Tag: work-life balance

What Are Flexible Work Arrangements?

Flexible work arrangements are policies, practices or informal arrangements that allow employees to have greater flexibility and control over when, where and how they work. Let’s look at whether they fit your company’s needs…

Flexible arrangements move away from the traditional 9-to-5, office-bound schedule to better accommodate employees’ real-life situations and work styles.  and promote work-life balance.

The key benefit is giving employees more autonomy to integrate their professional and personal lives in a way that works best for their circumstances and working styles.

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What Are Flexible Work Arrangement Options

Flexible work arrangements can take many forms, but some common examples include:

Remote work or work-from-home opportunities

Hybrid schedules splitting time between home and office

Flextime policies to shift start/end times

Compressed workweeks with fewer but longer days

Job-sharing between two part-time employees

Flexible Work Arrangements vs. Flexible Work Schedules

While often used interchangeably, there is an important distinction between flexible work arrangements and flexible work schedules:

Flexible work arrangements encompass any alternative to the traditional in-office, 9-to-5 structure. This includes arrangements around the work location, like remote or hybrid options that allow working from home. It covers any non-standard schedule as well.

Flexible work schedules, on the other hand, specifically refer to alternative scheduling practices for when and how employees work their required hours and days. This does not necessarily include the ability to work remotely.

For example, a compressed 4-day workweek or flextime schedule providing employees control over start/end times would qualify as a flexible work schedule, even if the work must still occur on-site. Meanwhile, a work-from-home policy is considered a flexible work arrangement, as it changes the location of the work.

The two often overlap, with many employers combining arrangement and scheduling flexibility. For instance, some may offer hybrid remote/office arrangements along with flextime schedules.

But the key distinction is that flexible arrangements deal with the where and what kind of work happens, while flexible schedules focus on when and how the work gets done within set constraints like weekly hours.

Implementing strategic flexible work arrangements and schedules has become an increasingly critical way for companies to attract and retain top talent by promoting greater work-life balance and job satisfaction. When properly structured and supported, these flexibility initiatives can boost employee engagement, productivity and well-being.

A List of Flexible Schedule Options

Here are some of the most common types of flexible work week schedules that organizations can implement to give employees more control over when and where they work:

1. Compressed Work Week

Compressed Work Weeks With a compressed schedule, employees work their standard hours but consolidate them into fewer days per week. Common examples include:

• 4/10 Schedule: Working 4 days at 10 hours per day, then taking the 5th day off each week.
• 9/80 Schedule: Working 9 hours per day for 9 days, then taking the 10th day off (80 hours over 2 weeks).

This allows employees to have an extra full day off every week or every other week while still working their full hours. It can improve work-life balance, reduce commuting time/costs, and give employees a restful 3-day weekend. However, longer daily hours may not work well for some roles or employees.

2. Flextime

With a flextime policy, employees are given a core range of hours they must be present (e.g. 10am-3pm), but can choose when to work their remaining hours before and after. This provides flexibility in:

• Start/End Times: An employee could work 7am-4pm or 9am-6pm, for example.
• Break Schedules: They can shift breaks and lunches to accommodate personal needs.
• Make-Up Time: If they need to leave early one day, they can make up those hours on another day.
• Provide “summer hours” with half days on Fridays. An extra afternoon of personal time refreshes people.

Flextime requires well-defined core hours, but otherwise gives employees autonomy over how to meet their total hours. It helps with balancing personal/family obligations.

3. Remote Work

Human Resources Consulting Pro Tip: Remote Work Options cut down on wasted commuting time and allow employees to actually contribute longer to their work product. More and more companies are allowing employees to work remotely, whether:

• Fully Remote: The employee works from home or anywhere they wish full-time.
• Partial Remote: Working remotely 1-4 days per week, and in the office the remaining days.
• Remote As Needed: An ad-hoc ability to work from home when obligations require.

Remote work eliminates commutes, provides geographic flexibility, and allows better work-life integration. However, it requires appropriate infrastructure, communication protocols, and performance management strategies.

4. Job Sharing

In a job share arrangement, two employees effectively split a full-time role, each working on a part-time schedule that allows for personal/family time. For example:

• Split Weeks: One works Monday-Wednesday, the other Thursday-Friday.
• Split Days: One works mornings, the other afternoons/evenings.

This allows employees to only work ~20-30 hours while still being engaged in their role and career path. Job shares require extensive coordination between partners.

5. Gradual Retirement / Phased Return

Some employers allow employees transitioning to retirement to slowly ramp down hours over time for a smoother transition. Similarly, new parents returning from leave may prefer gradually increasing back to full-time. For example:

• Starting at 50-60% time for a period, then increasing incrementally
• Working full-time for part of the year, then taking a partially-paid sabbatical

This gives employees more control over work-life integration during major life transitions.

Human Resources Consulting Pro Tip: A good HR consultant can help you formulate the best mix of strategies for your particular culture and then craft policies that help employees while protecting the company.

