Utilise flexitime concept for higher productivity

All in all, flexitime has a great deal of merit and has been found to increase job satisfaction and productivity in some cases. PHOTO | BD GRAPHIC 

By DR FRANK NJENGA

In Summary

• Under such an arrangement, some people on the early shift would start work as early as 6.30am while those on the late shift would go to work at say 10.30 am.

There is this hype about employee flexitime but I don’t buy it. I have tried it with several of my employees but the result hasn’t been to my expectations because many of them instead became lazy. How can one best achieve flexitime for employees to keep fatigue low and still get the job done?

----------------------------------------------

A few months ago I saw a clip on YouTube which fascinated me. A three-year-old child was given a book to read. Frustration soon set in when she tried to move to the next page by sliding her fingers on the “screen” just like she always does on her mother’s smart phone. The poor child had no concept of “turning the page”.

I do not know how old you are, but if you are in your 50s or 60s you have my full sympathy, and you might benefit from a brief description of the concept of flexitime.

Convenient arrangement

By definition, flexitime is a variable work schedule that allows an employee to go to work at times that are convenient to them, as long as they clock in the number of hours agreed with the employer during a predetermined period of time.

Sometimes such arrangements are convenient to both the employee and employer. A few weeks ago, a Kenyan who works in a neighbouring country expressed surprise when he went to a government office and found people working during the lunch hour.

When he left Kenya 15 years ago, the hour was sacrosanct and all staff took the break to eat their lunch or idle. Flexitime would eliminate such gaps in service delivery as different people would take a break at different times in the day.

Under such an arrangement, some people on the early shift would start work as early as 6.30am while those on the late shift would go to work at say 10.30 am. Each shift would work the full eight-hour day and clients would receive service all day long.

During the busy hours of 11am to 4pm staff would be at work at the same time to enable them all confer and consult and serve clients.

Allowed to choose flexitime in this way, early staff would come in before the morning traffic rush hour and would go home before the evening traffic jam. They would be in time to pick children from school, do homework together and be the effective parents they want to be.

Others could opt to go to evening classes to complete their studies. Those who come in at 10.30am would also miss the heavy traffic both in the morning and evening and would spend the time in the morning running personal chores, including going to the gym.

All in all, flexitime has a great deal of merit and has been found to increase job satisfaction and productivity in some cases. So far so good.

Let us now consider a few challenges that come with flexitime. A soldier or traffic policeman who chooses flexitime would be useless to the army or police.

In the medical profession, a surgeon cannot plan to operate at times when other members of his support staff are away hence a common working time structure has to be agreed on to ensure efficiency.