Stretching out the clock.

The times they are a-changing. New work arrangements - everything from four-day weeks to job sharing - are transforming the face (and the pace) of American business life. Read how the flexible workforce is shaking out in finance.

Nine-to-five, Monday to Friday. For decades, the work week has remained tried and true, the familiar marker with which millions of American workers parcel out their business lives. But it's not going to be that way for much longer. Nine-to-five is still alive and well, especially since some managers have reservations about flexible schedules, but many employers and employees are starting to deconstruct the traditional work week. However, that doesn't mean Corporate America has thrown out the baby - productivity - with the bathwater. Here, four financial executives reveal how their employees get their jobs done and still have time for their kids' baseball games. (Now we'd just like to see those executives work some flex hours, too!)

Gordon Busenbark Vice president-finance Hyland division of Baxter Healthcare Hayward, Calif. [phone] or [phone]

Number of employees in department: 25 Number of employees using flexible work options: 9

A few years ago, I faced a typical work-family dilemma: I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my young children, but I have a three-hour roundtrip commute and also travel a great deal. My solution was to begin working at home one day a week. I sent out my schedule, including my home phone and fax numbers, to everyone I worked with, and made it clear I could be reached at home - just as if I were in the office.

This arrangement was very successful for me, and it didn't impede my performance. In fact, it even helped me organize my work better. I began viewing certain projects or tasks, such as reading mail or writing performance reviews, as good Friday "quiet-time" projects.

Therefore, when Baxter decided to help employees balance their work and family lives by offering some flexible work options, I think I'd already sent a strong message to my 25-person department that senior management was committed to this endeavor and that it wasn't a program only for women or non-management employees. Of course, some people, whether they're managers or not, still believe that employees who aren't there during traditional hours will do less work because they're not being supervised as closely. But most of us assume we have mature employees who will get the job done regardless of which hours they work.

Still, you do have to lay out some "rules of the road." Our division president told managers to talk to their employees and develop written proposals, based on their areas' business needs and work flows. Right off the bat, I emphasized to my employees that we had to keep our customers' needs uppermost in our minds, and that includes internal customers - all the operating units and other people who rely on finance for accurate data and information.

To keep things flowing smoothly, everyone in my department (and the division in general) had to commit to a schedule of some kind. My employees can choose to work either a compressed work week - four 10-hour days - or what we call a nine-80 schedule, which means that in a two-week, 80-hour period, employees work eight nine-hour days and one eight-hour day, with the 10th day off. At the beginning of the month, we post a calendar showing everyone's schedule. That helps us plan meetings, and we can quickly see if we have any coverage gaps.

Some of my functional areas have very few employees, and they found it a little trickier than most to work out a feasible flexible schedule. We needed to ensure we always have enough people there to keep the work moving and answer any questions or address any situations that come up. You can't just have everyone out on the same day!

For example, our accounts payable group has only eight people, so two people take their day off on one Friday, another two get the following Monday off, the third pair get the next Friday and, of course, the final pair take the second Monday. The group keeps rotating the schedule, so everyone eventually gets a chance to take Friday off as well as Monday.

With all of these checks and balances in place, at least half of our employees are in the office on any given day. The nine-80 schedule in particular has helped reduce the amount of time employees take off for personal reasons, such as doctor appointments. Since people know they'll have a day off every two weeks, they schedule their personal errands for that day instead of using their regular work time.

Baxter regards flexible schedules as a privilege, not a right. Therefore, we officially suspend flex time at certain times of the year, such as when we're doing budget forecasts, because we need everyone to be here at the same time. But most of the time, employees decide for themselves when they need to put in extra time. I don't have to tell them when those times are.

Employees don't get a chance to make up any scheduled days off; flex time doesn't accrue like vacation time. On the other hand, we try to accommodate people when they have emergencies that prevent them from working their regular schedules. So it's a give-and-take situation; both the company and employees must be flexible about work arrangements.

Although nearly everyone in our department has a computer (either full-scale or laptop) at home, no one works from home right now. (I've taken on some additional responsibilities that, for now, prevent me from spending one day at home.) We do have one part-time person who works two 10-hour days here, and I have to admit it's more challenging to keep her in the loop. But if she needs to come in for a meeting, she'll rearrange her schedule to accommodate it, if necessary. And if an emergency comes up, we can call her at home, although we really try to avoid doing that.

If someone did want to work from home one or more days a week, I'd encourage that person to find child-care arrangements instead of trying to juggle work and child care. I've done that myself, and it didn't work out very well. I ended up having to hire a sitter for my child so I could get some work done.

