Flextime Is Green–Tip of the Week

You may not have known that flextime has a color, but it does.  It’s green.  Because it is, it helps employers help the environment, and it helps employers recruit younger employees, who make up a large part of the green generation.

Shortening the workweek has become a strategy for cutting costs and saving the environment.  Young people, who adore flexible work schedules, may even come to adore their employers when they let their employees be more flexible and at the same time be environmentally sensitive.  It also makes employers seem more hip to the global marketplace and a hypercompetitive world.

We’re talking about four day workweeks.  We’re talking about giving employees every other Friday off.  We’re talking about allowing employees to stagger schedules even though the employer may be open or operate five days a week.  We’re talking about allowing employees to vary their start or ending times.

Let’s recap.  Flextime reduces gas usage.  It improves employee morale.  It’s a hit with Gen Yers, who value flexible work hours the way boomers value overtime.  It cuts operating costs.  It decreases turnover.  It reduces your carbon footprint.

Don’t jump in the green waters too quickly, however.  Make sure that flextime is right for your business.  Make sure it will reduce costs and work to your employees’ advantage.  Consider whether your employees will be as productive on flexible schedules.  Examine the long-term impact on your organization.  Get employee input.  Get it right.  Once you follow the green path of flexible work schedules, it’ll be awfully hard to turn back.