HOW FAR CAN YOU FLEX?

Association consider the pros and cons of flexible benefits for examples

J. CLARKE PRICE, CAE, HAS KNOWN FOR YEARS THAT HIS STAFF VALUES the chance to work at home. But he didn't know just how much until the day two of his managers announced, out of the blue, that they'd rather have the telecommuting option than a raise.

Offering flexible benefits "is just one more thing that has employees saying, 'Gee, this is a good place to work,'" says Price, president and CEO of the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants in Dublin.

"Organizations that support and promote benefits like these get a leg up in retaining as well as hiring employees."

No question about it: For stressed staffs seeking to balance work and personal lives--not to mention ease nightmarish commutes--time is nearly as important as money. That's why more employees are requesting flexible benefits, including telecommuting from home, flextime, and a compressed workweek (which typically lets them squeeze a full workweek's hours into four longer days).

Some association executives can't get their minds around the idea of flexible scheduling. After all, how can you administer the benefits fairly and economically? How do you manage a staff you can't keep an eye on? And what will your board say?

Other executives believe their boards will say, "Terrific!" --especially when they see decreased staff turnover, increased productivity, and perhaps even reduced costs because the decentralized staff needs less space. The promise of happier employees using fewer resources is, slowly but surely, motivating more associations to flex.

What the surveys say

Flexible benefits have long been seen as a feel-good, do-good perk for working parents. But they're catching fire now because they make hard business sense. "The genesis was the extremely tight labor market and the need for help with recruitment and retention," says Dave Patel, manager for workplace trends and forecasting at the Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, Virginia.

He ticks off additional trends that play a part: technology that lets staff work anytime, anywhere. Traffic that makes a one-minute stroll into an at-home office seem infinitely smarter than an hourlong crawl downtown. And those work-life balance issues, which will likely grow more urgent as the 40-and-under workers gain ground. "They don't live to work," Patel says. "They work to live."

According to the SHRM Foundation's annual benefits survey, the 754 companies and nonprofits polled respond to those pressures by making flextime, telecommuting, and compressed workweeks three of the top four "family-friendly benefits." What's more, the number of organizations that offer flexible schedules has increased by 10 percent just since 1997. The 2001 survey shows

* fifty-eight percent of respondents offer flextime (vs. 46% in 1997);

* thirty-seven percent offer telecommuting (vs. 20%); and

* thirty-one percent offer compressed workweeks (vs. 22%).

(In case you're wondering: The survey's most common family-friendly benefit is the dependent-care flexible-spending account, offered by 69% of respondents. The least common: prepaid funeral assistance, offered by 1 percent.)

The 2001 SHRM study indicates that companies with 5,000-plus employees are most likely to offer flexible benefits. But the nonprofit organizations SHRM surveyed are also in on the act. Almost two thirds (61%) of nonprofit respondents offer flextime, and nearly a third (31% each) offer telecommuting and compressed workweeks. (In contrast, in 1997 only 48% of nonprofit organizations offered flextime, 18% offered compressed workweeks, and 12% offered telecommuting.)

Flex faces many hurdles nevertheless. In a 2001 study of 150 executives at large corporations, more than a quarter said telecommuting could compromise job performance, says Maureen Carrig, national spokesperson for Office Team, a Menlo Park, California, firm that places temporary administrative staff. These dubious executives worry that a lack of availability keeps staff from taking part in urgent projects or impromptu meetings--and even damages collegiality when everyone isn't around the office together. Then there's the fear, rational or not, that if the boss can't see staff working, he or she can't count on quality results.

More pros than cons

But supporters have an answer to each of the major objections that doubters raise about flexible benefits.

Objection No. 1: If you let some staff have these benefits, everyone will want them--and those who don't get them will complain about those who do.

Response: Set up your system to build in equity from the start. Some jobs do require an actual person at an actual desk (or at least in the office) all day long. These jobs usually include receptionists and customer service reps, employees who deal with confidential information, and staff members who work with data requiring specialized software. Then there are managers-- whom only 11 percent of the Office Team respondents thought were good candidates for telecommuting.

But many jobs adapt surprisingly well to flexible time and place. At the Ohio Society of CPAs, which first experimented with flextime and telecommuting in the early 1990s, about a quarter of the 45-person staff take advantage of flextime, and about half telecommute. The entire communication department (including publications, public relations, chapter relations, and some event planning) works from home full time. But even traditionally office-bound workers from accounting and IT telecommute when working on nonconfidential projects a couple of days a week. Only the customer-service staff, which needs constant access to the member database, must be in the office daily.