No matter which types of flexibility are offered, it’s critical for the organization to have clear policies and protocols around scheduling, handoffs, communication, performance management, and work coverage.

Be open to unconventional ideas from staff on new ways of working flexibly. Empower them to experiment.

Getting buy-in from managers, properly training employees, and monitoring for any unintended negative impacts are essential practices for successfully implementing flexible work week initiatives.

HR Consulting Pro Tip:

I can’t tell you how many companies, management teams, and individual managers I come across who have real hang-ups about allowing employees flexibility in their work schedules.  I recently worked with a small company in which a very competent employee in a very key position had a serious lateness problem.  The company wanted to terminate the employee.  The specific role requires knowledge and experience and in this particular industry it’s very difficult to fill.  It is even harder to find competent practitioners with whom to fill them. 

Instead of simply allowing this employee time in the morning by giving her a later start time, or allowing her to work from home on days when she had childcare issues, the company owner was fixated on her attendance being traditional and strictly watched.

Ask yourself, “why?” What benefit does watching the clock or holding an otherwise good employee to a policy they can’t keep?  In this case, there was no benefit to the company.  It was just a personal feeling of the President that he was being disrespected.  He took it as a personal afront. Well, instead of using compassion and common sense to keep a vital employee, he terminated her. 

He then spent the next 6 months trying to find a suitable replacement.  All the while, the lost productivity and lagging performance  from a missing function took its toll.  After 2 failed attempts with inferior workers, whom he had to pay higher salaries, he finally split the position into several lower-level positions that now cost him 3 salaries.

Don’t be pound wise and penny foolish with your policies and your enforcement of archaic and unnecessary work rules.  Employees today expect more… and they do ask, “why?”  If you don’t have an honest and practical reason to NOT be flexible, take advantage of these tools and make everyone’s life better!

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All work and no life leads to burnout and high turnover.  After studying work-life balance for over 20 years, I’ve seen firsthand how critical it is to employee wellbeing, corporate stability, and business results. But what does balance really mean, and how does it impact turnover?

Work-life balance is about creating sustainable lifestyle rhythms, not just preventing burnout. It’s employees having time for family, hobbies, and rest without compromising performance. And it’s about leaders modeling healthy boundaries first.

Pressed for time?  Watch our summary video here.

Contrary to popular belief, balance actually boosts productivity.

Overworked, exhausted employees burn out and make mistakes. But well-rested teams with full lives outside of work come back energized and focused.

Balance also supports physical and mental health. People need recovery from cognitive heavy-lifting. Time for exercise, relationships and fun recharges the brain. Tired, chronically stressed employees disengage and ultimately quit.  

In today’s tight labor market, leaders must enable balance to retain top talent.

Rigid environments where employees compete in a “first in, last out” culture drive turnover. People now seek workplaces aligned with their values and lifestyles.

The companies thriving today motivate with inspiration, not fear. They value deliverables over face time, judge performance on results, and respect employees’ personal lives. Workers give their best in return.

By building cultures where balance isn’t a buzzword but a daily reality, organizations gain that competitive edge. Their people don’t just work hard – they work happy. If you treat employees right, they’ll treat you right. That’s the payoff of balance done well.

Proven ways to promote work-life balance include:

• Discourage after hours and weekend work
• Model work-life balance in your and other leaders’ behavior
• Track vacation days taken, not to penalize attendance, but to encourage and ensure time off. Have HR follow up with employees who ignore time off allowances.
• Use performance reviews to proactively discuss balance and how each employee can specifically incorporate it into their work. Make it a criteria they are appraised on and it will make a difference! 
• Monitor workload and reassign work when trends show too heavy a load
• Respect boundaries around personal time.  Don’t be a part of the problem for your employees

Promoting balance provides permission for employees to set boundaries. Leaders should hold themselves accountable first. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Employees need recovery time to sustain excellence.

Work-Life Balance: What Really Works

In many cases over the years, I have seen well-intentioned but ineffective lip service to work/life balance. Some initiatives though can truly transform an organization’s culture and improve employee well-being. Based on my own experience and real-world examples, let’s go through some of the most innovative and impactful policies I’ve encountered. Here are some important considerations for implementing each of these work-life balance policies effectively:

Flexible Work Arrangements

The ability to work remotely or have flexible hours (even post-pandemic) remains one of the most powerful work-life balance perk. Companies that allow employees to design their own schedules and work from home as needed see major boosts in engagement and retention. Take Akami Technologies – their “work from anywhere” policy has been hugely popular, increasing productivity while allowing parents, caregivers, and others to better integrate work with life demands. 

Look beyond the work-from-home arrangement and think creatively.  Job sharing can turn two part-time workers into a powerhouse fulltime contribution.  Play with work-week structures.   

