What Is A Flex Schedule? Pros, Cons, And Expert Tips

If you’re looking for a way to bring a little work/life balance to your business without sacrificing productivity, a flex schedule may be the solution.

Over the last few years, many businesses (and their employees) have realized they don’t have to rely on the standard 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule anymore. There are alternatives that, in some cases, work better than what everyone’s used to.

In this article, we discuss what makes a flex schedule a flex schedule, examine the pros and cons, and give you expert tips for making this alternate program work for your business.

Table Of Contents

• What Is A Flex Schedule?
• Pros And Cons Of A Flex Schedule
• Is A Flex Schedule Right For You?
• Expert Tips For Making A Flex Schedule Work
• Other Types Of Non-Traditional Schedules

What Is A Flex Schedule?

The flex schedule is a time-and-attendance plan that allows your employees to adjust when they work to fit their unique needs, giving them greater autonomy while on the job. It’s considered a people-first scheduling solution.

Each team member can still work eight hours per day (or 40 hours per week), but they can choose when they will clock in and when they will clock out based on a set of guidelines that you put together.

Those guidelines typically include variables such as:

• The earliest an employee can start work
• The latest an employee can end work
• Core hours when everyone has to be at work

For example, you may set up the schedule so that your team may start their day as early as 5 a.m., end their day as late as 9 p.m., and be “at work” (e.g., online or in the office) between the core hours of 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Within those parameters, one employee could begin work at 5 a.m., take a “lunch break” around 9 a.m., work through the core hours, and finish at 1 p.m., while another employee could start at 10 a.m. and finish at 6 or 7 p.m. (depending on whether they take a lunch break).

Some flex schedules require in-person work with a variation of start and end times, whereas others allow employees to work both remotely and in the office, or wholly remotely during preferred hours.

Pros And Cons Of A Flex Schedule

Although many firms are using flex schedules today, this time-and-attendance method may not be the best solution for every business. Consider these pros and cons to help decide whether a flex schedule is right for your team.

Pro #1: Productivity

When you introduce a flex schedule into your workflow, you give your team more control over their work/life balance.

Because they are able to move their start and end times around to accommodate personal obligations, your employees may feel more focused and energized. This may lead to higher levels of productivity in everything they do.

Pro #2: Work-Life Balance

As we said, with a flex schedule, employees can better balance work and home obligations. They may be able to do school drop-offs or pick-ups, go to appointments, or avoid peak commuting hours thanks to the shifted schedule.

If the flex schedule allows for some remote work, employees can cut the stressful commute out completely some days, giving them extra time to spend with their families.

Pro #3: Incentive

Offering a flex schedule can serve as an incentive that attracts top talent to your business.

New hires may still choose to work a standard 9-to-5 schedule, but having the option to switch start and end times should they need it can be the deciding factor between your business and another business.

This flexibility can also help you reach a broader pool of candidates, including specialized workers with time constraints who wouldn’t otherwise be able to consider a 9-to-5 job opportunity.

Pro #4: Morale

By design, a flex schedule gives your team members the ability to deal with personal situations outside of work that may arise on short notice.

They no longer have to worry so much about things like weather-related school delays, traffic, and how to accommodate continuing education.

As a result, team and individual morale may improve dramatically over what it was under a strict 9-to-5 schedule. And with higher morale comes greater retention rates, a big plus for businesses.

Pro #5: Attendance

With a flex schedule, your business may see an uptick in attendance.

This often happens because team members have more time to deal with situations, appointments, and emergencies that could, potentially, keep them from coming to work.

For example, under the 9-to-5 system, a mid-morning doctor’s appointment would have meant taking a sick day. But, under the flex schedule, the employee can make the doctor’s appointment and still report to work for a full eight hours.

Pro #6: Cost Reduction

Thanks to a flexible schedule, companies can also expect to see some cost savings.

With fewer people in the office, you may opt for shared workstations, saving money on furniture, overhead costs, and even rent because you may need less square footage to operate.

As stated earlier, companies using flex schedules will also see greater retention of employees, meaning less money spent on recruiting and onboarding of new employees.

Con #1: Burnout

Employee burnout is mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion that leads to a lack of enthusiasm, decreased motivation, and a general sense of displeasure with a job.

