A flexible work schedule allows employees to choose when they work, as long as they put in their hours every week.
Benefits to Employers
- Increases productivity Improves the bottom line
- Improves recruitment
- Increases retention, reducing turnover costs
- Reduces employee absenteeism
- Improves relationships with co-workers
- Increases morale, loyalty, commitment
- Increases overall job satisfaction
Benefits to Children
- Improves physical and social emotional health, through parental stress reduction
- Reduces obesity
- Improves education, through increased parental engagement
Benefits to Parents/Families
- Improves health
- Increases happiness and job satisfaction
- Reduces stress
- Allows employees to care for sick or elderly family members
- Improves family economic security
Range of Practices in the United States
In a 2017 survey of more than 900 US employers with 50 or more employees, small employers (50–99 employees) were more likely than large employers (1,000 or more employees) to offer all or most employees the ability to change start and stop times.
Availability of workplace flexibility has grown slightly over the last five years. As of this year, just over half of all workers (55 percent) have flexibility during core business hours, and 27 percent have flexibility outside of core business hours.
Part-time workers have less access to flexibility overall (39 percent), as do less skilled and low-wage workers.
This can be extra stressful for low-wage workers, who are just as likely to have responsibilities for child care as high- wage employees, but have fewer financial resources and are less likely to have a partner or spouse who can share family work.
