By PAULA BURKES ERICKSON
Friday, April 13, 2007
Memorial Day Weekend - the unofficial start of summer - is more than seven weeks away. But Chaparral Energy Inc. already is giving its 200 Oklahoma City-based employees Friday afternoons off.
Half-day Fridays are part of the official year-round work schedule at the 19-year-old company. Employees pushed for that years ago, following a summer schedule of 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to noon Friday.
"It's awesome. I love it," said Theresa Stewart, who joined the company in October as human resources manager.
Having Friday afternoons off, Stewart said, gives her a jump on her volunteer duties at a five-state Westie rescue organization. She spends 99 percent of her free time gathering and promoting information about rescued dogs, and carpooling them to groomers, veterinarians and adoptive families.
Such creative work schedules are setting trends in the workplace, business futurists say. Competition to attract and retain top talent is so fierce these days that companies are considering any way they can to gain an advantage.
Netflix Inc., a Silicon Valley-based online movie rental service, doesn't even track the hours of its 350 salaried employees. Workers can vacation whenever they want.
Meanwhile, Blockbuster Inc. gives its 1,200 salaried employees at its Dallas corporate headquarters the flexibility to get in their 40 hours a week any way they choose, around the core hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
At Netflix Inc., "face time is irrelevant," said Steve Swasey, director of corporate communications. "Nine to five, Monday through Friday is not our culture. The thought is if employees are able to produce great quality work, who cares where they sit?"
Swasey, who has two young children, works from home two days a week, saving himself a two-hour round-trip commute.
Salaried employees, who all carry Blackberries and cell phones, know when they have to be in the office and schedule their time accordingly, Swasey said.
Swasey's former employer offered a certain time of paid time off (PTO), including vacation, sick and personal leave.
"If you were sick five days with the flu or planning a two-week vacation, you were shot," he said. In his first year with Netflix, Swasey took four weeks of vacation.
Depending upon their years of service and level, Blockbuster employees are given 16 to 26 PTO days a year. Part-time employees who work 20 or more hours a week can earn 20 hours of paid annual leave.
"Even part-time workers look for the ability to balance work and life," said Dan Satterthwaite, senior vice president of human resources. Students may want the time to study, he said. And older workers, who may be supplementing a primary job, want the time with their families.
Balancing work and family is the priority among today's workers, according to online surveys by Wolf Gugler, president of an executive search firm with offices in Oklahoma City and Canada.
"No matter how we word straw polls, work/life balance always comes out No. 1," he said. "Forward-thinking companies, especially for sales and marketing-related positions, are typically very flexible on hours worked."
He has numerous clients who may offer a formal two- or three-week vacation policy, but strike a gentlemen's agreement that allows employees to take additional time off, if they complete their assigned tasks.
"I'm of the mind this can make a difference in a candidate's evaluation of one opportunity versus another," Gugler said. "It goes without saying that employees are expected to flex, as well, when there's a need to go beyond the standard work week. It adds an element of trust when both sides can agree in this area."
Sandi Ransom, human resources director for Accord Human Resources in Oklahoma City, cautions companies to carefully consider and communicate flex-time policies.
"If flex time is only offered on a department or position basis, think about how employees in the other positions will react," Ransom said. A compressed work week or job sharing might be offered as an alternative in those departments or companies where offering flex time is more difficult, she said.
David Lewis, manager for Express Personnel Services in Oklahoma City, predicts an increasing need to create flex-time and comp-time plans to attract and retain workers in their 20s and 30s.
"Today's emerging workforce demands work-life balance," Lewis said. "They put greater value in outcomes instead of effort, talent instead of tenure, and creative thinking over rules. These 'wired' generations believe that as long as they can meet or exceed the company or boss' performance expectations, then they should be allowed to work in a manner that best suits them.
"If you stifle them with protocol, you are building a company of mediocrity."
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