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<\/p>\nWhen Rachael Sobon, SHRM-CP, started her job as the first human resources (HR) professional at CRP Industries 10 years ago, she quickly saw room for improvement.<\/p>\n
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Sobon understood that the daily deadlines of a bustling warehouse required many of the Cranbury, New Jersey\u2013based company\u2019s 180 workers to be onsite at certain hours. However, she also believed that some policies at CRP, a third-generation family business that distributes after-market auto parts, were too rigid for the company\u2019s own good.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of attendance issues,\u201d Sobon recalls. Because there was no provision for taking just an hour or 2 off at a time, employees would often take a sick day to run errands or go to routine appointments. Many would use up their time off by summer, so when the holidays rolled around, they took leave without pay. \u201cThat hurts the business when we can\u2019t schedule out the manpower,\u201d Sobon says.<\/p>\n
Decades-old policies intended to ensure proper staffing levels were backfiring, Sobon says. So, with support of the company\u2019s President, she introduced a paid-time-off policy that allows employees to take accrued leave in half-hour increments. \u201cWhether they\u2019re sick or going to a school play or the cable person is coming\u2014it just gives them flexibility so they\u2019re not stuck in a situation where they have to pretend they\u2019re ill or make up a story,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
Sobon also rolled out an option for employees to work a compressed, 4-day schedule in the summer and take part in staggered work shifts starting between 6:30 and 9:00 a.m., depending on the requirements of the job. And because workers are cross-trained in all the warehouse positions, they can move from one role to another as needed.<\/p>\n
Within a year of implementing the changes, \u201cwe basically stopped writing warning letters for attendance,\u201d Sobon says. \u201cFast-forward 10 years, and we have everything online\u2014all of our warehouse employees use the app on their phone, so on a Saturday or Sunday if something comes up, they can put in a request through our system to say, \u2018I\u2019m going to be off a few hours on Monday morning,\u2019 giving that manager a little bit of a heads-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past decade, the drumbeat has been growing louder for more flexibility in the U.S. workplace. Driven by demand from Millennials\u2014who now represent the largest generation in the labor force\u2014many employers are offering a range of scheduling options to attract and retain top talent in a competitive employment market. According to the Families and Work Institute\u2019s (FWI\u2019s) 2014 National Study of Employers, more than 80% of employers with at least 50 workers allowed at least some employees to take paid time off for personal and family needs or to periodically change when they start and end the workday.<\/p>\n
Yet experts say there\u2019s a gap between companies\u2019 stated policies and their willingness to embrace flexibility in practice, particularly for individuals in blue-collar occupations\u2014jobs that often involve manual labor and tend to pay by the hour.<\/p>\n
According to FWI President Ellen Galinsky, blue-collar workers are much less likely to have such flexibility\u2014\u201cwhich is sad,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause [they] need it most.\u201d After all, working-class employees tend to be those who can least afford child care and are more likely to be balancing a second job or classes to advance in their careers. Some obstacles seem inevitable: Plumbers and electricians can\u2019t ply their trades from home, for example, and certain roles will always need to be filled at fixed times\u2014such as bus drivers during the morning rush hour.<\/p>\n
Yet as Sobon\u2019s experience at CRP Industries shows, those realities don\u2019t render all forms of flexibility impossible. Indeed, HR professionals can lead their companies in rethinking long-held assumptions about the scheduling of blue-collar workers. Doing so can benefit both employees and the business.<\/p>\n
That has certainly been true for Badger Balm, a manufacturer of natural body care products with 90 employees in Gilsum, New Hampshire. The company offers many benefits geared toward work\/life balance, most notably its Babies at Work program, which allows new parents to bring their infants onsite.<\/p>\n
When people ask Emily Hall Warren, SHRM-SCP, the company\u2019s Director of Administration, about the business case for such generous policies, she is quick to reframe the question. \u201cWe don\u2019t do it for return on investment\u2014we do it because it\u2019s the right thing to do for people,\u201d she says. As a certified B Corporation recognized for its ommitment to social and environmental issues, Badger Balm aims to do more than just maximize shareholder value.<\/p>\n
