Flexible Work Schedule Examples: How to Make it Work

Many organizations have been exercising a flexible working model where their employees have a hybrid remote work schedule allowing them to work from anywhere. To facilitate this, there are plenty of flexible work schedule examples that you choose from to achieve the difference you are searching for. Get this right and your hybrid workforce is going to appreciate you more than ever.

A Guide to Adopting a Flexible Work Schedule with Examples

Before taking the big leap into flexible working models and some flexible work schedule examples, you must understand how to implement them. You must start with effective communication, announcing clear concise guidelines, getting persons to buy in, and ensure all the perks and incentives are well received.

Get Early Buy-in

Get early buy-ins from all the other managers and departments and ensure to tell staff members why the new policy is being implemented.  

Training in Advance

This initiative is not like managing a traditional workforce. It requires more time, effort, and energy. When managers are trained, they know what to look for, the right questions to ask, bring the challenge to the team, and are available on various communication platforms. That way, team members never feel left out even over an instant message response. 

Set Up a Pilot

This works best if you have a large company. If you are nervous about the flexible work schedules or facing a lot of resistance and concerned about how things can work, then you can conduct a trial run. Before launching a full-scale operation, use one department as a test. Do a pilot for roughly two or three months to see how things can work, gather real data and statistics, iron out any kinks or corks, and gain some experience.

Understand Your Team

As a manager, you must understand that not all your employees are good flexible workers and some traits are required that not all employees possess. This does not mean all hope is lost and you should give up on the entire program. 

Employee’s Input

Allow employees to construct their schedules once it fits the criteria of the model. This can give them a chance to be collaborative and feel like a part of the big shift. It also aids in building trust and can ensure things start on the right foot. To make the model more successful, you can check with employees for updates to their work schedules and flexible work arrangement.

Use Communication Tools

Having the opportunity to work from home gives the employees flexibility and good communication helps to limit the isolation that can come with that flexibility. To promote the model, you can implement cross-communication tools to be used among employees such as Slack.

This tool ensures employees are reachable and demands accountability as if they were in the office. An office hoteling app can help too. When employees are to show up to work one day, they can just book a desk or workstation on the app. 

Flexible Work Schedule Examples

Alternative Work Site

This is the first one for alternative work schedules examples list. Managers can think to explore an alternative worksite where all or parts of the project or assignment are completed at home or another location. The employee just needs to be connected to a computer and the person may probably also need a phone present. It can be a case where they work from home for three days of the week and the remainder at another location approved by the manager. 

To make this flex schedule example work, managers and employees must decide how meetings are taken care of, the flow of communication and who is the supervisor to report to, the equipment needed, and the technical support required to facilitate the arrangement.

Flexible Schedule

This system has employees that are scheduled to start and end the day at times that are not standard. It may include staggered hours where the schedule each day remains the same but times can differ per department.

Mid-day flextime allows employees to take longer periods of an effective breaktime once they can make up the hours by staying later or coming in earlier. An example of this would be working from 2:00 – 6:30 or 8:00- 12:00. 

There is the variable day where employees can work various hours per day consistently if the number of hours needed for the week may be completed by working ten hours Monday, six on Tuesday, and eight another two days, for example. Core hours are also available with a variable schedule. Still, the employee has a responsibility to stick to the agreement. Also, you should do your best to facilitate your subordinates being a part of the decision-making process in this regard. The reception is likely to be much better that way.  

For all of this to be possible with flexible work schedule examples, managers must address how success is measured at the end of the term, how customer service gets maintained, how hours get tracked, and what are the effective methods of communication. 

Compressed Work Week

This flexible work schedule example involves employees working full-time hours in less than five days a week. That standard 40-hour workweek per employee can be completed by working ten hours for four days a week. Managers must discuss how the hours are coordinated. Effective communication media is a must and it would be best to discuss new overtime rules.

Part-Time Hours

This flexible work schedule example involves more flexibility, free time, and reduced hours. Managers must analyze where and if the job can be part-time. They must also explain to employees that if they wish to revert to the original schedule, it may not be possible. Of course, this varies by organization. Ensure that the work timetable is well fleshed out and that the terms of the part-time arrangement are well understood by everyone who is to take part in it.

For this to run smoothly, managers must also address the jobs that can be mad part-time, how the work gets delegated. The impacts on benefits, income, etc. should also be discussed and documented.

If you want the best results for this flexible work schedule example, you should ideally use a contract. That way, there can be no dispute on what is accepted and what constitutes a breach of the terms. The transition is often difficult, so any help you can get from documentation works.