NON-TRADITIONAL WORKING HOURS IMPROVE EMPLOYEE MORALE & INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
Prepared for
Mr. Robert Pigg, President
Lakedale Manufacturing
1 Desert Storm Drive
Niceville, FL 33870
Prepared by
Human Resource Department
Lakedale Manufacturing
320 Ardennes Street
Arabia, NC 28357
Lakedale Manufacturing
Human Resource Department
320 Ardennes Street
Arabia, NC 28357
Mr. Robert Pigg, President
Lakedale Manufacturing
1 Desert Storm Drive
Niceville, FL 33870
Dear Mr. Pigg:
Here is the report on the productivity and morale study concerning working hours you asked us to conduct.
As you will see we have made recommendations to support the benefits of flexibility in working hours which will increase productivity and morale in the work place. This office is confident you will see the benefits in flexible working hours at the Lakedale Manufacturing Plant in North Carolina.
We really appreciate the opportunity you have given this office to conduct a study of this magnitude. If you need additional information concerning this report or in implementing our recommendations, please call us.
Sincerely yours,
Gary Gobble
Chief, Human Resources Department
Laws and Regulations
Policies and Procedures
When it comes to laws and regulations, we must keep in mind that the relationship between an employee and the organization is a contractual one. The employee and the organization must agree on the terms and conditions that will govern their relationship. This agreement is made at the time the employee is hired for a certain position. Any change or modification to the original agreement must be agreed upon by both the employee and the organization.
The laws and regulations that govern the contractual relationship come from several different sources and place constraints on the relationship. They may be statutory federal laws or state and local laws that supplement those found at the federal level. The constraints placed on the relationship are necessary. They seek to ensure a balance of power in the relationship as well as provide specific protections to both the employee and the organization. Up to this point Lakedale Manufacturing is in compliance with all federal, state and local laws.
At this time the only legislation to mandate rights to alternative working time options is the Federal Part-Time Career Employment Act of 1978. This act made reduced-time options available to all federal employees from GS-1 to GS-15. It guarantees their continued access to promotion opportunities, proportional salaries and prorated benefits.
Since there are no federal, state or local laws and regulations governing private industry on non traditional work schedules, Lakedale Manufacturing is in no way prohibited from introducing non traditional work schedules. However, each employee that chooses the new schedule must renegotiate their contractual relationship with the company. New terms and conditions must be agreed upon by both the employee and the organization as stated previously.
Before renegotiation of contracts and the implementation of a non traditional work schedule it is recommended that the current policies manual be modified, and replaced with a more family oriented, a more family friendly policies manual. New policies will ease the employees' conflicts between work and non work. They will also enhance employee loyalty as well as the organizations.
Some questions that require answers in order for the policies to be modified.
1. How are the tasks and responsibilities going to be shared?
2. How are the schedules going to be developed?
3. How do the team members communicate?
4. How are the salaries and the benefits be apportioned?
In dividing tasks and responsibilities major and minor responsibilities must be differentiated. Major responsibilities should be divided so that the work is equalized in difficulty, complexity, responsibility, and independence. Minor responsibilities can be divided according to individual preference. All team members must take initiative so that no one constantly feels like the follower or the leader. Some imbalance is probably unavoidable so there must be a trade off.
A good communication system must be in place for the team concept to work. Open, honest and detailed communication is critical and it must take place on both the interpersonal and professional levels. In addition to a regular information exchange about daily tasks, the interpersonal communication between team members is very important. It creates the core from which mutual support and trust grow. The development in the beginning may be slow, difficult and frustrating, but the rewards will be cooperation, prevention of misunderstanding, and maintenance of equilibrium between members.
Salaries could be prorated according to the number of hours an employee worked. In this case there may not be any overtime, but it must be considered. Each individual would be paid on the percentage of extra hours worked. Benefits such as Social Security , unemployment insurance, workers compensation , and disability insurance are statutory benefits and must be paid by Lakedale Manufacturing. Compensatory benefits which are wages paid for time not worked can also be prorated according to the amount of time worked by each team member. These benefits include vacation pay, sick leave and holiday pay. Another benefit to be prorated, is supplementary benefits such as insurance both health and dental.
It has been projected that by the year 2000, 75 percent of all families will be dual career families and many more will be single-parent families. The need for non traditional work schedules then becomes quite clear when this estimate for the future is combined with the past data on the growing numbers of working mothers. With well over 50 percent of our factory workers mothers, it is time for a change.
1. How are the tasks and responsibilities going to be shared?
2. How are the schedules going to be developed?
3. How do the team members communicate?
How are the salaries and the benefits be apportioned?
How To Identify Teams for Our Teamwork Project
As my colleagues have stated employees who participate in family friendly programs were absent 50 percent fewer days and were more productive. By improving performance and relying on every worker for valuable ideas, we will create a workplace where our employees will give their best.
IDENTIFYING TEAMS
How do we can identify teams for teamwork? One of the ways would be to take a course on how to set up Flextime. The Academy of Learning offers such a course online through the Internet through their New York Campus. It would show us how to incorporate teamwork into LakedaleÆs work place. On-site training is also available by calling program director Thomas Smith at 800-462-0876 or calling him directly at 608-263-7426. They can also provide customized training at our work location if we choose.
Another way would be to survey our employees. Responses to survey questions will help us in selecting team workers. This will help make implementation of the transition to flextime faster and at the same time allow employees participation.
Questions we can ask are:
What days of the week do you prefer to work?
What hours during the day are you available for work?
Do you prefer morning or afternoon hours?
What position are you assigned to currently?
What are your present job duties?
Are you willing to learn new skills and work at different tasks?
Is there any specific schedule you need?
Would you be available for over-time if needed?
TIME REPORTING
After we make selections of the teams we need to be define how we will record hours worked by these teams. How can we simplify the documentation process without having a mountain of paperwork? Since we already use Excel, we can design a flextime spreadsheet template for keeping track of hours worked by each employee. We can also buy the software from IT Resource Services. IT Resource Services offers this software in both the Mac or PC format. This spreadsheet automates all the time-consuming calculations necessary to track actual daily time worked and the balance of time accumulated under the flextime system. The spreadsheet can be printed at the end of each flextime reporting period to be submitted as the official report to Personnel Services.
RECOMMENDATION
To promote these family friendly programs, I recommend that we facilitate the team work project. I also recommend we begin the survey of our employees. To save time and man hours I believe we should contact IT Resource Services for procurement of the time keeping spreadsheet template.