Other Baxter divisions haven't been as quick as ours to implement flexible schedules. In some cases, it's just too complicated to come up with a workable schedule. But my employees really like having some options, and they're even more productive than they were before. So as management gradually becomes more comfortable with the idea and sees that it doesn't equate to a decline in the quantity or quality of work, flextime will probably become more prevalent in other areas of the company.

Dan Smith Director of corporate accounting and reporting DuPont Wilmington, Del.

Number of employees in division: 35 Number of employees using flexible work options: 12

Thanks to our flexible scheduling practices, I have two excellent secretaries for the price of one. A few years ago, my secretary had a child and wanted to reduce her hours. Another DuPont secretary wanted to go back to school, so, with my approval, the two of them worked out a job-sharing arrangement. One secretary works Mondays and Tuesdays, while the other works Thursdays and Fridays. They alternate Wednesdays.

This arrangement has worked out great. My secretaries deal with coordinating the work, and they communicate a great deal through notes and e-mail to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. At the beginning of the week, they let me know their schedules for the week, so I'm always up-to-date. They're both willing to be flexible with their hours if necessary, including putting in extra time, and that's a big advantage in several respects.

For instance, when one of them goes on vacation, the other one fills in. That means we don't have to train a substitute ahead of time, so there's no break in the continuity of the work schedule. And if I've got a big project, I can have two highly skilled people working on it.

That's just one example of flexible work practices at DuPont. Ten years ago, frankly, we hadn't done much in this area, but there's gradually been a shift in the company's corporate culture and philosophy with respect to work and family issues. Of course, we expect employees who want alternative work schedules to work with us to meet our business needs, which they do very effectively.

The U.S. corporate finance organization in DuPont numbers about 575 people; I have about 35 in my group, with about a third of my department working a flexible arrangement of some kind. The use of flexible starting times is the most prevalent flexible work practice in DuPont finance, with employees starting their work days anywhere from 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Also, several of our transactional processing areas work compressed four-day weeks, and part-time work is becoming more and more common. We do not view flexible schedules as an entitlement, but when there is a need, we will work hard with the employee to try to create a win-win situation.

Of course, some functions don't lend themselves well to alternative schedules. For example, our financial statements group must handle two weeks of intense activity every month, so while those employees aren't on a formal flex schedule, they do have some give and take with their hours, depending on the time of the month. That's something they work out among themselves and their supervisors.

One of our employees currently works under a "flex place" arrangement - she works Mondays and Fridays at home. About a year-and-a-half ago, she approached me about working from home a few days a week to spend more time with her child. She was (and is) a very valued employee who, at the time, had been with the company for about six years. We might have lost her if we hadn't been able to work out this arrangement, so it was clearly the best way to go.

The employee has a computer, phone and fax at home and can communicate effectively with her clients both here in the United States and overseas. On the days she works at home, she's no less productive than if she were in the office. If anything, her productivity is higher because of her commitment to make this arrangement work well - and it does.

Actually, when she works from home, her nonstandard hours can be a plus in dealing with our overseas subsidiaries. Because of the time differences, she can contact our European or Asia Pacific offices directly by phone or e-mail when she's working either early in the morning or late at night.

This will probably not be a permanent arrangement; the employee could well be back in the office full-time at some point in the future. We did incur some minimal costs when we equipped her to work from home, but these are incidental compared with the cost of having to find and train a replacement.

Of course, business needs sometimes prevent using flexible schedules for certain jobs. When this situation comes up for someone needing a flexible schedule, we try to find a different assignment where a flexible arrangement can work. This can be especially suitable for employees who want to work part-time.

In general, we let people self-manage their schedules, but we ask them to keep their managers apprised of schedule changes. Some of our people work in teams, and in that kind of environment, they can't just switch their schedules. If they have unusual scheduling requests or needs, they must work them out with their team members.

By the way, the team environment is also very effective in reinforcing employees' commitment to making flexible options succeed for them and their customers. None of my employees have tried to take advantage of flex time to slack off, but if they did, the team environment would discipline them faster than a supervisor could. There's nothing like peer pressure to bring someone around!

As time goes on, I'm convinced we'll continue to utilize flexible work practices in Dupont finance. They've become much more broadly accepted in the company within the last two or three years, and I believe this trend will continue. Flexible schedules help reduce turnover, and at the same time, they improve employee loyalty and commitment. Given the costs of finding and training someone, this clearly translates to higher productivity. Plus, I think it gives us a big recruiting edge. All of these are important advantages in dealing with the competitive pressures all organizations face today.

Michael Mardy Vice president of finance Nabisco Biscuit Co. East Hanover, N.J. [phone]

Number of employees in department: 65 Number of employees using flexible work options: 20

At Nabisco, the real push to institute flexible work options began in 1993, when we conducted an employee work/life survey. More than 95 percent of our employees said they wanted more options in balancing their professional and personal lives, and two-thirds of our managers said they thought flexible scheduling was feasible. Our top management is very enlightened and strongly supports work-force diversity, so we began developing plans to implement some alternative work options.

