policy or program. If it is to be successful, it takes the cooperation of all parties - manager, employee, co-worker and the company. A FlexPlace arrangement requires self-discipline on the part of the employee and on-going communication between the employee and his/her manager. It requires a great deal of trust between manager and employee, as the manager cannot "ob...