Flexible Schedules to Bite the Dust?

Just yesterday, in my “Tip of the Week” post, I advocated the use of flexible schedules as an alternative to layoffs, to be added to the other alternatives I’ve posted about in the past. On the same day, the Washington Post reported that employers are increasingly using flexible schedules as a criterion for cutting jobs, thus causing a state of “silent fright” among employees who have flexible schedules or who might be inclined to ask for flexibility.

Though a limited number of employers are using flex time and telecommuting to contain costs and though a decades-long trend had been moving toward more flexibility, employers are now looking at flex time and telecommuting as merely retention tools, something no longer needed when the fear of unemployment serves the same purpose with less hassle.

So, a new trend has developed. Workers are giving up flexible arrangements or not asking for them in the first place for fear that their employers will think flexibility equates to less commitment to a job. Some employees who maintained the flexible schedules they already had have been laid off. The perception is that, in this time of crisis, employees need more face time at work, need to work as many hours as they can, need to make themselves indispensable, and need never complain.

One consultant summed it up this way: “Most employers, when it comes to any initiative in human resources have sort of hunkered down. They’re almost paralyzed because they dont’ know what’s happening.” Most of these employers, I’m willing to bet, have something in their mission statements about employees being their most important asset.