DISCUSSION REGARDING FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING.

The goals included in the City Manager’s employment agreement approved by the City Commission earlier this year include a number of objectives that will require innovative practices to be considered. One of those objectives is to “explore policies to better align City functions for the modern workforce, including work hours, travel, cell phones and social media.”

In researching how other public sector organizations are aligning their policies to address the modern workforce, the subject of flexible work schedules, commonly known as flex time, seems to be a fairly well-established practice. Flex time is a scheduling arrangement that permits variations in an employee’s schedule but does not change the total number of hours required to be worked per week or pay period, as applicable. While the definition of flex time is broad and includes a number of flexible staffing options, the most widely deployed option is schedules that are based on four (4) ten (10) hour days versus the more traditional schedule of five (5) eight (8) hour days. For the purposes of this memorandum, flex time scheduling will be defined as four (4) ten (10) hour day schedules.

The City’s Human Resources Department has surveyed local agencies to identify which have implemented four (4) ten (10) hour day schedules and if they have done so agency-wide or on a limited basis. The survey only considers this practice among administrative departments, public safety and parks/recreation departments have been omitted. The table below indicates local agencies that have responded to the survey.

The management literature on the topic of flex time scheduling is robust. Most studies indicate that there are organizational benefits to implementing flex time programs and some pitfalls to avoid. Benefits include: increased employee morale and engagement; improved recruiting and retention; reduced tardiness and absenteeism; and improved productivity. Some of the pitfalls to avoid include: flex time does not work for all employees; and, to ensure service coverage, scheduling must be carefully managed and cross-training is critical. Other benefit of flex time scheduling includes reduced greenhouse gas emissions from commutes and reduced traffic during peak times. For example, by eliminating one (1) of five (5) commute days from an employee’s schedule, the total number of commute days, and possible greenhouse gas emissions from commutes, is reduced by 20%. While some employees may tend to utilize vehicles on the fifth day, trips are usually shorter and closer to their homes. Therefore, the reductions on greenhouse gas emissions from commutes is most significant for employees that do not live nearby and may live at a significant distance from the City, such as a distant suburb or another county. Further, because employees on flex time scheduling tend to arrive earlier and leave later, the possibility exists for reducing traffic entering or leaving the City during peak times.

Given the prevalence of flex time programs and its potential benefits, the Administration piloted flex time in two administrative departments – Human Resources (HR) and Procurement Departments. These departments were selected because they both service stakeholders. The HR Department services internal stakeholders (e.g., employees, applicants). The Procurement Department services external stakeholders (e.g., city contractors and bidders). It is important to note that the delivery of service to stakeholders must be at the forefront of any discussion on flex time scheduling.  Therefore, departments that service residents directly were excluded from the pilot because of the challenge of offering expanded service hours that could later be taken away if the pilots were not successful. Further, the current pilot is optional and not all employees have opted for the flexible schedules, usually due to family scheduling limitations.

The pilot has been in place for approximately 120 days. The HR department has extended hours of operation from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 am to 6:00 pm. The extended hours help provide better service to employees, as well as potential candidates considering employment with the City. The Procurement Department has also expanded service hours from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The expanded service hours are beneficial to vendors, especially small firms, that are busy during regular business hours and can now access City services early in the morning or later into the evening.

While the pilot period is very short, early observations appear to indicate that it has had a positive impact on productivity. For example, during the pilot period processing times for purchase orders and change orders issued by the Procurement Department for goods and services needed by City departments have improved nearly 20% over the same time period in 2018. Anecdotally, the improvements appear to be due to the “quiet time” available either early or later in the day as a result of the extended daily hours. Flexibility also appears to be having a positive impact on employee morale, and the research in this field indicates that job satisfaction has a positive impact on employee productivity. Further, both departments have experienced a decrease in absenteeism, mostly because doctor and other appointments can now be scheduled on the fifth day. While there have not been any major downsides to the pilot, the departments have identified cross training as an important factor in making sure there are no gaps in coverage when an employee is away from the office. However, the latter is true regardless of the scheduling methods utilized.

The purpose of this item is to advise the City Commission of the preliminary findings of the pilot program, and confirm that flex time or other innovative practices for aligning work schedules with the modern workforce should continue to be part of the City's strategic initiatives to attract exceptional talent, enhance sustainability efforts and, most importantly, provide exceptional customer service to residents, visitors and businesses.