That said, Hall Warren touts the benefits to the bottom line as well. \u201cThe retention rate is phenomenal\u201d\u2014the company\u2019s annual attrition a mere 7.2%, she says\u2014\u201cand our recruiting costs are almost nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Badger Balm attracts employees, particularly Millennials, who are driven to work for organizations that they believe are making a difference in the world and that optimize their quality of life. \u201cWe get overqualified employees who want to work here for those reasons,\u201d Hall Warren says, adding that 20% of staff in the shipping department have graduate degrees.<\/p>\n
Retention is generally the top reason employers give for developing policies around flexibility or dependent care, according to FWI research. According to the institute\u2019s 2008 survey results, which represent the most recent data available, 39% of employers with at least 8 flexibility initiatives in place said their primary reason for offering the policies was \u201cto retain employees,\u201d and 15% said it was \u201cto recruit employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allowing employees some degree of control over their schedules can also reduce unplanned absences, as the managers of Globe Firefighter Suits discovered 9 years ago. That\u2019s when the 430-employee manufacturer of emergency response uniforms gave its workers flexibility in their start times.<\/p>\n
But how can you keep an assembly line moving if some people start at 6:00 a.m. and others don\u2019t arrive until 2 hours later?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was our objection for 120 years: We were concerned that there\u2019d be a bottleneck somewhere,\u201d says HR Manager Gayle Troy, who has worked at the Pittsfield, New Hampshire\u2013based company for 31 years. \u201cWhat we finally wrapped our brains around\u2014and it was difficult to get there\u2014is if a particular employee\u2019s job is setting sleeves on fire suits and she comes in later than everybody else, she\u2019ll come in to some work piled up at her workstation, but she\u2019ll finish it by the end of the day. So it works.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most employees at Globe still opt to start at 6:00 a.m. so they can finish by 2:30 p.m.\u2014in time to meet the school bus or tend to other responsibilities or just enjoy more free time during the day. But being given a choice is a big morale booster, and the workers are happier overall and less likely to quit than they were before. The company also offers a flexible time-off policy that has decreased absenteeism.<\/p>\n
At Softstar Shoes, a maker of handcrafted \u201cminimal footwear\u201d based in Philomath, Oregon, at least one-third of the 28 employees work part time. The company offers flexible start times and leeway to leave in the middle of the day\u2014major selling points in attracting workers, many of whom have hobbies or side businesses in other crafts, says HR Manager Sarah Mason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I hire people, I tell them that, although they will never become millionaires working here, one of the biggest benefits is the flexibility that comes with the job, and also loving your work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
So why haven\u2019t more employers with blue-collar workers adopted such policies? In many cases, they simply haven\u2019t needed to. Companies are generally most willing to integrate flexibility options for occupations where there is a labor shortage, according to the research of Ellen Kossek, a Professor of Management at Purdue University\u2019s Krannert School of Management. Although there will always be a cost to hiring new employees, going the extra mile to retain workers becomes more important when there isn\u2019t a long line of applicants ready to replace them. \u201cThat\u2019s why you see more experimentation in nursing than construction\u2014because of the shortage of workers in nursing,\u201d Kossek says.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, income pressures induce workers to put in more hours than they might otherwise prefer, says Peter Berg, a Professor at Michigan State University\u2019s School of Human Resources and Labor Relations. \u201cIf blue-collar workers find that their wages have been stagnant for the last several years\u201d\u2014as, in fact, they have been\u2014\u201cthat makes it more valuable to take the hours and work Saturday or Sunday,\u201d earning time and a half on top of 40 hours of straight-time pay.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, however, employees often don\u2019t have a choice, particularly in non-union jobs, as the employer can mandate extra hours. \u201cWhen the boss says, \u2018I need you to stay on for the next shift,\u2019 that\u2019s a real schedule flexibility killer,\u201d Berg says.<\/p>\n
Even in union shops, where collective bargaining gives workers some clout, work\/life balance and flexibility might take a back seat to other issues deemed more important in union negotiations with management, like wages and health benefits, Berg points out.<\/p>\n
And advances in scheduling software have generally not been a friend to workers, especially in the retail and service industries. Store and restaurant managers have always tried to control labor costs by staffing up or down to match the peaks and valleys of customer demand. \u201cBut now there\u2019s technology that lets retailers look at minute changes in demand and make adjustments much closer to that time than they have in the past,\u201d explains Susan Lambert, a Professor at the University of Chicago\u2019s School of Social Service Administration who studies people working in low-skilled, hourly jobs. \u201cVariations in work hours in hourly jobs look very much like instability rather than flexibility,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
