Drive to aid mobility creates flexibility for employees

Drive to aid mobility creates flexibility for employees

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It’s important that days off are staggered, Kelley said. A flex schedule doesn’t necessarily mean three-day weekends.

“We have mobility problems Monday through Thursday, also,” she said. Logically, Fridays don’t seem like the best day to take off because others take off that day too. Stores will be more crowded than on a Wednesday, and it’s difficult to get a doctor’s appointment for a Friday.

White is talking to businesses and hoping enough employees throughout the city work a flex schedule that traffic will be reduced by at least 10 cars per lane every 15 minutes.

But the experiment only works if productivity stays the same or improves. After all, these are businesses.

Flex scheduling goes beyond taking care of employees’ workplace needs, Vara said; it also takes care of their personal needs, which should make for happier employees.

“I know the employee will be happier, so they will do their job better,” he said. And if they don’t, the manager can put the employee back on regular hours.

Vara talked to his managers about exploring flextime for their workers. Currently, some F&A payroll, Legal and Controller’s Office employees work flex schedules. Kelley is talking to managers in the Parks & Recreation and Health & Human Services departments, as well managers of other F&A divisions, including Canino’s.

What it takes
Sometimes Canino had to come in on her day off. People need to be flexible to work this type of schedule, Canino said, “And, in turn, the majority of the time, your boss will be flexible, too.”

The system White is encouraging includes performance measures and layers of personnel trained for the same job, ensuring that someone can take over the duties when the regular employee is off and that there’s a backup for the backup.
Kelley lists four criteria for flex schedules to work.

There has to be a culture that supports flexible schedules. Choosing to work a flex schedule can’t hurt an employee’s career. “It’s one thing to allow flexible schedules, another to encourage it,” Kelley said.
The job has to lend itself to flex hours. Jobs where there is no one to cover the shift, or no one else with knowledge of the job, or that require service only during specific hours aren’t flexible enough.
The person has to fit the role. She has to be a self-starter who understands her job well enough to do it without supervision. Her lifestyle has to fit the flex schedule. For instance, if she has to pick up the kids everyday at 4:30 p.m., a four-10s schedule might not work because she’d have to be at work at 5:30 a.m.
And a flex schedule requires a manager who can work and manage in such an environment. If the manager needs to be informed of progress at every step, this may not work.

“Flexible scheduling offers benefits to the employee, to the employer and to citizens when properly structured,” Vara said. “The employee will have more work/life balance. The employer should get increased productivity because of happier employees. Citizens see increased mobility and increased productivity. Better services at less cost.

“It’s a win-win.”

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