Advantages of Flextime
Flextime schedules can benefit employees and employers alike. Their main advantages include:
1. Better Work-Life Balance
Flextime schedules, as the name suggests, offer employees additional flexibility in their work schedules. This can, in turn, give employees more control over their daily schedules and a better shot at improving their work-life balance. It also allows them to easily shift priorities when necessary.
Additionally, there are studies that show flexible schedules can positively impact employee well-being and reduce their stress levels.
2. Reduced Commuting Time
Flextime work hours allow employees to avoid rush-hour traffic, reducing the overall duration of their commutes. Employees working on a flexible schedule will waste less time in transit, will produce a lower carbon footprint, and will ultimately feel less stressed about the entire commuting experience. According to some studies, lower commuting times have also been associated with better mental health and overall well-being.
3. Great for Working Parents
Working parents can greatly benefit from flextime schedules. Instead of focusing on their own preparations for work and their morning routine, they can spend more time with their kids and get them ready for school or kindergarten.
4. Reduction in Absenteeism
Greater flexibility in work hours allows employees to attend to their personal affairs (e.g., in the case of an emergency) without having to take a day off. This has a direct correlation with a reduction in absenteeism.
5. Attracts Diverse Talent
Flextime can help employers attract better talent, as a lot of people/potential employees view flexible schedules as a work benefit.
6. Increased Employee Autonomy
By entrusting employees with the responsibility of managing their work hours and workload, flexible schedules promote employee autonomy.
7. Increased Employee Productivity
Instead of performing their job obligations during regular working hours (9-5), employees on flextime schedules have the ability to pinpoint exactly what their most productive working hours are and then do the majority of their tasks during those hours.
And, to discover when in the day they are most productive, they can use time-tracking apps to help them record and analyze their work patterns. With that data, they’ll be able to identify exactly when they are most effective. If they focus their efforts during those “peak hours”, their productivity will increase.
Disadvantages of Flextime
1. Complicates Various Work Processes
Flextime can, in some cases, end up complicating various types of work processes and operations. For example, if a company organizes a morning meeting and requires everybody to be in attendance, this could pose a problem to all employees that have planned to start their work day later, (e.g. in the afternoon).
This situation can also prove tricky for the managers tasked with organizing such a meeting, as they will have to take into account many different work schedules.
2. Can Make Employees Feel Isolated
Because of the variety in work schedules (or, their start and end times), co-workers could end up seeing each other rarely or not at all. This could influence collaboration and make it more difficult for managers to keep the team cohesive. It can also make employees feel isolated, prevent them from making work friends, and weaken their work relationships.
3. Communication Issues
Flextime can lead to gaps in communication and delayed responses to emails and work messages. It can also make it more difficult to get a hold of colleagues or team members when dealing with urgent situations that require their immediate input.
4. Difficulty in Tracking Work Hours
Managing attendance, tracking and recording work hours can be more complex with flexible work schedules. This can ultimately lead to administrative and payroll issues. One way to avoid this pitfall is to use time-tracking apps that allow employees to track their work hours in a convenient way.
How to Implement Flextime Into Your Business?