Moreover, employees must balance any freedom they have to turn down shifts against their need to make a living wage. \u201cIf you say you can\u2019t work Tuesday afternoons, you\u2019re not scheduled for that time\u2014but that doesn\u2019t mean you will be scheduled for when you can work,\u201d Lambert says. The result can be a system that pits workers who can be available at a moment\u2019s notice against those who need more flexibility. \u201cPeople with outside responsibilities\u2014students, people with children\u2014are at a loss in this competition for hours,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n
HR professionals are in a good position to find flexible solutions that meet the needs of both employers and workers. A good place to start is by auditing your company\u2019s scheduling practices, which can reveal startling gaps between written policies and reality. For example, when are schedules published for employees to view? How much do hours vary week to week? What percentage of workers want more hours, and what proportion work different hours and days each week? \u201cCorporate people are often quite shocked to know how unstable and unpredictable the jobs are,\u201d Lambert says.<\/p>\n
One reason for the disconnect between what\u2019s on paper versus what\u2019s being practiced is that companies typically put far more effort into writing policies than in implementing them. For example, Berg says most supervisors he has interviewed have received no training on how to manage issues related to work\/life balance. As a result, they don\u2019t know what options they can offer to employees in different situations.<\/p>\n
By providing tools for implementing flexibility, HR can help managers deliver on the company\u2019s good intentions, communicating to employees that the organization genuinely cares.<\/p>\n
Training supervisors is also a good way to overcome the \u201cMother, may I?\u201d effect, which can occur when policies put the onus on workers to ask for flexibility. \u201cEmployees feel that \u2018You might have a policy on the books, but if I take it you\u2019ll see me as a lesser worker,\u2019\u201d says Brigid Schulte, author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time (Sarah Crichton Books, 2014) and Director of the New America Foundation\u2019s Better Life Lab. \u201cThere are a number of places that have put policies in place\u2014but they haven\u2019t figured out how to imbue the culture with an acceptance of those policies.\u201d<\/p>\n
One large retailer that does seem to have figured it out is The Container Store, based in Coppell, Texas, which last year secured the No. 14 spot on Fortune\u2019s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. All of its 5,000 employees nationwide, including the many part-time workers at the company\u2019s 86 stores, receive at least 30 hours of training\u2014not just on the nuts and bolts of their jobs but also on the company\u2019s \u201cemployee first\u201d culture, which prizes communication, says Karyn Alvarez, Director of Recruiting.<\/p>\n
Clear communication starts during hiring.<\/p>\n
Managers are upfront about current business needs, and prospective employees share their needs and hopes. When you have that 2-way conversation, \u201cthere\u2019s not a lot of surprises after the fact,\u201d Alvarez says.<\/p>\n
As workers\u2019 lives change, managers keep the lines of communication open and work to accommodate employees\u2019 scheduling needs as much as possible. \u201cMaybe they\u2019re a student in college, and one semester they have all morning classes and they ask their manager to work afternoons or evenings, and then next semester it flip-flops,\u201d Alvarez says. The supervisor is receptive to the request because she knows it\u2019s coming from a good employee in whom the company has much invested.<\/p>\n
This kind of give-and-take suggests that The Container Store has at least one quality that Kossek and her colleagues have identified in organizations that implement flexibility initiatives effectively: Employees feel that the organization supports their personal lives.<\/p>\n
The company uses Kronos\u2014the same software that some companies use to generate crazy-making schedules\u2014but leverages the technology to plan workers\u2019 timetables several weeks out, matching projected sales with who is available to work when. It also pays its hourly employees 50% more than the retail industry average.<\/p>\n
While there is no doubt that these efforts come with a significant price tag, Alvarez says they have paid off in the form of a happier and more productive workforce. \u201cIt\u2019s a win-win situation,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve heard time and time again is that our employees appreciate the time and attention our managers put into store schedules, trying so hard to fit the needs of the business and the employee together.\u201d<\/p>\n
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