How It Can Fail:

• Micromanaging workers’ daily schedules and locations
• Lacking the infrastructure and culture for effective virtual work
• Judging productivity solely by “face time” in the office
• Allowing miscommunication or lack of team cohesion

How to Do It Right:

• Establish clear core working hours for collaboration, but otherwise enable flexibility
• Provide appropriate technology, security, and tools for remote work
• Train managers on effective management of remote employees
• Have team norms around communication and availability when remote

“Communicate consistently that output matters more than face time.”

Pro-Tip: Consider appointing remote work ambassadors – super-users who can mentor colleagues and help establish remote-work best practices.

Paid Parental Leave

Generous gender-neutral paid parental leave signals that an employer truly values families. The viral parental leave policy at Etsy provides 26 weeks fully paid time off to bond with a new child. Patagonia offers 16 weeks at 100% pay, recognizing this critical life transition. Parents at these companies report much less stress and burnout.

How It Can Fail:

• Outdated policies with limited time off or unfair gender rules
• Paying only partial salaries, undermining the intended support
• Making parents feel they have to return to work too quickly
• Allowing biases against those who take extended parental leave

How to Do It Right:

• Provide gender-neutral leave policies for all new parents
• Offer significant time off at full pay to reduce mental and financial stress
• Guarantee roles for those returning, with a supportive ramp-up period
• Promote and celebrate employees taking this important life opportunity

Pro-Tip: Develop a detailed parental leave toolkit with FAQs, checklists, and guidance to ensure a smooth transition both ways.

Fertility Benefits

A growing number of companies like Starbucks and Microsoft are offering benefits like egg freezing, IVF treatment coverage, and fertility coaching. This supports employees looking to have children while advancing their careers – preventing difficult tradeoffs.

How It Can Fail:

• Offering limited or inadequate coverage that still leaves high out-of-pocket costs
• Lacking educational resources, leaving employees to navigate it alone
• Making the benefits difficult to access or claim
• Allowing insensitive comments that make employees uncomfortable using the benefits

How to Do It Right:

• Offer comprehensive coverage for IVF, egg freezing, fertility drugs, and other treatments
• Provide fertility coaching/education as part of the benefits package
• Ensure the benefits apply equally to all employees regardless of marital/relationship status
• Promote the benefits openly to destigmatize using them

Pro-Tip: In addition to medical benefits, consider offering services like fertility mentorship programs or subscription discounts to fertility apps.

Relaxed Vacation Policies

Traditional vacation policies are being flipped on their head. Software company Ibotta has “unlimited” paid time off with no tracked days. Meanwhile, LinkedIn forces employees to take at least two weeks consecutive vacation per year. Such policies trust employees while prioritizing mental health breaks.

How It Can Fail:

• Having managers that still frown upon extended vacations
• Making employees feel guilty or worried about being away
• Piling on work before/after vacations, negating the break
• Allowing work emergencies to frequently disrupt time off

How to Do It Right:

• Truly encourage people to use their allotted vacation days without questioning
• Have leaders model good behavior by taking real vacations themselves
• Consider “use it or lose it” type policies to prevent endless accruals
• Provide ample notice and support for managers to plan around vacations

Pro-Tip: Implement required minimums, not just maximums. For example, LinkedIn’s policy of taking at least 2 consecutive weeks off.

Sabbaticals and Ramps

Surprisingly, giving employees extended time completely off can pay huge dividends. McDonald’s offers a rare 6-month paid sabbatical every 10 years. More common are “ramps” like Deloitte’s, allowing new parents to temporarily work part-time schedules. These creative policies prevent burnout while showing immense goodwill.

How It Can Fail:

• Making it unclear who qualifies or how to take advantage of the policy
• Not allocating sufficient resources to handle the work redistribution
• Allowing managers to discourage or deny requests without just cause
• Stigmatizing those who use it, signaling it may hurt their career

How to Do It Right:

• Clearly define eligibility requirements and application processes – Publicize the benefit!
• Have a plan to cover the workload while the employee is on leave
• Offer the sabbatical/ramp as a guaranteed benefit, not something that is at management’s discretion
• Communicate it widely as a valued perk, not an accommodation

Pro-Tip: Develop and follow a comprehensive operations plan for how work will be redistributed when someone goes on sabbatical or ramps down. This encourages utilization while preventing the overburdening of co-workers.

Of course, work-life balance is more than just policies – it requires a true cultural shift to overcome hustle mentalities ingrained in many workplaces. But forging ahead with innovative, trust-based initiatives like these can give companies a powerful competitive edge in attracting and retaining top talent.

Watch the video of this Blog Post

This video takes you through the strategies quickly and succinctly.

Table Of Contents

Article Home – Our Ultimate Guide To Reduce Employee Turnover and Increase Retention

TOC – Visit our Table of Contents Page for this engaging and dynamic series of informative articles about Employee Turnover compiled by our expert human resource consultants.

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Sources

The sources and end notes for the main article, this article, and all of the sub-pages is listed below.  All information is used under the Fair-Use.

Citations List & Links