| Working Families' Flexibility Act |
As a result of soaring fuel costs, employers are suddenly becoming more open to employee requests for more flexible work schedules. A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 26 percent of businesses are offering flexible schedules to help employees cope with high gas prices. Across the nation, local governments are altering work schedules to save energy and cut costs. Utah’s Republican Gov. John Huntsman recently announced that most state employees will be moving to a mandatory four-day work week to reduce the state’s energy consumption, while also providing workers with greater flexibility.
The Working Families’ Flexibility Act would help working families across the country by putting a process in place for employees to request a change in their work schedules and providing job protection when making the request. Nearly 80 percent of workers say they would like to have more flexible work options and would use them if there were no negative consequences at work, according to the Families and Work Institute. However, close to 40 percent of workers surveyed believe they would be less likely to advance in their career if they asked for flexibility.
Research has shown that even a modest change in an employee's work schedule, such as starting and leaving work half an hour earlier, or the ability to work from home a few days a month, could make a significant difference in a working parent or caregiver's life, and could even determine whether or not a parent or caregiver can stay in the workforce.
More and more, businesses are finding that flexible work schedules and other family-friendly programs are good for the bottom line too. These policies can be effective tools in reducing turnover and tardiness and increasing productivity, job satisfaction, and company loyalty. What’s also coming to light are the ways in which these policies can help companies cut energy costs, ease traffic congestion, and reduce their carbon footprints. Moreover, in the current downturn, establishing a policy to allow workers to request flexibility might uncover some labor cost savings that otherwise may not have come to light.
We can raise awareness of the rising need for flexible work schedules, without placing an undue burden on businesses. The UK has found that their "right to request flextime" policy has been extremely effective: over 80 percent of requests have been approved and over 80 percent of employers report no adverse effect from the legislation. Moreover, there are very likely only minimal administrative costs associated with this legislation for both business and government.
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