Flex schedules can sometimes lead to burnout because employees have so many work options available to them. With the potential for this much change, a team member may not be able to find the consistency needed to maintain their energy and focus.

Con #2: Distractions

Under this type of work schedule, employees may arrive and leave at all hours of the day (except the core hours, of course).

Such constant activity may serve as a source of distraction for those employees who need a quiet, consistent environment in which to do their best work.

Con #3: Setup

Setting up any alternative type of schedule can be incredibly complicated at first. It may take some trial and error to get the variables (i.e., start time, end time, and core hours) arranged in a way that works well for your business and your team.

Give yourself plenty of time and freedom to develop the schedule so that it works for everyone involved.

Con #4: Tracking

As we’ve touched on in this article, tracking time and attendance in a flex schedule can be just as complicated and time-consuming as the setup.

You can overcome this difficulty by also incorporating a good time-tracking app — like Inch — into the workflow.

Con #5: Poor Relationship Building

Another con when it comes to flex scheduling is that it can be harder to build team relationships and company loyalty.

Sitting next to one another and even gossiping at the water cooler has been a tried and true way to build one’s “work family.” People not only share about work challenges and get impromptu input from colleagues, but they also share about their personal lives.

When employees are coming and going according to their own schedules, there’s less time to make these connections and build trust and empathy for one another.

If they have limited time overlapping, the time will be spent on whatever task they need to collaborate on.

Flex schedules also make it more challenging to build company loyalty. Much of company loyalty has to do with coworkers rather than the business itself. This means if employees don’t build strong relationships with colleagues, they’re less likely to be attached to the company.

Con #6: Potential For Miscommunication

Of course, the less people overlap the more likely they are to misunderstand an instruction or misinterpret what is needed. This can result in frustration and unnecessary rework.

In order for flex schedules to work their best, the management team must invest in easy, convenient communication methods to avoid time wasted.

Con #7: Scheduling Conflicts

When everyone on your team comes and goes at different times depending on their preferred hours, it can be difficult to schedule a meeting that everyone can attend.

Is A Flex Schedule Right For Your Business?

As we said, this type of work schedule is not right for every business. Here are some things to consider when deciding whether to implement a flex schedule.

Business Operations

First, you’ll want to consider how your business operates. Ask yourself a few questions:

• Do you need your employees on-site at the same time to get the job done?
• Are there hours that you need to be open to the public in order to provide customer service?
• Does your work require a lot of in-person meetings or interactions?

With businesses like retail and restaurants, this type of schedule is a little more challenging, as your employees must be on site when the customers are there.

Communication Style

Your communication style is also important in making this decision. If your team isn’t all on-site at the same time, it can be harder to communicate with one another.

You’ll want to ensure you have mechanisms in place to bridge that challenge.

Management Style

You’ll also want to think about what kind of manager you are and how you evaluate an employee’s work.

If you’re someone who values face-to-face interactions and has a hard time trusting that work will be done off-site or out of sight, you may have challenges implementing a flex schedule.

This being said, Inch can be a great assist for communicating with employees and keeping track of hours and tasks.

Expert Tips For Making A Flex Schedule Work

If you decide this time management method is right for you, here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your flex schedule.

1) Consider Business Needs

Before implementing a flex schedule for your team, consider the needs of your business and how such a plan will affect the way you work.

Consider, for example, the possibility that a majority of your employees choose to work early hours leaving your business short-staffed in the afternoon and early evening hours.

On the other hand, the majority of your employees may choose to work late hours when your customers and other businesses aren’t active. How will that impact your business?

To plan for these variables, you may need to tweak the flex schedule so that your team has fewer start and stop options throughout the day (e.g., they can start work as early as 7 a.m. and work as late as 7 p.m.).

2) Start With Core Time

If your business relies on collaboration to get the job done, you’ll need to include core time in your flex schedule.

Core time is a set range of hours during which all team members must be at work. Depending on the needs of your business, your core time may be anywhere from one hour to four hours or more in duration.

This will give your employees the opportunity to gather as a unit and work together on whatever projects they’ve got going.

3) Get Your Team’s Input

As this is a schedule style intended to make your employees’ work time better and more tailored to them, it makes sense to get their input before implementation. Giving them a voice at the beginning may help you come up with a plan that works for everyone.

