after seeing the two younger children off to school. Dickson, a self‐styled “night person” who takes evening courses for his job as a computer programmer, leaves the house about 9 A.M. With four children aged 6 to 15 years, the Dickson seem sold on flextime.
There is some evidence that stress is reduced and time spent with children and family members increased by as much as one hour a day with flexible working hours, but we are just beginning to look at these questions.”Īnn and James Dickson have been looking at the question since 1973 when their employer, Pitney Bowes, offered the flexible scheduling system to the 800 white‐collar workers in its office machine manufacturing business. “One of the most frequent problems of workers - women or men who have charge of kids - is that their work and home schedules don't mesh. Research on the effect of flextime on working mothers and dual‐career families is also scant, according to Professor Nollen. “People just said, ‘Well, flextime is good because it increases morale and job satisfaction.” “Only recently have people begun to pay attention to the dollars and cents implications of flextime,” the associate professor of business at Georgetown University said in an interview. Stanley Nollen, based his conclusions on surveys of 445 companies and the opinions of more than 10,000 workers and 500 supervisors.
Moreover, an article in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review reports that, although only 20 percent of businesses instituting flextime did so to increase productivity, such an increase has been one of the positive results for many. Some workers go shopping, he said, others transport children from kindergarten to day‐care centers and at least 100 runners pound the company's two‐mile track through the woods.Ī nationwide survey of 805 companies, published last year by the American Management Association, found that flextime improved employee mo rale and productivity while reducing absenteeism, lateness and turnover. Campbell said, adding that peak use of flexible time occurs during the two‐hour lunch period. “If you bank enough hours, you can work from 9:30 to 4 for quite a while,” Mr. Of the company's 1,500 employees, roughly 900 make some use of the flexible system, which requires them to keep weekly records of hours worked and allows them to accrue or owe up to 600 hours in a time bank. “All the lab people come in early and all the financial people come in late.” “It's a strange thing,” said Cary Campbell, personnel manager of the colors and chemicals division. In practice, Sandoz workers tend to follow their own biological clocks. In theory, an employee may chose to work from 7:30 to 4 on Monday and from 9:30 to 6 on Tuesday. in East Hanover, N.J., a Swiss‐owned manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, dyestuffs and chemicals, the core period runs from 9:30 A.M. Although the system varies from company to company and from department to department within some companies, it generally allows employees to set their own starting and quitting times, provided they work during the “core” periods.Īt Sandoz Inc. Popularly known as “flextime” or “flexitime,” this alternative work system originated in Europe in 1967 and later spread to this country, where it has become a way of life for an estimated 2.5 million to 3.5 million workers. If nothing appeals, they can always sit and contemplate the joys of a job with flexible hours. And Tony and Laurie Di Silvestro, who met through the Nestle Company bowling league, are taking advantage of a sale at a White Plains furniture store.Įlsewhere around the metropolitan area, other full‐time employees have left their desks to visit doctors and dentists, get haircuts, work out at the gym, attend college classes, shop for groceries, see a movie, whatever they care to do. Jane Birch, an executive secretary, is driving along a Westchester highway on the way to her daughter's day‐care center. on a Friday and A number of perfectly businesslike people have skipped out of the office to do A number of unbusinesslike things.Ī customer service representative named Ann Dickson is home in Stamford, Conn., watching “Another World,” her favorite television soap opera.
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