Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Mandated Schedules

My company recently mandated a 4/10 schedule. Sound good? It's not.



  • It becomes much easier to jeopardize the exempt status of salaried employees.

  • Exempt employees generally work less hours in a week. I used to put in 45-50 on most weeks and a lot more when necessary. Now? 40

  • Decreased productivity. Assuming an employee works the same 40 hours they used to, are those hours as productive as a 5/8 schedule? Isn't productive time really the point of "working?"

  • Employees don't like their coworkers enough to spend 10+ hours a day together.

  • Instead of a "flexible schedule" being a perk, a mandated schedule easily becomes an expectation. It cannot be called "flexible" or "alternative" when it doesn't come with a choice.
  • Negative turnover results when employees cannot manage all of their responsibilities with a mandated 4/10 schedule. Is it worth losing them?

  • Goodbye work/life balance.

  • Goodbye single parents, parents of young children, and older workers.

  • Hello burnout, bitterness, bitchiness.

Management's attitude ....."Be thankful you have a job."

If only it were that simple.