Flextime

What is flextime?

Flextime is a work arrangement that allows employees to choose when they start and end work each day, within set parameters. The level of flexibility in working hours differs depending on the company.

For example, some companies that offer flexible work schedules allow employees to choose their own timings as long as they complete all deliverables. Others may mandate core hours that employees must be present for—core hours—but they’re free to flex their other hours around framework.

Organizations may introduce flextime policies to encourage a positive work-life balance among their employees. Flexibility in the workplace also increases employee retention and provides a competitive advantage when attracting top talent.

Core hours and flex periods

Flextime allows your staff to customize their working hours. Whether they need to adjust their starting or finishing times to take their children to school or accommodate their commitments, flexible work hours mean they can flex their arrangement to fit their lifestyle.

Often employees will be required to be in the office or online (for hybrid and remote employees) for a specified “core” period of the day. For example, this may fall between 10 AM and 3 PM in your headquarters’ timezone. Alternatively, employees may be allowed to take time out during the day, as long as they make up the time later.

Example of flexible work hours

Traditionally, a full-time schedule may require employees to work 40 hours per week from 9 AM to 5 PM each day. But a flextime schedule allows employees to adjust or “flex” their start and finish times as long as they complete their 40 hours a week.

For example, let’s say a company offers flextime, but mandates core working hours of 10 AM to 12 PM and 2 PM to 4 PM to facilitate team meetings. This would mean that your employees must be in the office (or online) during these periods, but they can choose how they spend their hours outside of these times. This would support commitments such as school runs, lunch breaks, and more.

Here are some examples of flexible work schedules in practice:

Which industries use flextime work schedules?

Flextime work schedules will likely work better in certain industries. Sectors that enable remote or hybrid work may be more easily adapted as there is already a degree of flexibility. Plus, industries that focus on outcomes over hours worked may be a good fit, like marketing, design, and sales sectors.

For example, roles that may benefit from flextime include:

• Creative roles: Writers, editors, graphic designers, animators, photographers, social media managers, PR specialists, and content creators.
• Client-facing roles: Account managers, real estate agents, sales executives, and more.
• Education roles: Curriculum developers, online course instructors, tutors, and more.
• Technology and development roles: software developers, quality assurance testers, web developers, and data scientists.
• Consulting and project-based roles: business, HR, IT, and management consultants.

Hospitality, retail, and emergency services often have set shifts that dictate working hours, which may make flextime more challenging. However, flextime schedules may also complement roles with nonstandard operating hours—so it all depends on the individual company and flextime policy.

Benefits and disadvantages of flextime schedules

Flexible work schedules have pros and cons to consider. When deciding whether or not to implement flextime, step back and look at the whole picture before deciding if this model is the best fit for your organization.

Benefits of flextime

Flextime allows your staff to have greater autonomy over the way they work. This brings numerous benefits, from curating a more diverse workforce to improved productivity.

Flextime scheduling can help:

• Improve work-life balance: Whether employees need to drop off or pick up their kids from school or need to make an appointment in office hours, a flextime schedule can help curate their work-life balance. In turn, this autonomy can help boost employee satisfaction.
• Increase productivity: With flextime schedules, early birds and night owls alike can choose to work during the hours when they’re the most efficient, improving the company’s overall productivity.
• Strengthen recruitment and retention: Flextime arrangements can be a powerful perk for attracting top candidates and can help your firm compete in the talent market. Plus, employees are likely to stay with your company longer if the flexibility suits their lifestyle and preferences.
• More diverse workforce. Offering flexible schedules opens a wider talent pool. It enables you to attract talent from different walks of life that may benefit from flexibility, like working parents and caregivers.
• Tackle absenteeism. Flexible work arrangements can help to manage employee attendance and reduce absenteeism. For example, flexibility in the working day frees up your employees to deal with personal matters that may come up unexpectedly without needing to take time off.
• Reduced stress. Allowing flexible starting and finishing times can help reduce the stress of the rush hour. It can also help to improve employee morale.
• Contribute to sustainability efforts. Some flexible work arrangements may positively contribute to an organization’s sustainability mission, by reducing the workplace carbon footprint.

Disadvantages of flextime

While there are many advantages to offering your staff flexibility, there are potential challenges to be aware of. For example, flextime scheduling may:

• Complicate scheduling and communication: Unless your organization mandates a certain window of time when all employees must be present, flextime schedules can make it challenging to have team meetings and work toward company goals.
• Make employees feel isolated: If your staff members feel a strong sense of camaraderie but then suddenly switch to working different schedules, a sense of unity can be lost.
• Raise operating costs: If your organization requires employees to work onsite, allowing them to work non-traditional hours can make utility costs more complicated.
• Communication breakdown: Flexing work hours may lead to gaps in communication and delays in responses to messages and emails. It may be harder to reach certain team members in emergent situations if they’re working on a different schedule.
• Difficulty tracking work hours: Keeping tabs on staff working hours across varying schedules may get complicated and could lead to payroll issues if you’re not careful.
• Could lead to burnout: Despite the added flexibility contributing to a better work-life balance, your employees could attempt to fit too much into their working day. They could then fall into the trap of working late into the night to get everything done, putting them at risk of burnout.
• Issues with fairness: All employees should be treated fairly and provided with the same opportunities for advancement, regardless of whether they choose to engage with your flextime policy. Plus, if some staff take greater advantage of flextime than others, it may cause resentment.

How can you implement flextime?

Flexible work schedules may sound like a great idea, but they still require thoughtful execution and transparency to be successful. Here are some key steps to implementing a flextime policy in your workplace:

• Assess company readiness. Do you have everything in place to facilitate flexible working? Will you still be able to meet operational needs?
• Develop a policy. It’s important to clearly set out policies and guidelines on what you expect from your employees, so that everyone’s on the same page.
• Pilot the flextime policy. Choose a small team or department first to test the waters. Then, identify and correct any issues that crop up before rolling it out company-wide.
• Review and adjust accordingly. Continually collect feedback on how your staff are finding their new work-to-life balance and adjust or clarify the policy where needed.