Feature

The flexitime nightmare

The flexitime system often turns into an administrative nightmare. Sudipta Dev finds out why it is a waning fad

Most organisations today take great pride in offering a work/life balance to their employees. It is in fact a critical retention tool. Implementation of the flexitime system is one of the first steps that an organisation takes in this direction, particularly since a software professional’s work is not always expected to be a typical 9 to 5 job. Interestingly, in the IT industry, which has popularised the concept, flexitime has turned out to be more of a bane than a boon.Many project managers and HR heads consider it an “administrative nightmare.” This is because implementation of the flexitime system is not without its risks, and a company has to study its culture vis-à-vis its business goals well before initiation.

"Misuse of flexitime must be immediately checked by speaking with the concerned employees and calling the attention of the whole team to deviations" - Veena Pinto Head, HR KPIT Cummins Infosystems

Flexitime system was initially started as Indian IT professionals needed to interact with their clients across globe in different time zones. “Burnout is easy in this industry where long hours are often the norm. At such times, employees may work late into the night over extended periods. It is thus not expected that he/she will be in the next morning at 9 am sharp! Thus flexitime give employees some freedom to choose their work hours, allowing them to take care of family and personal needs and personal emergencies; it contributes to the much needed work-family balance,” says Veena Pinto, Head of Human Resources, KPIT Cummins Infosystems, adding that it is a concept that gives one independence and a sense of ownership. The advantages are obvious: It encourages the creation of a task culture where individuals are judged by how much and how well the tasks are done. The organisation is benefited with extra commitment and effort, greater focus and higher morale.

Problems aplenty

"The success of the system depends on the self-discipline of individuals, and since not everyone has the same level of discipline it can be misused " - Harish Govind Vice-President, HR Blue Star Infotech

What had started as a radical working style is today a fad that not many organisation would like to emulate after having burnt their fingers. “It can only work well when there is a large body of creative professionals independent of external inputs. What would matter is the productive hours,” says Harish Govind, Vice-president, HR, Blue Star Infotech. The nature of the IT industry is such that most people are involved in team work, and the flexitime system can break that down. “The success of the system depends on the self-discipline of individuals and since not everyone has the same level of discipline it can be misused. Furthermore, in the IT services field there is a huge amount of interaction with clients which entails adjusting to client time, in this case flexitiming leads to administrative headache for the project manager,” points out Govind. Blue Star Infotech had in fact implemented flexitime a few years back, but later withdrew the system due to numerous problems.

Then there is the issue of team interaction and workplace relationships, which takes a backseat due to flexitime. Govind acknowledges that flexitime is one step away from virtual office which leads to breakdown of the work culture in an organisation with respect to team activities, “It promotes a sense of individualism rather than pushing towards collectivism. The pleasure of working with teams goes.” Other factors like the high cost of keeping an establishment running 24/7 hours, security related issues and problems related to administration cannot be ignored.

Pinto concedes that implementing a flexitime system is not without some risks and difficulties associated with it. She narrates an incident when a project professional (‘A’) was working with his colleague (‘B’) on preparing the project plan. ‘A’ was depended on ‘B’ to complete his task. This colleague would come late and go late, with the result that he completed the task on the night before D-day and ‘A’ got to start his only on the morning of D-day! ‘A’ was eventually forced to call off this working arrangement. “If you want to call a meeting or something urgent has cropped up that needs immediate action, not all persons required to attend or to take care of the matter, are always present. Employees need to log on a daily basis, the number of hours put in for each activity, which gets approved by their manager. However, it is not impossible that time-logs are manipulated and managers are approving them without really checking for their accuracy,” points out Pinto.

Necessary precautions

An organisation needs to be extremely cautious before implementing the flexitime system. It is mandatory to have some core hours of reasonable duration e.g. 11 am to 4 pm, during which all employees must be at work. “Managers need to be vigilant and view it as their job to ensure that their employees are spending the requisite hours at work. This can be helped by giving employees work that will keep them busy for the day. Misuse of flexitime must be immediately checked by speaking with the concerned employees/calling attention of the whole team to deviations,” says Pinto.

Govind lists a few of the necessary precautions:

• It should aid in productivity. If the flexitime system is introduced just because of ‘fashion’ then there is trouble. The organisation should be clear about its objectives.
• The success of the programme depends on self-discipline. So an organisation should honestly assess the self-discipline of its workforce.
• Companies should also assess whether the system benefits team work or is detrimental to it.
• There should be a good monitoring system. The company should make it clear to its employees (before implementation) that there will be a review of the system after a particular period and only if found successful will it be permanently implemented.
• Flexibility in implementation of the system as in some departments it can be successful and others not. Also, not everybody might be willing to adopt it.

The truth remains that many companies have been moving away from flexitime, which was a fashion four to five years ago. “In fact in three to four years time it might exit altogether,” predicts Govind. Obviously, it pays to have a sense of discipline in an organisation which the flexitime system often prevents.

sudipta@expresscomputeronline.com