Flextime

Empirical evidence

Flexible working was academically introduced in 1970 and since then this topic continues to be the interest of many research papers.

For four decades, academic papers have contributed to the increased knowledge and interest in flexible working. A descriptive background of the evolution of the concept of flexibility as well as highlighting the main factors contributed to its growth were the main focus of academic studies. Also, they deliver evidence of the significant amount and the ongoing increase in the use of flexible working in many countries.

Studies examining access to flextime have shown that it is the high skilled/educated workers in higher occupational jobs, and supervisory roles that are most likely to have access. Unlike what many assume, women do not have better access to flextime arrangements, and female-dominated workplaces have worse access to flextime compared to workplaces where there are more men or an equal number of men and women. Many studies examine the outcomes of flexible working. For example, a study by Origo and Pagani based on a sample of European countries, gave a deep analysis of the concept of flexible working by testing the level of heterogeneity in the effect of flexibility on job satisfaction, the study found some positive link with some aspects of the job while negative or no relation was found against other aspects. There is increasing evidence for the "business case" of flexible working. A meta-analysis of studies has shown that flexible working can provide a wide range of benefits for companies, including increase in performance, productivity, and reduction in absenteeism.

Flexible working can both prevent and create opportunities. There is generally a positive relationship between flexible working and perceptions of job quality in term of work–life balance, and helping to improve and control autonomy particularly for remote workers, but some factors such as labor market efficiency and opportunities for advancement will be negatively affected due to the variations on different dimensions of job quality. Flexible working has also been linked to increased recruitment and retention of workers. Chung and van der Horst have shown that the use of flextime significantly reduces the likelihood of mothers decreasing their working hours after childbirth and reduces the likelihood of first-time mothers leaving their work altogether. Flexible employment is one of the vital factors in the European Union policy discourse. It is a means to reduce unemployment, increase economic and social cohesion, maintain economic competitiveness and enhance equal opportunities between women and men. However, flexible working has some problems. Studies have also shown that flexible working can lead to an increase in overtime hours.

Advantages and criticisms

Flexible working is a pattern of working arrangements that enable employees to decide the time, duration, and location of their work. Flexible working patterns have gained the interest of both academics and industrial practitioners for some time, with implementation into law in certain countries as far back as 1930, but also in recent years. Existing literature highlights the fundamental importance of flexible working to both academics and organizations as a means of establishing a good work–life balance for employees. Work–life balance for employees is theorized to increase employee efficiency, which in turns leads to increase in productivity of the organization. This would also be suggested from research on the decreasing returns of working hours.

Academic literature has identified benefits of flexible working patterns to employees including life satisfaction, better wellbeing, a good work–life balance, and health benefits but some researchers argue that although there are such benefits, there are some negative effects such as work intensities, job insecurities associated with the flexible working arrangement. Research works such as Evans et al., (2000) also highlight that flexible working pattern may not be applicable to all occupational fields, the authors also highlighted medical professions (doctor, pharmacist, nurse, etc.) as one of such fields. A further critique is that some patterns of work deemed "flexible" such as a compressed work week may be put forward by the employer, rather than suiting the individual employee, and thus may not capture the same benefits as employee-chosen flexible working.

Industrial sources also have been able to highlight one of the positive effects of flexible working patterns as being able to attract highly qualified professionals, but Brookins established some negative effects flexible working patterns had to employers as it adds expenses and responsibility in the organization, negative availability perspectives of employees on the customers, and employee availability.

Both academics and industrial sources were established that in some professions flexible working arrangement may not be available or its availability will have a negative perspective on employees by others with a non-flexible arrangement, example of such profession is medical professions. A research done by Evans et al., (2000) on flexible working patterns on medical professions emphasized how some medical doctors may attribute negative perception with colleagues with flexible working patterns. In 1930, Employees in the United Kingdom were given the right to request for flexible working arrangements, but there were no instructions or guidelines on the way for this would work. Flexible working concepts are also a relatively new form of working arrangement and this has limited its application in other parts of the world such as a country in Africa.

Flexible working patterns is a working arrangement that enable employees to determine the duration, time and location of their work. It has been seen both by academics and industrial sources to have benefit including increase of work–life balance for employees, which in turns leads to increase in productivity for the employer or organization. Organizations hoping to adopt this form of working pattern for its employee should conduct research on how flexible working patterns can be successfully conducted, thus avoiding some of the expenses and pitfalls existing research has linked to flexible working practices.

Recording working

There are many different methods used for recording working time ranging from sophisticated software (computer programs) to handwritten time sheets. Most of these methods are associated with the payment of wages in return for hours worked. As a result, they often do not address a fundamental difference of most flexible working systems – namely the intention of flexible working to allow an employee to "trade hours" with their employer in return for a fixed wage.

By region

Australia

Flextime in Australia is usually referred to accumulated overtime hours that an employee can build up and exchange for the equivalent amount of time off. (Example: Jane works 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. Monday to Friday. Over the past month, Jane has worked 8 hours overtime meaning she is eligible for a paid day off.)

If employees accumulate too many flex hours, they are required to perform a "flex burndown", as they are burning down the flex. Similarly, taking a flex day off is known as "flexing off".

It is implemented formally in the federal Australian Public Service and is available for staff in most state and territory government departments. With current changes to industrial relations laws (2006), from State to Federal level there are no new published guidelines (online) for flextime.

European Commission

In 2017, the European Commission proposed a directive on work–life balance which includes the extension of the right to request flexible working arrangements (reduced working hours, flexible working hours and flexibility in place of work) to all working parents of children up to 12 and careers with dependent relatives. It also includes non-legislative measures, ensuring protection against discrimination and dismissal for parents (including pregnant women and workers coming back from a leave) and careers, the directive also encourages a gender-balanced use of family-related leaves and flexible working arrangements. The proposal was approved as Directive (EU) 2019/1158.

