It depends on the employees. If everyone is on-board with the company's mission, can respect others' own work-life balance equations, AND the work that is being done over the "flexed" time doesn't suffer, then NO, discipline is not undermined. But this is a lot of "ifs"
No, I don't. It think that those companies that allow it have tremendous trust in their employees. It takes someone who is incredibly disciplined to thrive in that type of work environment.
For the most part, if the employee or individual is disciplined, flex hours do not undermine workplace discipline. My actual observation of flex hour use proves otherwise.
I have observed employees using flex hours to the benefit of themselves and not the company. I think it should be a mutual benefit with the needs of the company being most important.
Not at all, in fact it forces the employees to be more responsible and produces a higher level of work in most cases. Every person is not on a 9 to 5 clock, time magazine did a study a few years ago and found that some people tend to work better in the early morning hours and many people are much more productive later in the day
It depends upon management. With the proper controls in place, flex time is a very valuable perk that employees will use to their advantage (which is what employees do with all compensation). Companies that offer this are likely to attract more employees.
However, lack of oversight will lead to abuse. When abuse is tolerated discipline is sacrificed. Like anything else, if expectations aren't set from the beginning and then managed over time, good results are unlikely.
IMHO Successful implementations of flex hours/time have nothing to do with "management controls" or other such nonsense. I believe it is more about the culture of performance. If you have to engineer rules around flex staffing you have already missed a bigger problem around managing performance.
Flex Staffing is such an industrial era concept. As technology advancements blur the lines between telecommuting and "regular commuting" companies will have to redefine the work week.
The focus needs to be on results, not on spending 40 hours in the office. I see lots of people making up work, wasting time in meetings, etc to fill up that time.
FlexHours can work, but there's no inevitability here. If someone else's task is waiting on your output, then that coupling needs to be managed. Which brings me to my point: any shortcoming in management will be exacerbated by this flexibility. Which is to say that shortcomings come to light (a good thing) by having their consequences amplified (to be avoided). Work that can be flexed w/o backlash is either trivial or being done by conscientious individuals.
A real double-edged sword. The ability to achieve a better work-life balance is a more efficient employee, but the less-conscientious employee can definitely take advantage of the system. Then the onus falls on the manager to balance the required outputs to ensure that the more conscientious employees don't feel undervalued and lose their work ethic. Definitely a Lot of ifs.
As with any workplace benefit, it won't fit everyone. Some people work better within the confines of a 9 - 5 schedule; others work just as hard when given the opportunity to be more flexible.
Can't remember the study, but I thnink it was Best Buy, who found that when they allowed their employees flex time and to work from home, the productivty increased and the employees actually worked more hours, albeit from a coffee shop or the gym lounge, but they worked longer hours and were more productive.
Not at all. It's perfectly possible to allow people not to come in to the office at all if employee priorities are clearly spelled out and alligned with company priorities.
It's all about accountability and outcome. If you do not define your employee accountabilities based upon the outcomes you require, and hold them to those accountabilities, then the question of flex time is not your biggest problem.
I allow my technical staff flex hours without question because it allows me to have no problems asking them to throw in extra hours on the weekend, etc. I feel they understand that I have given a little, so they don't mind throwing in extra time on weekends, etc.
It is a you scratch my back, I will scratch yours type of arrangement.
I believe if you respect your employees as adults and professional enough to handle this, it will pay off.
My company moved to a flexible work environment about 18 monhts ago. I wouldn't say it has impacted discipline in the work place, yet there is clearly a personality type who performs well in this type of environment. A person must be a self-starter and not in need of constant positive reinforcement.
Additionally, we have been challenged to retain more junior employees because of a lack of mentoring.
It depends on how you define "workplace." Gen X and Millennials work everywhere and anywhere. It probably undermines discipline at the office, the traditional workplace, but more an more the office only represents a portion of the work done.
my company has addressed flexi hours with some employees. the distict fact works well if the company itself drives the flexi time to achieve results. the flexi time i found created low productivity and higher management unable to cope with absentesim from other employees who thought they could join the flexi time group.
Bob MaGee
For international traveling what is the cheapest way to reduce cost on your regular mobile phone without having to replace the sim card? Do people use calling cards and if so what companies offer the best deals for cell phones
If you have to worry about your employees having discipline working flex hours then you hired the wrong people. Give disciplined, hard working people flex hours and they'll be happy and more productive.
25 Total
February 6, 2008 at 2:24pm by Whelan Mahoney
It depends on the employees. If everyone is on-board with the company's mission, can respect others' own work-life balance equations, AND the work that is being done over the "flexed" time doesn't suffer, then NO, discipline is not undermined. But this is a lot of "ifs"
February 6, 2008 at 2:32pm by Aimee Westbrook
Absolutely not - I would argue that it enables you to get more done
February 6, 2008 at 9:55pm by Andre Natta
No, I don't. It think that those companies that allow it have tremendous trust in their employees. It takes someone who is incredibly disciplined to thrive in that type of work environment.
February 7, 2008 at 12:42am by Jacqueline Holloway
This is an interesting question.
For the most part, if the employee or individual is disciplined, flex hours do not undermine workplace discipline. My actual observation of flex hour use proves otherwise.
I have observed employees using flex hours to the benefit of themselves and not the company. I think it should be a mutual benefit with the needs of the company being most important.
