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I am
the HR Director for a company that does the design and admin of retirement
programs. We have an ultra flextime policy meaning the only rules are that the
staff must work from 10-12 and from 2-4 Monday through Friday. These are the
core hours. They can change from day to day what hours they work as long as they
are here during coretime. Saturday and Sunday hours count toward the week
provided the employee completes a form indicating what they did and has it
signed by a supervisor. The problem is what to do when it snows. We can't simply
close the office early and give everyone credit for the day like a regular 9-5
outfit because someone may have started their day at 7 a.m. while someone else
may not have come in until 10 a.m. Paying everyone for the day would be unfair
to the person who came in at 7 a.m. Also, some FT employees work 35 hours a week
while others work 37.5 or 40. We have tried giving a certain number of hours
"credit" toward the week to all employees when it snows, suspend core
time and allow them a reasonable amount of time to make up the missed
time.
We have even given some credit to employees who don't make it in at all when weather is really bad or schools are closed (less time than those who actually make it in). Whatever we do, people are unhappy. There is always the option to give no time in weather emergencies and either let the employees make up the time or use vacation time but the boss is trying to be nice and give the employees some time due to the weather. Also, due to the nature of our business, it is not in the company's best interest to "punish" employees by not letting them make up the time if they don't come it at all. This would essentially be cutting off our nose to spite our face. Any guidance you can give in how other companies handle these types situations would be most appreciated.
Signed,
Snowed Out
Dear
Snowed Out:
This sounds like a policy problem. The employees would like to have their cake and eat it too. This flextime policy sounds like an employee's dream. An employee is only required to be at the job four hours out of the day and the rest can be done anytime. If you want to work weekends, then you can.
With this type of flexibility, it should be fair for this company to establish some type of adverse weather policy.
You say: "Whatever we do, people are unhappy."
Well, it isn't always the employer's job to make everyone happy. It is important that the employer is fair and treats each and every employee equally. This is where a fair and equal policy must be put into effect. Make sure that when it is completed and implemented that all employees read and understand the new policy. It is not a bad idea to make every employee sign that they have read and understand it.
I can only give you an example of what worked for me. As a retired manager from the snow covered north, I can empathize with your situation.
Anytime the business was open, all employees that were scheduled to work had to be at work. If they couldn't make it in, they had to use vacation time or sick/personal days if they wanted to be paid for time missed.
If the business was closed due to the weather, the employees that were scheduled to work were paid for the hours that they were scheduled to work. In your case you would have few different scenarios. Full time employees or salary employees would get paid as usual. The employees that were only required to be at work for four hours would only be paid for those four hours. They would then have an opportunity to make up some extra hours at a later date, and with your flextime policy that should not be a problem.
Now For The Gray Areas!
All policies have certain exceptions... In some occasions the business can be open, but an employee still may not be able to get to work safely. We set up alternative transportation for our employees that lived in areas that were tough to travel. We found that the cost of the transportation was much less than the lost time and productivity. We also found that most of the employees who couldn't make it in, suddenly could when they found out that a ride was on the way.
The business might also be open while some school districts are closed. An employee might have to stay with a child or children. We chose to stay out of the day care business and work with those employees to make up the time on a case by case deal.
No company can develop policies for every single situation, so it is very important for management to keep the policy open to discretion. Just be consistent in the way these problems are handled. Employees talk to each other and one usually comes away from discretionary issues feeling a little less happy than the other.
You should be able to fix your Snowy problems with a few policy meetings. In the process of developing policy, if you decide that is what is best for you, bounce it off of a few of your employees. Even if you don't like their input, they at least feel like they have been a part of the solution. Everyone likes to feel like they are part of fixing a problem. Plus you might just get something out of your discussion. And best yet, spring is just around the corner.
Michael Stanford
Special Workplace Doctors Correspondent