Flexible Work Schedules

A flexible work schedule, also known as a flextime schedule, grants employees some freedom in deciding what time of day they will arrive at and leave from work. For example, an employee may prefer to work from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. one day of the week and from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on another day. The exact administrative rules of flextime schedules vary greatly across companies, but when flextime schedules are put into place, employers usually create a band of core time during which each employee must be present (normally 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 or 3:00 p.m.). For example, a flexible work schedule in which all employees must be present from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. would have five core hours. Employees are free to arrive before the core start time and leave after the core finish time, but typically, there is a limit as to how early employees can arrive and how late they can stay. For example, an employer may dictate that employees cannot start before 7:00 a.m. and cannot stay past 9:00 p.m.

Another important characteristic that may vary widely among flexible work schedule arrangements concerns the degree of carryover. Some organizations do not permit any carryover of hours (i.e., the employee must work eight hours per day), whereas others permit carryover on a weekly basis (i.e., no requirement for eight hours per day, but employees [Page 253]must work 40 hours per week), and a few organizations even allow monthly carryover.

Recent surveys of the American workforce indicate that more than 25% of employees have the ability to change their daily work starting and ending times, and this number is increasing every year. Much of the increased offering or use of flexible work schedules is the result of societal changes (e.g., increasing numbers of women in the workforce, dual-career households). One can theorize that these changes have increased employee demands for flexibility in their work schedules so that they can better balance their work and family lives. Thus, flextime schedules are becoming more popular, and an increasing number of employees are making use of them.

However, a review of the literature reveals that certain segments of the population do not have access to flexible work schedules because of the industry they work in or the type of employment that they have (e.g., part-time versus full-time). For example, flextime schedules are used almost exclusively in nonmanufacturing organizations. This may be attributable to the fact that a flextime schedule is more difficult to implement in continuous process operations such as assembly lines. Individuals who work part-time in any type of industry are much less likely to have access to flexible work schedules. Given that manufacturing and part-time jobs are less likely to offer flexible work schedules, it is not surprising to find that employees who are female, less educated, and non-White are also less likely to have access to flexible work schedules in the United States.