Our human resources department produced some internal guidebooks to help management and employees develop and evaluate their options. The employee guidebook suggests schedules for specific needs, and it also tells employees to be aware of the impact flexible schedules may have on their coworkers and supervisors.

Managers have their own book, called "Leading in a Flexible Workplace," which helps them understand the range of options available. We also receive training periodically so we can set clear policies and give employees accurate information on what they can and can't do.

Most employees in my department can start anywhere from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., or even at 7 a.m. or 10 a.m. One person works part-time, and we also have three women who work three-day schedules, but they don't have part-time hours - they put in a full 40 hours per week. I don't object to the three-day schedule as long as people are willing to put in the extra time.

These employees aren't typical, however. Most employees in my department need to be in the office five days per week. In general, finance has less flexibility than other departments, because we have some very time-sensitive responsibilities. In fact, some of us are often in the office on weekends to close the books. I think the rest of the company believes finance never goes home.

Currently, no one in my organization works from home on a regular basis, except on snow days. But one of our operating divisions (not finance) set up all of its employees with computers at home to save space. As a general rule, it costs about $5,000 to equip each employee with a computer, fax line and modem, but an IDS line alone can cost $1,000, so the total cost per employee can go up to $8,000. For the operating division, however, this route is still cheaper than office real estate costs.

Job sharing also isn't widespread in finance or elsewhere in the company. Actually, senior management has less of a problem with the concept than middle management, because middle managers are the ones who have to make sure the work gets done.

While managers have the option of working a flexible schedule, that isn't practical for most of us. (However, I do go through my e-mail from my home computer, which saves some time in the morning.) The higher up you are in the management ranks, the less flexible you can be. One of the elements of leadership is that you have to be in the office at the same time your people are. It's a question of optics: You need to be visible to your staff so you can set an example to help manage them and guide them.

One person in my department rolls in at around 10 a.m. every day, but he stays until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. every night. Although his supervisor knows he's getting his work done, he's very concerned about how this looks to people working traditional hours. I don't think the schedule is a problem as long as the employee does his job, but I have told him that if he wants to advance, he has to start coming in at more regular hours because, unfortunately, the world is still focused on a traditional schedule.

Ron Nelson Vice president and controller 3M St. Paul, Minn. [phone]

% of employees using flexible work options: 6

It's a sign of the times: Ten percent of the employees in 3M's U.S. controller's department are part-time. Other employees work four 10-hour days or work four nine-hour days and one four-hour day. And we allow employees to start their days from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. In short, we've begun to deconstruct the traditional 40-hour work week.

For us, flexible schedules go under the general umbrella of valuing and recognizing individual needs and responding to them whenever possible. To make sure we harmonize those aims with our business needs, we require people to pick a schedule and stick to it, unless their supervisors agree to let them change it. Our only other requirement is that employees maintain a satisfactory level of performance.

Overall, our policies on part-time employees and alternative work schedules are much more crystallized in finance than in the rest of the company, perhaps because our employees expressed a need for it and because the nature of their work lends itself more easily to flexible starting hours. On the other hand, only 6 percent of employees (and none of our managers) have taken advantage of alternative hours. Many employees work on teams as business advisers to other parts of the company, and they recognize the importance of face-to-face involvement when they're consulting for other people.

No one in my department works from home, but only because no one has expressed any interest in doing it so far. I'd certainly be open to someone working at home temporarily if the person could show me he or she could still get the job done, and down the road, someone will probably ask to do it. But this kind of arrangement would probably be most feasible for a transaction-processing position - one where the employee didn't have to interact much with other employees to begin with. I don't think working from home would be as doable for someone with a managerial or cross-functional job.

So far, we haven't tried to measure the success of our program formally, because we see it as a morale issue, and that's not easy to quantify. We've been very pleased with the professionalism of those people who are on flexible or part-time schedules. They don't take shortcuts.

In fact, we've had the reverse situation, where some of our part-time employees have put in so many hours they're practically working full-time. We've actually had to take people aside and say, "You can't keep working these hours; it's not fair to you, nor is it the purpose of the program. We need to restructure your job and delegate some of your work so that it fits a part-time schedule." As you can see, our employees are more than willing to go the extra mile for the company.

RELATED ARTICLE: DUPONT'S GUIDELINES ON FLEXIBLE WORK PRACTICES

DuPont's flexible-scheduling practices evolved gradually, based on people's needs rather than personal preference, but it does have a set of operating principles established when the company first stared its work-family programs back in February 1990. Each department, including finance, also has some guidelines of its own.