Managing other home-based workers is no problem for Natalie Rooney, vice president for communications at the society. Guiding seven employees she can't see has improved her supervisory skills, she says, because she now manages by objectives and results. "To me as a manager, the most important thing is to get something of value out to our members by the deadline, as opposed to just knowing that someone came in, put in an eight-hour day, and went home."

To ensure equity, an association should analyze all positions--and then be ready to make hard decisions about which are most suitable, and under what circumstances. For example, although the Ohio Society of CPAs is sold on both telecommuting and flextime, it doesn't permit a compressed workweek because "it would jeopardize members' ability to get their problems solved if everybody is not available every day," says Rooney.

The important thing, says Carrig of Office Team: Make sure you can offer the benefit to everyone who works in the same group, even if not necessarily across the board. "If one writer can work at home three days a week, can you make that same offer to the three other writers in that group?" she says. "You have to look closely at each position and whether it's worthwhile for both the employee and the manager. If you receive complaints, consider a fixed-period pilot program and find out whether still more jobs could be flexible--or not.

Objection No. 2: Flexible benefits cost too much.

Response: Advocates insist that flexibility doesn't cost; it pays. The Consumer Electronics Association, Arlington, Virginia, offers its 118 employees flextime, compressed workweeks during the summer, telecommuting, and a host of other perks, from Starbucks coffee to free Palm Pilots to subsidized on-site exercise programs. Yet CEO Gary Shapiro is taken aback at the thought that some might consider these benefits lavish.

"Lavish?" Shapiro says. "It's not charity, not extraneous spending. It's a wise business investment."

If a flexible workplace and worker-friendly benefits help him keep even one good employee for an extra year, he figures he has saved his trade association $25,000--the cost of a headhunter. "We cannot compete with the salaries and stock options paid by for-profits," he says. "So we compete through workstyle and our corporate culture."

Flexibility is a survival tactic for Linda O'Hara, president of The Association for Work Process Improvement. TAWPI's nine-person staff is based in downtown Boston, where traffic is heavy, parking is expensive, and even those who take public transportation are bedeviled by commuter parking lots that fill up by 7 a.m. Because her employees are fixed on getting in early to skirt the traffic, O'Hara faced having no one to answer the phones after 4 p.m.

So as of April 2001, "we offer it all"--flextime, telecommuting, and most popular, a compressed workweek. Several of the staff work from about 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. four days a week, with different staff taking different days off. Now there's full coverage in every department from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily--and "everybody taking advantage of it loves it," O'Hara says.

Other tangible payoffs include:

Lower real estate costs. Without telecommuting, Price says, the Ohio CPAs would be forced to add on to their building or remodel to crowd workers into smaller cubbies. Instead, the full-time office workers now have more room, and those who work outside either share a cubicle or camp out in common space when they come in for meetings.

TAWPI has only 1,500 square feet for its nine employees, "so we're happy to find people who like to work at home," says O'Hara. Managing an editor who lives in Maine suits her just fine.

A disaster-planning tool. "What happens when, for whatever reason, your association is no longer able to provide service due to a catastrophe?" says Price. "In today's environment, people still want their Web site, their publications, and their toll-free number where they can call for services. We have a legitimate disaster plan in place, but it builds off of our telecommuting program. Our work is not dependent upon our people all being there at the same time."

Objection No. 3: Workers left on their own will spend the day with Oprah or on the links.

Response: Both research and anecdotal evidence indicate that productivity actually rises with worker flexibility. To those who would say, "I just know those telecommuters are at home doing their laundry," Rooney replies, "The telecommuters are probably wasting less time than if they were standing around the copier or taking a smoke break."

In his book Training Telecommuters (1999, ASTD), consultant George Piskurich insists, "Gains in productivity are undeniable." In fact, some claim productivity gains of 10 percent to 150 percent, "although 20 percent seems to be a more likely number." Telecommuters socialize less; they have fewer interruptions; they're not frazzled by their commutes (and won't skip out early to avoid the traffic jams). And they have the freedom to work when they're at their best, whether late at night or early in the morning. In fact, telecommuters face a "problem" any manager would love: They have to be urged to cut back on their hours, since it's so tempting to sit back down at the computer for "just a minute" and stay for half the night.

