Flexi-jobs good business

Vikki Walton successfully manages flexible work hours so she can spend more time with (from left) Joshua (3), Brittany (9) and Olivia (7). Picture / Dean Purcell

In the tight job market where employees are pulled between work, family and other concerns, flexible work arrangements are becoming more popular. And it's not just the employees who benefit.

Brent Miller, human capital consultant with Watson Wyatt, says flexitime is key to happier workers.

"All of our research tells us that the whole flexible workplace idea is becoming more popular, here and internationally. If you look at what drives a successful working environment, flexible working hours probably score more highly than anything else."

Flexitime includes any working arrangement other than the standard nine-to-five full-time job with a permanent contract.

With today's job candidates now receiving two and three employment offers at a time, flexibility can well be a deciding factor for them.

But giving employees leeway and a sense of autonomy does not have to come at a cost to the employer, Miller says.

"I think in general once they get over the initial concerns, once they get over the fear of losing productivity, they see increased productivity."

For some small or medium-size organisations, flexitime often just springs up organically because management know their people and recognise their needs.

Vikki Walton has three small children and wanted a job which would allow her to balance her responsibilities as a mother, as well as her career.

She began working as the office manager for Frog Recruitment, initially for three days a week then increased that to four. As her children grew, her situation changed.

"As my children reached school age, it became apparent I wanted to be there for them after school. I now work nine till three, five days a week."

Walton also works from home each Thursday which gives her the time she needs with her family.

"I can log in [to work] from home and have my children in bed sick and I can hop backwards and forwards and meet everybody's needs. That's just the reality of it really. I wouldn't have it any other way."

And just because she is at home doesn't mean she is not accessible to colleagues.

"They realise that I reply to them instantly. They can call me on my cellphone or on the landline. I leave work on Wednesday with a huge box of stuff and I come in on Friday with that same box. It's really business as usual."

And with an open plan office, working from home has an added advantage.

"Having me available on email but not there means I can get things done that are perhaps a bit more of a private nature but still be 100 per cent available by email and phone."

Chris Robson is a designer of recruitment solutions at Frog and says that in Auckland, flexible working arrangements are especially handy.

"With the Auckland traffic, employers often allow flexibility around staffing times."

Robson said the flexibility issue is now being raised from the point an employer asks for help in finding staff.

"For Frog Recruitment trying to fill job vacancies, we are educating employers to think laterally. We will ask them if they are willing to accept someone part time or someone who will need time to do studies."

Those workers who cannot commit to full-time work include mature workers, whom Robson said are often experienced and loyal.

With traffic, raising children and other stresses, Walton has found flexibility key to maintaining her work/life balance.

"Nine to five is not an ideal situation. Especially if you want to be a good parent, it's just too stressful. Something has to give."

But flexitime is not just a benefit to employees. Employers who have implemented flexitime are reporting some astounding results. That was certainly the case with Methanex, says public affairs manager, Gerry Kennedy.

"Nowadays I think most companies look at things like wages and benefits and are obviously trying to be employers of choice. But really this [flexitime] is something that can boost morale and make you more appealing to your workforce and it's not difficult to do."

Methanex produces the petrochemical product methanol and has 81 staff spread between Auckland and Taranaki. Kennedy says flexitime is open to all employees and more than half the workforce is now using it.

But it doesn't always work first time. Kennedy says sometimes what workers think they want isn't actually what they need.

For instance, a four-day week working 10 hours a day was the first pick for the maintenance group at Methanex. Imagine, a three-day weekend every week. What could be better?

But workers in the plant found the 10-hour days were too hard and went to a nine-day fortnight. Kennedy said that has been a big hit.

"It has worked so well that in a global survey we conducted, one of the questions was, 'Are you satisfied with the hours that you work?' In the maintenance department 90 per cent of them said they were absolutely pleased with the hours."

To make flexitime work also requires a certain level of trust between the employee and employer. Last September, computer company Toshiba commissioned a study called Mobility and Mistrust which found that out of 198 workplaces in New Zealand, 35 per cent had flexible workplaces.

James Cowley, researcher for the research and consulting group Instinct and Reason and an adviser on the Toshiba study, said the level of trust in the workplace has probably not changed in the past 12 months and managers need to look at output rather than hours.

"The way you build trust is first training managers to think in terms of output.

"Managers quite often look at a team of people sitting there looking at their computers and have this mythology these people are working.

"But in fact, half of them may have their minds on skiing. Whereas if somebody is out of sight, the mythology is that you don't think that they're working."

Cowley has a warning for managers who think this way.

"I think the reality is some managers will never trust. But even back in the 1990s when I was running a flexible organisation, that sort of manager had no future, an old-style manager who was a dinosaur. You either moved them into a different role or you never employed them."

For those managers who are willing to be flexible, Cowley suggests starting in a small workable group to implement the system with at least one senior executive.

"Establish the potential benefits to the employer and employee. Then go through an individual work group or a team and see who would be interested.

"Then it should go back to the senior executive team so that they can be the drivers of the system.

At Methanex, Kennedy stressed the importance of doing your homework first.

"I would say to any company that is looking at doing this, go and talk with a company that is already operating it and see how they did it. Don't just go into it without a plan."