InformationWeek

October 16, 2000

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Flexibility In The Workplace Is An Increasing Concern

Employees cite flex time and lifestyle issues as more important than money

By Gene J. Koprowski

More on balance:

Balance (9/25/00)

Backlash (9/25/00)

VARBusiness: In Search of Balance (10/2/00)

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n the 1990s, the cartoon character Dilbert came to symbolize the frustrations many IT workers felt in their jobs. Cartoonist Scott Adams pounded the point home in his comic strips: It didn't matter to companies what workers did all day, as long as they were at their desks, putting in time.

But IT workers now have different ideas about work life, and they're demanding that employers take notice. What's important to employees today--even more than job stability, what they're paid, vacation time, and benefits--is workplace flexibility, according to a study by InformationWeek Research. Of the 11,706 IT staffers surveyed, 55% report that a flexible work schedule is an important job consideration. Flexibility in scheduling is also important to 44% of the 10,754 managers surveyed. For both groups, job challenge is the only issue that outranks flexibility in importance.

Workers don't want to be tied to a desk, whether it's in a corner office or a cubicle. For example, many IT professionals would prefer to work for an employer that lets them leave the office in time to pick up their children from school and finish their work at home in the evening, rather than one that pays more but insists on a rigid work schedule.

Experienced IT and business managers think they understand what's behind the shifting workplace demands and expectations of tech professionals. "Flexibility makes a lot of sense," says Michael Williams, VP of marketing at ClickCommerce Inc., an Internet software developer. "But it's a two-way street. Companies today are asking more than ever from their employees. So they're giving employees more flexibility than ever so they can achieve company goals."

The IT labor shortage and businesses' growing dependence on technology means that many IT professionals are on a work treadmill. "This [flexibility] trend is happening because we're working harder than ever, and we're also having both adults in a family in the workforce," says Beth McCarty, director of office diversity for the Chicago branch of IT consulting firm Cap Gemini, Ernst & Young LLC. "There's more pressure on people to integrate their everyday responsibilities into their worklife. As a result, people are asking for more control over when and where they work."

Many companies are developing management policies on work flexibility that help them get the best possible performance from their employees without driving them out the door. Managers must consider six areas when crafting a flexibility policy: reduced work hours, reduced workdays, working part time, working nontraditional hours, work sharing, and summer leave, says Jim Parker, managing director for the Americas Region of the IT consulting arm of Deloitte Consulting. "By far, the most utilized form of flexibility is working a schedule different from the traditional 9-to-5 routine," says Parker. "That's what most employees are seeking these days."

Reduced work hours may be more appropriate in certain circumstances. Under such a policy, if an employee worked 65 hours in a week to meet a deadline, says Parker, he could scale back to 30 the next week to recuperate from the stress. Reduced work days is a similar concept but measures the overtime in days instead of hours.

A part-time schedule may be appropriate for a worker who recently has given birth or wants to help a partner care for a newborn, Parker says. Work-sharing is a popular option for those who want to spend more time with their families. Summer leave--even if it doesn't include full pay--might be appropriate for workers who have spent 10 or more years with a company and need an extended rest to recharge. Companies should set broad flexibility policies and then negotiate with workers on a one-to-one basis to determine what works best for a specific job situation, Parker says.

Managers must keep an open mind for a flexible workplace policy to work. "We constantly focus on the requirements of the work. Anything that's not a requirement is something we can be flexible about," says McCarty. "All our professional employees have laptops and Internet access. Most of our work can be done pretty much anywhere. But not all can be done that way. Some has to be done at the client site or at the office site."

Unfortunately, there's no getting around the fact that some people will have more work flexibility than others. As a result, workplace flexibility is often viewed as a status symbol among workers. "The support functions can't be handled too flexibly," says McCarty. "Receptionists have to be there. Secretaries may have to be there. Security people will have to be there. For IT folks working on a team project, a day or two per week of that process probably has to be done together. But they can still do an awful lot of work by E-mail and voice mail."

Photo by Robert Campell Tatia Jefferson, a software quality assurance manager at software developer DigitalESP Inc. in Raleigh, N.C., says she has adapted well to her flexible work schedule. DigitalESP strives for a completely flexible approach to work for its IT professionals, and estimates an IT retention rate of 94% per year.

Jefferson says she wouldn't have taken the job with DigitalESP four months ago if she couldn't work from home on occasion. "I've been working in the Web world since it started, doing project management. So I asked questions upfront about flexibility at this company," says Jefferson. "I have three children and I'm married. I still want to have a life. Often in software development, you have to stay late to meet deadlines. But many places aren't flexible--they want you to be in your office 40 hours per week, even if you're not doing anything. "

For Jefferson, flexibility means that she can go to work at the office for part of the day, then depart about 3 p.m. when her children are coming home from school. She finishes her work when her children are doing their homework at night. "I don't want them to be latchkey kids," she says.

Given the IT worker shortage, Jefferson knows that companies aren't being flexible for entirely altruistic reasons. "It's a tight industry. They have to be competitive," says Jefferson. "Flexibility for employees is one way they can be."

InformationWeek Research indicates that longtime IT professionals place the greatest importance on a flexible work schedule. Seasoned IT staffers are almost four times more likely to cite flexible work hours as an important issue than newcomers, research shows, while veteran IT managers are almost three times as likely than newer colleagues to regard it as important.