More Companies Allow Employees Flextime
May 10, 2004 -- Some days, Annette Winkelman works a few hours, heads to a personal appointment and works more in the evening. Others, she works extended hours so she can take off later in the week to attend her children's school activities.
At professional services firm Deloitte & Touche, where she is Chicago technology leader for information technology services, Winkelman has been able to arrange her own schedule for more than five years.
"It's taken some creativity, and now I successfully can do my job, take care of my children and have some personal time, amazingly enough," she said.
In the world of flexible work, the traditional 9-to-5 no longer means working in an office — or even during those times. Increasingly, employees can set their own hours, work from home and take some time for their families during regular business hours.
Employers claim flexibility helps them retain their best workers by keeping them happy, and those who take advantage of such allowances say it makes the balance of work and home lives easier to attain.
A Growing Trend
The Families and Work Institute recently studied American businesses and rated them as "effective workplaces" based on such criteria as job autonomy and learning opportunities. It found 43 percent of U.S. employees have access to traditional flextime, up from 29 percent in 1992. Managers, professionals and people in higher-paid jobs are more likely to have the option, but other jobs can be flexible as well.
"You couldn't build an airplane in your living room, but there is more flexibility than people think," said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute.
In addition, 23 percent of employees have access to daily flextime, in which they can select their start and quit times within a range of hours on a daily basis, which is up from 18 percent in 1992.
At Deloitte, flexibility has been a goal for more than 10 years since the company tried to hold on to female employees who had been recruited at the entry level.
