Alternative Work Schedules Essay Research Paper Alternative — страница 2

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work schedule programs have the potential to enable managers and supervisors to meet their program goals while, at the same time, allowing employees to be more flexible in scheduling their personal activities. As employees gain greater control over their time, they can, for example, balance work and family responsibilities more easily, become involved in volunteer activities, and take advantage of educational opportunities. The employee benefits provided by an alternative work week programs also are useful recruitment and retention tools. Instituting a compressed work schedule can be a great asset to an employer, it can; reduce absenteeism, tardiness and turnover, provide employers with more customer contact, allow for more set-up time at the start of a shift, give employees more

flexibility for family responsibilities, lower operating costs, if a facility can be closed one day a week. Management has the authority to alter employees’ scheduling arrangements when arrangements interfere with the effective accomplishment of government business. Management is also able to adjust employees work schedules, especially their arrival and departure times to ensure that the duties of employees positions are fulfilled or to ensure office coverage during the hours the office is open for business, will be subject to the arbitrator’s definition of “substantially disrupted” and “additional costs (Cyriax,1980). Additionally, using a flexible and compressed work schedules it has helped agencies recruit for some hard-to-fill jobs and helped agencies retain

employees who otherwise would have resigned or been terminated. Additionally, a survey by the Office of Personnel Management found that the availability of flexible or compressed work schedules is important to employees with dependent care responsibilities and figures into their employment decisions. Ultimately, these programs can help improve employee productivity, attendance and morale, not to mention a company?s image. Some potential problem areas that should be dealt with in the design of a flexible or compressed work schedule include how the schedule will accommodate events like training, travel, jury duty, military leave, two holidays in the same pay period, etc. Additionally, some other ill effects a compressed workweek are, it would require longer work days and could

increase employee fatigue, causing productivity to decline, it also could prevent the timely delivery of services, because of the unavailability of certain employees, problems relating to productivity and service to its customers, costs could increase, particularly overtime costs, timely completion of projects would be jeopardized. An alternative work schedule works best where employees require little contact with other employees, where set-up/tear-down time or shift changeovers are necessary (e.g., hospitals or manufacturing) or where work functions are not disrupted by staff reduction. In developing a alternative work schedule schedule the agency or company must ensure the accomplishment of the agency’s mission, and addresses employees’ needs. If a company is hesitant to

try a Compressed Work Schedule, they should consider instituting a pilot program with a small group of employees. If close monitoring shows improved employee and manager satisfaction or other benefits, the program can be expanded to other employees. If the head of an agency or company finds that a particular compressed work schedule has Work Week 6 had an “adverse agency impact,” they have the right to promptly determine not to continue the schedule. Adverse agency impact are those such as; a reduction of an agency’s productivity, a diminished level of services furnished to the public, disruption in carrying out the departments functions or interferes with the effective accomplishment of a business, or has an increase in the cost of agency operations. To briefly discuss the

global effects of establishing a non-traditional work schedules and the concern for the health and welfare of Americas workers was the basis for the establishment of The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Alternative work schedules are a direct result of that concern which has been fueled by increased employer responsibility. Fair labor standards are not new concepts to global interests, however multinational organizations that derive profits from goods and materials produced in foreign countries are determined to prevent their establishment. Third world countries offer no protections and allow adults and children to work under conditions that would be unacceptable by any standard. Multinational organizations scour the globe in search of places where working people have low wages