CORPORATE PRINCIPLES

* Flexible work practices should be designed to align with the business mission and deliver value to DuPont's four stakeholders: customers, employees, stockholders and the public.

* Flexible work practices should be designed and implemented so they make sense for he business and accommodate individual employee needs without impacting team effectiveness.

* Employees should receive compensation commensurate with hours worked.

* Employee performance should be measured by the quality and quantity of work performed, rather than the number of hours worked, when the work was performed or where work was performed.

* Flexible work practices should be audited and reviewed, continuously improved or discontinued if appropriate.

* Flexible work practices should not alter treatment or penalize people; for example, career management, increases, progression, ratings, access to job posting systems, and granting of leaves of absence should continue as they do for full service employees working full time.

* Commitment to high standards of safety, ethics and legal requirements must continue.

RELATED ARTICLE: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FLEXTIMER

Nancy Ruffino, assistant vice president of accounting services a Cigna in Bloomfield, Conn., is an old hand at making flexible schedules work. Because of family commitments, she has worked a flextime schedule, currently 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., since 1988, with her manager's blessings. Ruffino manages a staff of seven employees (including two part-timers) in Connecticut and in Cigna's Philadelphia headquarters. Here's look at a typical day for her:

7 a.m. - Ruffino arrives at the office. "My goal at the end of the day is to be finished with that day's work and out of the office by 3 p.m.," she says. By getting to the office early, she can spend an hour or two catching up on her reading and internal correspondence. Because she leaves the office early, she also frequently has e-mail messages left over from the night before, and she reads through and responds to those, too.

9 a.m. - By now, other staffers in her department have all started their work days, and Ruffino checks in with several of them on the status of their projects. Each employee is in charge of tracking emerging regulatory or legislative developments, and that also means some coordination with internal divisions. She spends some time with each employee discussing the next step for each project.

11 a.m. - Ruffino phones her Philadelphia employees and gets updates from them, too. She asks them to prepare some reports for her when she makes her biweekly trip to Philadelphia later that week.

12 p.m. - At lunchtime, Ruffino dines with several other managers in Cigna's operating divisions. "This gives me an opportunity to hook in our work to what the other divisions are doing," she says. "My department sets accounting policy. I'm the hub of that effort, so I need to know what other areas' concern are." Of course, "there are plenty of other times that I just eat a sandwich at my desk so I can get my work done!" she laughs.

1 p.m. - Back at her desk, a sheaf of paperwork beckons. She works through some budget calculations and then turns her attention to some personnel issues.

2 p.m. - Ruffino call a brief staff meeting to discuss some company policy changes.

3 p.m. - By this time, Ruffino has tied up the day's work and is ready to head home. On her way to meet her child's school bus, she'll mentally plan the next day's work (or the next week's). Later in the week, she'll fly to Philadelphia for the day to meet with her staff there. (Her child-care arrangements are flexible enough to accommodate day trips or overnight trips, which occur several times a year.)

Far from being a disruption, the trip offers her "a chance to catch up on things that have been on the back burner," she reports. Ruffino doesn't anticipate any other breaks in her routine, such as a snow or a child-care emergency, but, like a scout, she's always prepared. "I'm constantly walking around with a briefcase full of work - just in case," she reveals.

RELATED ARTICLE: LOOK WHO'S DOING IT

FEL-PRO

Skokie, Ill. Types of flexible work options: Variable starting times Who's eligible: Blue-collar workers only Date implemented: 1992 Formal guidelines: Yes Notes: Conducting pilot compressed work week program for 80 employees

AMERICAN EXPRESS 

New York Types of flexible work options: Variable starting times (at card operating centers only) Job sharing (at headquarters only) Work from home (travel agents only) Who's eligible: Varies Formal guidelines: No

AT&T

New York Types of flexible work options: Variable starting times Compressed work weeks Telecommuting Who's Eligible: Varies by function Date implemented: 1991 Formal guidelines: Yes Notes: Have explored job sharing but haven't implemented it. Compressed work schedules include four 10-hour days; nine days of work, with the 10th day off; and a four-and-a-half-day week.

HEWLETT-PACKARD

Palo Alto, Calif. Types of flexible work options: Variable starting times Compressed work weeks (varies by department) Job sharing Telecommuting Who's eligible: Everyone Date implemented: Early 1970s Formal guidelines: Yes

ELI LILLY & CO.

Indianapolis, Ind. Types of flexible work options: Variable starting times Compressed work weeks Job sharing Who's eligible: Everyone Date implemented: 1992 Formal guidelines: Yes Notes: Employees must be in the office from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

AVON

New York Types of flexible work options: Variable starting times (some branches) Compressed work weeks Telecommuting Who's eligible: Everyone Formal guidelines: No