Germany

Flexible working time accounts are also known as deposited working-time accounts or work bank account systems. It is derived from the German Federal Labor Government's reform program, which was passed by the German Federal Government on August 21, 2002. Then Federal Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, announced that the program would invite the former Director of Human Resources Management of Volkswagen, Peter Hartz, chaired the Labour Market Reform Committee. This program's goal is to make the rigidity of the labor system more flexible and to change the old social welfare policy, in order to lighten heavy financial burden.

The concept of flexible working time accounts is to establish labor-self accounts, and laborers can save their working hours, just like saving money, into their own accounts. The working hours in their accounts are their assets, so that employers and workers on both sides can increase or decrease the work required by each other without affecting salaries or welfare. While achieving the purpose of flexible labor, the account-system may be short-term, long or permanent for the convention.

A flexible working time account system has the following four characteristics:

1. Flexible working time accounts shall be calculated for a period of at least one year.
2. The calculation of a long-term account system is usually based on time and money. Occasionally, things may be passed on from other laborers' accounts. The situation is only applicable to short-term working time.
3. When using long-term working time accounts, there are two features that can be used for classification:
   1. Optional long-term accounts are mostly used in the period that laborers are still holding a post in their own company. Laborers can withdraw from accounts after negotiating with employers, usually due to laborers' personal needs.
   2. Age-related long-term accounts can be used late into a laborer's career, when they prepare for early retirement, semi-retirement, or conventional retirement.
4. Unlike the short-term account system, there is the lowest-limit standard of withdrawing hours. However, standards are set in accordance with the differing demands of laborers.

United Kingdom

Haller founded a company in the UK in 1971 and registered the trademark "Flextime", the mark remains the property of the company's successor HFX Ltd. In the Spring of 2003, 17.7% of men and 26.7% of women were employed with flextime arrangements in the United Kingdom, In the United Kingdom, flextime working is commonplace in both the private and public sectors. The practice is often found in administrative and back-office functions of commercial organizations and local councils.

In 2003, the UK Government introduced legislation that gave parents of children under six, or the parents of disabled children under 18 the right in law to request a flexible working arrangement from their employer. A survey in 2005 by the National Office of Statistics showed that 71% of female workers and 60% of male workers were aware of the rights created under the 2003 legislation. Between 2003 and 2005 more than 14% of all workers had requested a change to flexible working. Since April 2007 the right to request flexible working also applies to carers of adults.

On November 13, 2012, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced plans to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees, this legislation took effect in April 2014. The law firm Lewis Silkin has suggested that this could cause "major headaches" for employers.

Now being enforced by the law on June 30, 2014, industrial reports concentrate on workers' right to request for flexible working and how it is guided by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). They explained how this code is designed to help employers, employees and their representatives to deal with disciplinary and grievance situations in the workplace.

Shift workers are generally excluded from flextime schemes as are senior managers. Other groups of workers for whom flextime arrangements are rare include those who serve the public during specific opening times.

The advantages of Flextime for the individuals include a "better work–life balance", fewer commutes, less fatigue, more days off and lower sickness rates. The benefits for the company include better motivated workers, more efficient and effective operation, less fatigued workers and fewer errors; Flextime also gets' people working overtime hours without paying overtime rates, make fewer facilities required, and lower sickness rates.

For employers, flextime can aid the recruitment and retention of staff. It has been a particularly popular option in 2009 for employers trying to reduce staff costs without having to make redundancies during the recession. It can also help provide staff cover outside normal working hours and reduce the need for overtime. Additionally, flextime can also improve the provision of equal opportunities to staff unable to work standard hours.

Flextime can give employees greater freedom to organize their working lives to suit personal needs. In addition, travelling can be cheaper and easier if it is out of peak time.

United States

In Florida, flextime workers, like salaried workers, are exempted from insurance regulations, and are given broad leeway in setting their own work schedule. Unlike exempted salaried workers, employers are still required to pay overtime to a flextime worker if they work more than 40 hours per week.

In recent years, the term "flextime" has acquired a more controversial definition when used to describe proposals to overhaul the nation's overtime regulations. Under one such proposal by the Bush administration made public on August 5, 2004, employers would not be required to pay non-exempt employees' overtime for working more than 40 hours in a week so long as the employee works no more than 80 hours over a two-week period. For example, a worker could be required to work 70 hours one week and receive no overtime compensation as long as they work 10 hours or less the following week. Such arrangements are opposed by trade unions such as the AFL–CIO.

In certain industries and disciplines, such as information technology, flextime permits workers to vary their schedule. For example, they may opt to work four 10-hour days per week, taking Monday or Friday off. Another flextime schedule is to work nine-hour days Monday through Thursday, an eight-hour day on Friday, taking every other Friday off, called the "9/80 work schedule". Some agencies of the United States government allow employees to work such a schedule, and designate it as an alternative work schedule (AWS). Workers may arrange to coordinate their days off so that their responsibilities are adequately covered.

Other workers may opt simply to come in early, such as 5 or 6 a.m., and leave in the mid-afternoon, or come in late and therefore leave late. One benefit of such a schedule is that commuting times occur outside of the congested rush hour traffic within a given geographic region. Flextime arrangements also help parents: one parent works 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and is in charge of the children before school / daycare, while the other parent works 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. and is in charge of the children after school / daycare. This allows parents time to commute. Flextime is also beneficial to workers pursuing an education.