You’ve heard it a million times: Employees love flex hours. And for those employers leery about making a year-round commitment to flex scheduling, there is an alternative that’ll boost morale in the short term.
The alternative: A summer hours program.
It’s similar to a flexible work arrangement, with a few tweaks.
Two benefits of a summer hours program:
- It doesn’t require a year-long commitment, and
- It gives employees a chance to vacation and spend more time with their kids while school’s out, which is the time of year employees use flex hours most.
But just like a flexible work arraignment, several things need to be ironed out before implementation.
At the top of the list:
- Timing. Set a start and end date for the program. Suggestion: The first Monday in June through the last Friday in August.
- Them form will flex time will take on. Do you want to let employees work from home one day per week? Compress the workweek and let them leave early on Friday? Or some combination of the two?
- Goals. What performance goals will employees have to meet to make sure the program isn’t hurting business?
- Emergencies. Under what circumstances will employees have to forgo their summer hours?
- Program changes. Let employees know that the program will be under continuous evaluation and may be changed to meet business demands.
Do you think summer hours programs are a good substitute for year-round flexible work arrangements? Let us know in the Reply box below.
