Should flextime be part of your employee benefits program?

Employee benefits programs are always changing, mostly because the workforce is constantly coming up with new demands. As a result, HR departments and benefits managers have a difficult time ensuring that their perks are satisfactory for the staff and cost-effective for the enterprise as a whole.

One feature many companies have been including in their employee benefits service with greater frequency is flextime. According to a recent study conducted by Regus, 85 percent of businesses were offering this to their contributors. Sande Golgart, regional vice president for Regus, believed that it was a welcomed development.

"It's truly good news for everyone that flexible work has become the norm. Everyone benefits from this, not just the employers and employees, but families, wider society and even the environment," Golgart said in a statement.

However, the picture might not be as rosy as it appears. While many employees enjoy having flexible schedules and being able to come and go from the office as they please, it doesn't mean that the benefit is enhancing productivity or providing anything beyond increased workplace satisfaction. Flextime can actually hamstring efficiency and yield more negative results than positive ones.

What's wrong with flextime
The primary issue is that there's a negative perception that develops around workers who capitalize on flextime. Joan C. Williams, founding director of the Center for Work-Life Law at the University of California, explained to The New York Times that it's common for workers to be punished in some fashion for capitalizing on their flextime.

"Many times these policies are on the books, but informally everyone knows you are penalized for using them. I invented the term 'flexibility stigma' to describe that phenomenon," Williams said.

Employees expect accountability from their colleagues. When someone goes to work, he or she believes that everyone else is pulling their weight. Remote contributors who aren't in the office are perceived as lazy or less productive than their peers. Essentially, they are considered inefficient because no one can actually watch them work.

HR departments have to walk a fine line when it comes to flextime. Cutting the benefit entirely could anger remote employees, but allowing everyone to change their schedules on a whim can be dangerous. Ultimately, the best solution would be for HR representatives to seek feedback from the staff and use that information when creating the new company policy.