February 7, 2008 at 11:08am by Harold Bolling
Not at all, in fact it forces the employees to be more responsible and produces a higher level of work in most cases. Every person is not on a 9 to 5 clock, time magazine did a study a few years ago and found that some people tend to work better in the early morning hours and many people are much more productive later in the day
February 7, 2008 at 4:44pm by Rick Grant
It depends upon management. With the proper controls in place, flex time is a very valuable perk that employees will use to their advantage (which is what employees do with all compensation). Companies that offer this are likely to attract more employees.
However, lack of oversight will lead to abuse. When abuse is tolerated discipline is sacrificed. Like anything else, if expectations aren't set from the beginning and then managed over time, good results are unlikely.
February 8, 2008 at 11:19am by Kevin Ohannessian
Maybe not inherently, but it could. I think employees start to wonder if others are working fewer or more hours than them.
February 8, 2008 at 11:48am by Dominic Anthony Tan
I agree with Whelan, for discipline not to be undermined by flex time, there are definitely a lot of IFs that need to be addressed in a workplace.
February 8, 2008 at 12:45pm by Kris Bliesner
IMHO Successful implementations of flex hours/time have nothing to do with "management controls" or other such nonsense. I believe it is more about the culture of performance. If you have to engineer rules around flex staffing you have already missed a bigger problem around managing performance.
Flex Staffing is such an industrial era concept. As technology advancements blur the lines between telecommuting and "regular commuting" companies will have to redefine the work week.
February 8, 2008 at 4:03pm by Len v
The focus needs to be on results, not on spending 40 hours in the office. I see lots of people making up work, wasting time in meetings, etc to fill up that time.
February 8, 2008 at 6:16pm by Ben Tremblay
FlexHours can work, but there's no inevitability here. If someone else's task is waiting on your output, then that coupling needs to be managed. Which brings me to my point: any shortcoming in management will be exacerbated by this flexibility. Which is to say that shortcomings come to light (a good thing) by having their consequences amplified (to be avoided). Work that can be flexed w/o backlash is either trivial or being done by conscientious individuals.
February 8, 2008 at 7:17pm by Shaun Bala
A real double-edged sword. The ability to achieve a better work-life balance is a more efficient employee, but the less-conscientious employee can definitely take advantage of the system. Then the onus falls on the manager to balance the required outputs to ensure that the more conscientious employees don't feel undervalued and lose their work ethic. Definitely a Lot of ifs.
February 8, 2008 at 7:22pm by Carole Matthews
As with any workplace benefit, it won't fit everyone. Some people work better within the confines of a 9 - 5 schedule; others work just as hard when given the opportunity to be more flexible.
February 8, 2008 at 9:24pm by KAthi Jones
Can't remember the study, but I thnink it was Best Buy, who found that when they allowed their employees flex time and to work from home, the productivty increased and the employees actually worked more hours, albeit from a coffee shop or the gym lounge, but they worked longer hours and were more productive.
February 8, 2008 at 10:31pm by Edward Sussman
Not at all. It's perfectly possible to allow people not to come in to the office at all if employee priorities are clearly spelled out and alligned with company priorities.
February 9, 2008 at 12:11am by Richard Aten
It's all about accountability and outcome. If you do not define your employee accountabilities based upon the outcomes you require, and hold them to those accountabilities, then the question of flex time is not your biggest problem.
February 9, 2008 at 8:15am by Chris Rapp
I allow my technical staff flex hours without question because it allows me to have no problems asking them to throw in extra hours on the weekend, etc. I feel they understand that I have given a little, so they don't mind throwing in extra time on weekends, etc.
It is a you scratch my back, I will scratch yours type of arrangement.
I believe if you respect your employees as adults and professional enough to handle this, it will pay off.
February 9, 2008 at 3:53pm by Marc Hausman
My company moved to a flexible work environment about 18 monhts ago. I wouldn't say it has impacted discipline in the work place, yet there is clearly a personality type who performs well in this type of environment. A person must be a self-starter and not in need of constant positive reinforcement.
Additionally, we have been challenged to retain more junior employees because of a lack of mentoring.
http://www.strategicguy.blogspot.com
February 9, 2008 at 5:57pm by Brian Massey
It depends on how you define "workplace." Gen X and Millennials work everywhere and anywhere. It probably undermines discipline at the office, the traditional workplace, but more an more the office only represents a portion of the work done.
February 9, 2008 at 11:29pm by Kevin Milden
Work is a state of mind. Time is relevant to the people collaborating. Location is anywhere.
February 10, 2008 at 10:03am by Brian McGee
my company has addressed flexi hours with some employees. the distict fact works well if the company itself drives the flexi time to achieve results. the flexi time i found created low productivity and higher management unable to cope with absentesim from other employees who thought they could join the flexi time group.
Bob MaGee
February 11, 2008 at 1:35am by Nico Navarro
No. Lax measures, controls, agreements with regards to deliverables does. Not to mention employee behavior on both sides of the fence.
February 11, 2008 at 11:13am by Richard Stahl
For international traveling what is the cheapest way to reduce cost on your regular mobile phone without having to replace the sim card? Do people use calling cards and if so what companies offer the best deals for cell phones
February 11, 2008 at 2:45pm by James Burns
If you have to worry about your employees having discipline working flex hours then you hired the wrong people. Give disciplined, hard working people flex hours and they'll be happy and more productive.
February 13, 2008 at 2:12am by Ajit Constantine
yes it does...