Flex-time, schmex-time
Be honest, if you are not a parent, when someone in your office says they have to leave early to attend their child’s birthday party, or worse that crucial meeting occurs on a Tuesday, which is your colleague’s work from home day, your eyes roll a little, come on you know you do.
But if you are an employee who has children or you are the care-taker of an elderly parent — Flex time can be a life-saver.
In many companies, “Flex Time” is a benefit given to employees who need a certain amount of balance between their personal and professional lives. It’s a incalculable benefit if you are an employee, but if you are the boss, the rules change significantly. In the May issue of O Magazine, writer Suzy Welsh provides advice to on how flex time needs to be both administered and observed.
Did you know for instance:
- Technically, flextime is full-time work, or close to it, but with an elastic, negotiated schedule. Still, some employees persist in seeing flextime as if it were a part-time deal in terms of hours or, worse, from a boss’s point of view, as a defined benefit, like the company dental plan.
Or this:
- Your boss sees flextime as an old-fashioned chit system in which the more you deliver, the more freedom you earn. To be blunt—no matter what the official company policy, bosses see flextime as a reward for outstanding performance. They don’t particularly like giving it to average players, and they loathe giving it to the barely-hanging-in-theres.
If you get a chance, check out this article, but more importantly, speak to your boss about what the policies are and how they can affect your work/home situation. You could be thinking one thing and your boss and colleagues could be thinking another. There may be some resentment that you may have to smooth out, or you may just have to re-think what your options are and what is expected.
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POSTED IN: Fabulous Coffee Break, Fabulous Work Life Balance
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