Then there's that other productivity booster: improved morale. "The beauty for the employee is the life balance," says Rooney. "This gives you back control over your life so you can work under the conditions that are best for you." She says productivity gains have enabled her staff to add a whole new series of electronic publications to the standard printed ones--without dropping any.

Objection No. 4: Telecommuting employees face technological limits--and can create new liabilities.

Response: Both issues are manageable if you want them to be.

Think flexibly about technology. On the Internet, no one needs to know where you're working. Thanks to high-speed data transmission and robust software, virtual workplaces can be indistinguishable from the real thing. But equipping a telecommuter can be a major expense: Corporations can spend $8,000-$10,000 per employee, Piskurich says, for computer, furniture, phone, fax, and even changing the locks for staff who deal with sensitive material.

Of course, in-house workers create many of the same expenses. Employers think nothing of picking up the tab at the office--but frequently ask home workers to underwrite their own offices. TAWPI, for example, requires employees to equip themselves to work at home, though the association provides the dial-up software employees can use to access their work computer and lets them check out laptops.

The Ohio Society of CPAs also requires telecommuters to provide their own equipment--but offers low-interest loans, payable via payroll deduction across three years, to cover computers, printers, and scanners. Price sees the loan program as an Integral part of the flexible workplace plan, a way to help employees have up-to-date computers, and a skill builder. Staff who want to learn how to edit digital photos for home use, for example, are likely to be able to apply their new talent at work.

Get good advice on liability and legal issues. Is an employee eligible for worker's compensation if hurt while working at home? Whose responsibility is it to make sure that home offices meet OSHA and ergonomic standards? What if a fire at home destroys office equipment or data? "It gets pretty murky in there," says Piskurich.

The rules of worker's comp are probably the same whether an accident happens at home or at work, he says--but the issue gets complicated when the home worker can't clearly demonstrate that he or she was on the job when the injury occurred. The question of OSHA and other standards is equally confused: Some lawyers argue that an employer can reduce potential liability by doing everything possible to ensure compliance, while others say that getting involved in any way will actually increase the employer's liability.

To protect against loss to company owned equipment, some employers require the telecommuter to buy expanded homeowner's insurance. Who pays will vary from ease to case.

Such problems are thorny but certainly not impossible to solve, Piskurich says. The solution: Get the best legal advice possible on the federal, state, and local laws that are relevant to you. The Ohio CPAs thoroughly reviewed its telecommuting program with counsel. The telecommuting agreement spells out everything from accident-reporting procedures to equipment-use restrictions to the association's right to inspect a home workplace on 48 hours' notice.

Objection No. 5: Flex staff isn't as available at the boss's beck and call--and you can't manage an employee you can't see.

Response: Oh, grow up. As big a flex fan as he is, Price can relate to this complaint because his first impulse is to drop in on a colleague for face-to-face discussion whenever an issue arises. But he's convinced that his personal inconvenience is more than offset by productivity gains when his staff is not so easily interrupted. And so he's disciplined himself to pick up the phone.

Such discipline is good for the boss, who should be more precise with plans and instructions and more results-oriented about evaluations, Piskurich says. "Good managers are able to manage their folks in the next room, in the next county, and in the next country. Bad managers can't no matter where they are."

Of course, just because executives should be disciplined doesn't mean they will be. "If managers aren't comfortable," Piskurich says flatly, "it's not going to work." That's why good training and worthwhile policies and procedures are as important for managers as employees. He says the three most common reasons for telecommuting failure are a lack of solid policies and procedures, a lack of support for telecommuters, and a lack of training for managers.

At base, O'Hara sees the fear that employee-mice will play because the boss-cat's away as a trust problem. "If you don't trust your employees, you shouldn't have hired them in the first place," she says. "You have to empower them to do the work they're capable of doing."

Planning for flexibility

In most workplaces, flexible benefits have sprung up haphazardly, on a case-by-case basis. That's a formula for trouble, To make flex benefits succeed in your organization, you need to plan for them.

Start smart by finding out what your employees really want. A good example of how to do this comes from the Consumer Electronics Association, which for the past four years has conducted an employee satisfaction survey. It gauges how the staff feels about 41 aspects of working at CEA, from salary and insurance to commuting conditions. The survey has helped the association identify both the large matters (a confusing pension plan) and small (better coffee, more casual days) that influence the staff's decision to stay or go. In the most recent CEA survey, the desire for more telecommuting came up second on a list of additional benefits that would enhance job satisfaction. (Financial bonuses were ranked highest.)

