Flextime plan

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Flextime (or flexitime Flexi-time) is a variable work schedule, in contrast to traditional work arrangements requiring employees to work a standard 9am to 5pm day. Under flexitime, there is typically a core period of the day when employees are expected to be at work (for example, between 10 am and 4pm), whilst the rest of the working day is "flexitime", in which employees can choose when they work, subject to achieving total daily, weekly or monthly hours in the region of what the employer expects, and subject to the necessary work being done.

A Flextime policy (when people work) can be differentiated against a Flexplace policy that allows staff to determine where they will work.

1 Flextime (or Flexitime) in the United Kingdom
2 Flextime in the United States
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Flextime (or Flexitime) in the United Kingdom

In spring 2003, 17.7% of men and 26.7% of women were employed with Flexi-time arrangements in the United Kingdom, (Office for National Statistics 2003)[1]. In the United Kingdom, flexitime working is commonplace in both the private and public sectors. The practice is often found in administrative and back office functions of commercial organisations and local councils.

In 2003 the UK Government introduced legislation[2] that gave parent of children under 6, or the parents of disabled chldren 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 [3] 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 achange to flexible working. From 6 April 2007 the law will extend the right to request flexible working to carers of adults.

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

For employers, flexitime can aid the recruitment and retention of staff. It can also help provide staff cover outside normal working hours and reduce the need for overtime. Additionally flexitime can also improve the provision of equal opportunities to staff unable to work standard hours.

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

On the debit side, flexitime can result in increased administration costs. These may include the costs of keeping records, and extra heating and lighting. Providing adequate supervision throughout the bandwidth may also be difficult. (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service 2006)

[edit] Flextime in the United States

In the United States, flextime workers, like salaried workers exempted from overtime regulations, 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 addition, the employer will usually require that a flextime employee works a minimum number of hours each 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 labor organizations such as the AFL-CIO.

In certain industries such as information technology, flextime permits workers to vary their schedule for example such as working four 10 hour days per week, this allows workers to put in enough hours Monday through Thursday and leave early on Friday. Other workers come in early such as 5 or 6 am (0500 to 0600) 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.

In the U.S., flextime generally applies only to white collar workers. It is an ongoing part of the work/life balance discussions going on in many companies.