FLEXIBLE FRIDAYS PART OF NATIONAL TREND

To boost morale, some firms loosen summer work hours

7/16/2014
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
Machinist Paul Hinterberg cleans up burrs from a hinge at Quality Tool & Die in West Allis, Wis. The firm lets employees set their own hours as long as they work a full week and all tasks are completed.
Machinist Paul Hinterberg cleans up burrs from a hinge at Quality Tool & Die in West Allis, Wis. The firm lets employees set their own hours as long as they work a full week and all tasks are completed.

MILWAUKEE — Now that warmer weather has arrived after a long and harsh winter, some businesses are finding ways to give their workers longer weekends by letting them take off early on Fridays — boosting morale without hurting the company’s bottom line much, if at all.

That kind of flexibility in working hours is emblematic of a national trend, with an increasing number of companies allowing at least some employees to decide when and even where they work, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, a professional association with more than 275,000 members.

“At a time when many organizations are asking people to do more with less, providing workplace flexibility is a way to get at morale issues with a relative low cost, or no cost, to the employer,” said Lisa Horn, co-leader of the society’s Workplace Flexibility Initiative.

An example: At Mercury Marine Inc., the outboard engine manufacturer in Fond du Lac, Wis., white-collar workers are given the option of working 40 hours in 4½ days and taking off Friday afternoons in the summer.

“It has become one of the most valuable arrangements or benefits that we offer folks,” said Denise Devereaux, vice president of human resources.

“We don’t see a drop in productivity. In fact, I think the exact opposite occurs. People are so excited about being able to have that half day off, … they’re extremely focused in their regular hours.”

The flexible hours from Memorial Day to Labor Day give workers more opportunities to get outdoors, and Mercury encourages the employees to go boating and use marine engine products.

“For us, it seems like a logical fit. Our employees are going to have a better understanding of how customers use our products if they’re able to use the products themselves,” Ms. Devereaux said.

Not all of Mercury’s office workers get to be off Friday afternoons, and some people choose another day of the week. But the majority of the eligible workers, or several hundred employees, have chosen the compressed summer work schedules, according to the company.

Because of production schedules, the policy doesn’t apply to blue-collar employees.

“We haven’t figured out the right recipe for [production employees], but it is something we’re working on,” Ms. Devereaux said.

In a recent survey of 1,051 organizations with 50 or more employees, the Society for Human Resource Management found that 43 percent of the employers allowed at least some people to compress their workweek by logging longer hours on fewer days, for at least part of the year.

That’s up from 38 percent in 2008, when a similar survey was done.

Flexibility over when and where full-time employees work is on the rise, the recent survey showed, including hours in the office and working from home on occasion.

Small companies are more likely to allow people to change their work hours, the survey showed.

Quality Tool & Die, in West Allis, Wis., lets employees set their work hours year-round, provided business deadlines are met and, for safety reasons, people don’t work alone.

“I am always here 10 hours a day … so if someone wants to come in a little early, or take time off during the day for something, that’s fine with me,” said company owner Ron Loos.

Manpower Group Inc., the global staffing agency, gives employees the option of leaving early on certain days preceding holiday weekends. The company also provides free picnic lunches and live music on its plaza during the warm months.

Summertime events can go a long way in boosting employee pride and encouraging company loyalty. The goal is to re-energize and motivate people, said Marty Nowlin, vice president of human resources.

Not everyone agrees that flexible summer hours are a good thing. According to a survey of more than 600 white-collar employees done in 2012 by Boston-based digital media company Captivate Network, nearly half of respondents said their employer offered flexible summer hours.

Of those taking advantage of the flexible shifts, however, 53 percent who left work early on Friday reported a drop in personal productivity, and 23 percent reported higher stress levels from working longer hours Monday through Thursday.

“It resulted in kind of a negative workplace,” said Scott Marden, vice president of marketing and research at Captivate, whose clients include Toyota, BMW, Dell, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard.

“The best thing to do is let people telecommute, working four days from the office and the fifth day from home. However, only 4 percent of the companies in the survey allowed people to do that.”