Organizations can benefit from utilizing flexible work arrangements such as part time, telecommuting, job share and flex time. There are many highly skilled candidates who do not wish to work a traditional 9-5, in the office job. These individuals represent a virtually untapped labor market.
Examples of possible circumstances where employees may ask for an alternative work arrangement are:
~ Employees returning from maternity, paternity or adoptive leave,
~ Individuals having to care for elderly relatives,
~ Employees who may, due to a disability, now wish to work on a part-time basis,
~ Employees who may wish to spend more time on leisure interests.
The most popular flexible work options are as follows:
Job Share
In a job share, one full time job is shared by two individuals. This differs from a traditional part time job in that it generally is a job that can not be done on a part time basis. Thus, the partners in a job share must work very diligently to maintain strong communication so that the hand off of responsibilities is seamless.
Examples of how hours can be shared in a job share are as follows:
Half or split days, i.e. one partner working in the morning and the other partner working in the afternoon.
Half or split weeks i.e. One partner working the first 2.5 days (Monday to Wednesday morning) and the other partner working the remaining 2.5 days (Wednesday afternoon to Friday)
Two days one week and three days the next with the job sharers alternating to work the extra day.
Alternate weeks i.e. Job share partners each work one week on, one week off. This normally is on a Wednesday PM to Wednesday AM basis.
Telecommuting or Teleworking Definition
In a telecommuting arrangement, the employee works from a home office for either a portion of or all of the work week. He or she maintains a presence in the office electronically via phone, fax, pager and e-mail and is usually, at a minimum, required to participate in some quarterly, monthly or weekly meetings at the work location.
Work From Home Definition
A work from home or work at home arrangement involves working from home and differs from the teleworking/telecommuting arrangement in that it does not require that the employee stay electronically connected to the work location during business hours. Work performed is generally done independently so does not require team interaction or consistent communication. It also is more likely that the employee can live far from the actual location of the business for which he or she is working because face to face contact at the location may not be necessary.
Flex Scheduling or Flex Time Definition
This alternative work arrangement, flexible scheduling, allows an employee to work a non-traditional schedule to meet personal needs. Generally, a flexible schedule is agreed to and worked for a period of time. Some employers do, however, allow employees to shift schedules daily as personal needs require. Several kinds of Flex-Time arrangements are popular including:
Compressed Work Week: employee works a full time job in less than 5 working days. An example is 4 ten hour days.
Core Hours Schedule: An employer defines core work hours (10:00 AM to 3:00 PM for example) during which employees must be at work. Each individual can then pick an arrival and departure time, for a total of 8 hours of work per day, which meets his or her needs and includes the core hours. For instance, one employee may choose to start the day at 6:30 AM and leave at 3:00 PM (allowing 1/2 hour for lunch), while another may prefer to start at 10:00 AM and leave at 6:30.
Adjusted Lunch Period: An employee may choose to take time off in the middle of the day to work out or run errands and then adjust the start or leave time accordingly. For instance, an employee starts the day at 8:00 AM and then is off from 11-1 to go to the gym. The normal work day would then end at 6:00 PM.
Part Time Work Definition
A part time arrangement is available only when the responsibilities of a job can be decreased by giving an employee a smaller service area, fewer projects or where a section of the job can be split off and delegated to someone else. This differs from a job share in that there is less need for communication between the part time employee and co-workers. The work delegated to others can be fully separated from the part time employee's work.
Freelance or Contract Work
Freelance or contract work can be a great way to work from home. Organizations are often looking for individuals with great skills to work on short term projects. If you opt for this type of alternative work arrangement, you will not be an employee of the company. However, the advantage is that you can pick and choose the projects that you wish to bid on. Name your price, sell your skills and do the work, generally from home. If the project does not sound fun or challenging skip it! The internet has made it very easy to find this kind of alternative work arrangement.
Popular Flexible Work Arrangements and Their Definitions - To learn more about this author, visit Kirsten Ross's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Businesses - Evan Elite Authors |
|
Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|
Vwodek Wojczynski
Business Coach and Consultant Vwodek Wojczynski (pronounced Voy-chin-ski) brings fun, awareness, accountability and fresh perspectives based on his diverse experiences in life and business.
Born in Poland and educated in Greece and Canada, he is trilingual with 8 years experience in business development with clients in Canada, USA, Switzerland and Poland.
His approach is systematic and process-driven. He fuses the know-how of proven business methods with his commitment that entrepreneurs experience satisfaction and joy based on their values, motivations and strengths. He believes that businesses succeed based on their ability to generate value by providing what’s needed and wanted.
Ultimately, he trains executives and true business owners - people who work less, produce more, own businesses that run automatically after a while and make a difference globally.
His current research focus is the development of intelligent business systems and the application of emerging artificial intelligence technologies in business.
He is also an avid traveler, spoken word performer and visual artist. He resides in Toronto, Canada. - Visit Vwodek Wojczynski's Website |
|
Dianne Crampton
Dianne Crampton is an Executive Leadership Coach and Team Building Consultant and creator of the TIGERS team development model. For the past twenty years she has helped leaders and teams achieve goals with high levels of collaboration and teamwork.
Crampton is a published author. Her contribution to Working Together: Diversity As Opportunity was endorsed by Stephen Covey. She has written for trade magazines. Merrill Lynch nominated her business for Inc. Magazine’s regional small business and entrepreneurial awards. Her work with Native Americans was recognized at a United Nations sponsored conference in 1994.
The TIGERS model passed two rigorous validation studies in 1992 and 1994. The TIGERS Survey is able to measure and track team development over time.
Dianne is also the creator and distributor of the TIGERS Team Wheel game. This game helps groups identify behaviors that build collaborative groups and behaviors that cause conflict, morale problems, production failures, and misunderstandings.
For more information, or to subscribe to TigerTracks, a free monthly leadership and team newsletter go to http://www.corevalues.com - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|
The Evan Elite Authors program is currently in beta phase. For details please contact us.
|
|
|
Kirsten Ross
(Visit Kirsten's Website)
Kirsten E. Ross brings a unique blend of
energy and insight to her work with
clients. Her clients efficiently gain
self-awareness and create positive change
that empowers leaders and improves
communication and relationships. Her work
creates productive, profitable
workplaces.
She is a Leadership & HR Coach with a
Masters degree in Human Resource
Management and a Senior Human Resource
Certification. In addition, she brings
more than 17 years of hands-on experience,
has authored a variety of articles and
e-books and has been interviewed as an
expert for media such as: NBC Nightly
News, Fox 2 News, National Public Radio
and for publications such as Crains New
York Business, Working Mother Magazine and
Fitness Magazine.
Kirsten is also an experienced speaker who
will add inspiration and fun to any event
infusing humor and self-awareness
activities that keep audiences
entertained. Participants will walk away
with the targeted action plans and the
motivation to impact their lives and work.
Visit Kirsten’s coaching site:www.kir
stenross.com ">
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