4) Train Your Team

There are plenty of different ways for your employees to execute a flex schedule — that’s the beauty of it. But the wide range of options can also be confusing at first.

Provide plenty of training for your team so they understand the ins and outs of this unique work plan and set up a central resource (such as an employee handbook) they can access with any questions or issues they might encounter along the way.

5) Simplify Time And Attendance Tracking

Without the right solution, time and attendance tracking in a flex schedule can be extremely complicated — especially for those who don’t report to the office every day.

To simplify things, many modern time and attendance apps are now available in the cloud for all your team members to access wherever and whenever they need it.

These apps can transform any digital device into a time clock so your employees can clock in or out wherever they are and track time on task whenever they work.

Some apps — like Inch — even let you set up restrictions and geofences so that your employee can’t clock in or out unless it’s the right time and they’re in the right location.

Other Types Of Non-Traditional Schedules

If a flex schedule isn’t the right fit for your business, it does not mean you’re bound to a 9-to-5 schedule. In fact, there are several non-traditional schedules that could support your business needs and improve productivity and work-life balance among your employees.

Here are a few to consider.

1) Split-Shift Schedules

A split-shift schedule is one where an employee works two or more periods of the day, separated by a gap of time. For instance, they might work from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then return to work from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This is common practice in restaurants, where duties are concentrated around mealtimes.

2) Rotating Shift Schedule

With a rotating shift schedule, employees will rotate around different shifts at set intervals. This can be a good solution to handle less desirable shifts, as the schedule is arranged both predictably and equitably.

A rotating shift schedule also has the extra benefit of ensuring that all of your employees have experience working each of the shifts so that everyone is trained to step in if ever needed in an emergency situation.

3) On-Call Schedule

An on-call schedule is just what it sounds like. Used as a supplement to a regular schedule, an on-call schedule assigns one resource to be available to work in case of emergency or immediate need.

An on-call schedule is common in industries that operate 24/7, such as healthcare and IT.

4) 9/80 Schedules

A 9/80 schedule is one where work is variably concentrated over a two-week period, resulting in additional time off. Basically, instead of scheduling employees to work 80 hours over 10 days, you schedule them to work 80 hours in nine days.

Practically, it looks like this: In week one, an employee would work four nine-hour days and one eight-hour day. Then, during week two, they work four nine-hour days, after which they get a day off.

5) 4/10 Schedules

A 4/10 schedule is similar to the 9/80 schedule. It allows employees to concentrate their work time over four longer days rather than the standard five-day schedule.

Employees working a 4/10 schedule get an additional day off at the cost of 10-hour days.

6) 2-2-3 Schedule

A 2-2-3 schedule is used primarily for businesses that operate around the clock, such as a hospital.

Employees are part of teams that work 12-hour shifts with two days on, two days off, and three days on for week one, and then two days off, two days on, and three days off for week two.

For the following two weeks, the schedule begins again with the team assigned to night shifts instead of day shifts. This is certainly one of the more complex scheduling options and, therefore, requires strict attention to detail when adopting it.

7) Shift Bidding

Shift bidding is yet another type of schedule that puts your employees in the driver’s seat. With shift bidding, the needed shifts are shared with the team, and employees claim the shifts that they want.

This method may not result in all of your shifts being filled, and you may need to assign the balance, but it can help with employee satisfaction because of the sense of control they have over their work hours.

Shift bidding is most frequently used in industries like hospitality, retail, security, manufacturing, construction, and healthcare.

Manage Your Team With Inch

Incorporating a flex schedule into your existing workflow isn’t as hard as it may at first seem. The key is to harness the power of a cloud-based employee and task management app, like Inch.

With Inch, employees can access the app anywhere, anytime from any phone, mobile device, laptop, or desktop computer that’s connected to the internet. They can view the schedule, work from a shared task list, communicate with you and their coworkers, and much more.

On the manager’s side of things, Inch gives you the ability to track hours worked, monitor attendance, and coordinate the activities of your team wherever they — and you — are located at the moment.

Such features make managing your field-service team, remote team, distributed team, and in-office team easier than ever before, regardless of whether they work a flex schedule or not.

For more free resources to help you manage your business better, organize and schedule your team, and track and calculate labor costs, visit TryInch.com today.