Flexible Working Hours

HR Talk

All about Flexible working hours

Salman was speeding the car. The speed of the car has crossed 120 and has reached around 140 as he is eagerly looking upwards to nearby radar cameras to apply brake so that to escape from catching by camera and thus fined by the traffic police.  

Why Salman driving fast like this? For he was late to office and his office timing starts by 8.00am and he will be reaching the office only by 8.15. That means he is late by 15 minutes. As per the policy of the company if somebody is late by 15 minutes for three days, it will lead to a salary cut of half day. Salman is not much bothered about the salary deduction, but he rather fear his managers blaming on him for not becoming punctual. And he will start advising him right and left by bla bla bla…..He will take minutes and hours to advise him for being late by 15 minutes.

For Salman, it was not intentional. He was on his time table as usual. Wake up the same time. When he finished his bath and came out of the bathroom and was wearing the dress, suddenly he felt a small pain on his abdomen as outcome of a stomach upset. He had to go to the bathroom again and it took around 15-20 minutes to come out of the bathroom. Now he understood that he has become late and his manager will not be sparing him.

The moment tension starts. He was not able to enjoy the breakfast prepared by his beloved wife for him. At once he took it and his mood was not good. When he entered the car, he was tensed and was thinking about the office and manager’s approach of that day, about the lecture on punctuality and the spoilt day.  Not wishing to hear his manager’s lecture, he started speeding the car to cover up 15 minutes that lost in the bathroom.

On the road, he just narrowly escaped from two three accidents as he was not concentrated in driving because of the tension he is having as he is late. His heart was pumping and his pressure was rising to further extend and he himself was feeling uncomfortable. Finally he reached 13 minutes late, but he saved 2 minutes because of the fasting and the journey was full of tensions. For his best luck, his manager was also late by 20 minutes that day.

Why we should be that strict on timing? Is punctuality is that much an appreciated quality these time? What is the actual meaning of punctuality? Is it being on time? Can it be before the time as well? If it is before the time, how much before?  If you reach for an appointment 15 or 20 minutes before is it appreciable? Or if you are late by 15 minutes is it admirable? So punctuality means, not much before, not much after it should be on time.

Do this concept is still much valid? Because, you anticipate traffic block in your way and start half an hour earlier. But fortunately there is no traffic block and you reach well before the time.  You cannot meet somebody half hour before the appointment.

Now a days, where unpredictable blocks can hinder our journey or block us from reaching the office on time, it should be treated in a fair way. For this purpose Flexible working hours is a good option to adopt by companies.

I was not aware even about this concept until I heard in 2007 when Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), appointed a new HR head who brought this flexible working hours concept there in the company. As an HR professional, who is keen to know the changes in the areas, I was really attracted to this concept.

It operates like this. The office time will start by 8.00am and will end by 4.00pm. But employees can utilize flexible hours as they can come and swipe their card in between 8.00am-9.00am any time and they can leave any time in between 4.00pm-5.00pm once they complete 8 hours at the office. This was well accepted and admired by the HR professionals around the region as it brought big easiness to the employees.

Now, think about Salman’s company implemented flexible working hours. Salman is only 15 minutes late because of the unexpected stomach ache. He can come to the company and can report 8.15 or even 8.20 without any tensions. No salary deduction will happen; no manager will blame him or lecture on him. He need not to be tensed or no need to speed that may cause dangerous mishaps in his life.

Now why don’t we think about flexible working hours????