Have you ever noticed that during the summer your employees can get stressed more easily? Given the fact that summer is usually the time when people go on vacations, employees tend to day-dream about the weekend or even a longer vacation.
In some cases, most companies register a decrease in morale and productivity during the summer. So how can you counter this problem that may arise at any point in time? Maybe it never crossed your mind that by offering employees longer weekend is the best way to get more things done.
According to a recent survey from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), companies that allow workers to leave early on Fridays or on any other day of the week, if they will make up the hours on other days, will benefit from a fresh morale boost among employees with little to no negative consequences.
Lisa Hord, the co-leader of SHRM’s Workplace Flexibility Initiative stated that in this day and age when companies ask more from employees but offer less, they should at least be providing them with more flexibility so that morale issues will not arise.
For example, in the United States, more and more businesses are starting to do just that. Today, approximately 43 percent of American companies offer (some) employees more flexible work schedules, whereas in 2008 only 38 percent were using this practice. The study looked at around 1.000 businesses that had 50 or more employees.
Moreover, from the SHRM survey we noticed that, usually, small businesses are the companies that will most likely offer flexible work schedules rather than big companies.
It may sound weird at first but, by offering employees a flexible work schedule during the summer time, the productivity increases given the tendency among employees to hyper-focus during regular hours.
As we’ve previously stated, the 9-to-5 work schedule is antiquated and it leads to a drag in productivity. And we’ve got the reasons to prove it:
First of all, it simply cannot and does not build trust. Employees should feel passionate about the work they do and they should come to work with a sincere smile on their face. Yes, you are the one who makes the major decisions, but try not to control everything. Let your employees do their work as they see fit. This will increase the chances they will own their work and aspire to become better.
Second of all, it’s distracting. It’s highly unlikely that the tasks of your employees just so happen to fit perfectly in a 9-to-5 schedule. Instead of making them waste time thinking about the number of hours they clocked in, focus on whether they have completed their tasks.
Third of all, it’s detrimental to the concept of teamwork. By having individual members of your team bound by set hours will most certainly produce tension in the work environment. Employees will feel frustrated over who’s pulling their weight. Instead of doing this you should allow your employees to fulfil team goals and encourage them to collaborate more to make the goals attainable.
So, would you let your employees set their own schedules? Comment below and let us know what you think of this practice.