"You need this kind of communication and input all around," Shapiro says. There's no substitute for making sure you're addressing what employees really want, not just what you wish they would want.

Make the effort to set up the right policies and procedures. Time-consuming? Yes. But this up-front work can head off most problems with anxious managers, confused or angry staff, and even lawyers.

"Start by looking at each position and its job responsibilities to determine whether these sorts of benefits are worthwhile for you," says Carrig of OfficeTeam. The most basic questions you must ask: "Is it going to be more productive for the employee? Is it going to be a savings for the employer in terms of space or equipment?"

Once you've decided what to offer, hold in-person meetings to introduce the program and provide training. Have supervisors discuss the ramifications with all their employees, inside and outside the office. Make sure it's clear who is eligible and who is not, and be prepared to explain the rationale. After double-checking with your legal counsel, put the policies and procedures in writing.

The Ohio Society of CPAs consolidates its rules and regulations in a 15-page telecommuting agreement. It covers preparations for both telecommuter and supervisor, staff working hours, technology needs, and more. By the time the agreement gets signed, workers know how often they must check voice- and e-mail and bosses understand it's their responsibility to learn how to download electronic files. A major tenet of the flexible program: All new hires must spend at least three months working in the office, and everyone on staff, no matter where they are, must be reachable during the core hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Even if your organization has offered flexible benefits on an ad hoc basis up to now, Piskurich recommends "retrofitting"--going through the self-examination process, putting the proper procedures in writing, and conducting the needed training at all levels. It will make your offerings clearer and fairer and also protect employees from the vagaries of change. Otherwise, a new boss could come in tomorrow and say, "Everybody back to the office for the standard 9-to-5."

Be sure that even the people who don't use your flexible programs get training--and get perks when possible. Don't inadvertently set up a system that breeds ill will among those who stay in the office. As Carrig says, "They become ground control, which makes their work much more critical at the home base."

Piskurich advises giving "left-behinds" straightforward training in what telecommuters are doing, why they were chosen, and what help they need. Then watch for advantages to tout for those who remain. "If you're in a cube farm, increase the size of everyone's cube. Change your parking regulations so that people are no longer stuck our in the North 40. There are lots of things you can offer if you just think about it."

And make sure flexibility works both ways. If an emergency comes up, flex staff must be prepared to work conventional hours--or more--like everybody else.

Be prepared for other executives to look at you funny. Both Shapiro and Price say that one of the most common questions they get from incredulous colleagues at other organizations is "How did you get your board to let you do that?" The key is your relationship with your board. If that's healthy, the board will realize that it needs to focus on ends, not means--and designing work schedules is management's job.

Shapiro counts his blessings that his directors are not prone to micro-managing. But he's careful not to over-present data or ask them for permission to fulfill his duties.

Likewise, "I did not present this idea to my board for approval," says Price. "I didn't even tell them we were experimenting. It's within my scope as CEO to say we're going to do this." Instead, when the pilot phase ended, he made a presentation to the board. Bolstered by research and his careful preparation, he was able to show that the program is an asset to the association.

Price's board members are accountants--notorious detail types by nature. "I fully expected to hear, 'How do you know they're going to be doing their work and not watching TV?"' But the board never questioned him, and "that was it."

The most important question for any association, says Rooney: "Are we still serving the members? And the answer is yes. Most of them don't even know we aren't in the office.

"And those who do know--they want to find out how they can make benefits like these work for them."

Karla Taylor is a communications consultant in Bethesda, Maryland.

THREE READY RESOURCES

* GET A THOROUGH LOOK AT WHO OFFERS WHAT TO WHOM from the 2001 Benefits Survey published by the Society for Human Resource Management. Results are available free to members online at www.shrm.org/surveys. Nonmembers can buy a survey for $59.95 by calling SHRMStore at 800-444-5006.

* FIND ADVICE SPECIFICALLY FROM THE BOSS'S POINT OF VIEW in An Organizational Guide to Telecommuting: Setting Up and Running a Successful Telecommuter Program, by consultant George Piskurich. Published by ASTD in 1998, the 175- page book is available from 703-683-8100 for $29.95 (nonmembers) and $24.95 (members).

* HONE IN ON TRAINING with a 16-page variation on the book above called Training Telecommuters, also written by Piskurich (1999, ASTD): $11 for members, $12 for nonmembers at the phone number above.