Sample of How To Write A Compressed Work Week Proposal
Compressed Work Week Proposal Sample
Over the past few days, I’ve had a flurry of visitors landing on a page of mine about getting your boss to say yes to flex time. The thing is, that post is a long, generic one, that covers a lot of options but nothing that specifically related to the searches I was getting. Here’s a sample of the searches that landed on my post: flex time, flex time request form, get your employer to allow flex time, how to ask your boss for flex time, how to ask boss for flexible schedule, proposal for compressed work week, benefits of a compressed work week, 4 day 10 hours a day work week, and so on.
I’m pretty sure I can’t cover all the bases here, but I did my own little research and found this great sample that I am passing on, sprinkled with a few comments of mine where I think they might be helpful (in blue). There’s also a section for the manager. This way you can draft it and submit it to your boss. From the wording of the queries, I’m under the impression that my visitors’ workplaces don’t have that structure implemented. in that case, it would be better to get your superiors involved in some capacity before springing a proposal on them.
Obviously, this is slanted towards the employees, but employers and managers can also use it in case they want to implement flex time in their companies.
Sample Flextime Request Form:
FLEXIBLE WORK OPTION REQUEST
(To be completed for new ongoing flexible work option only)
I. (Employee completes this section)
Date:
Name:
Exempt/Non-Exempt: Exempt employees are those who are exempt from certain wage and hour laws, i.e. overtime pay; usually applies to administrative, executive, or professional employees who receive an annual salary, in equal payments weekly, bi-weekly, or at some other specified time interval. Also known as: salaried employee. Non-exempt employees receive hourly wages; they are subject to wage and hour laws, i.e. overtime pay; usually applies to non-professional employees.
Job Title:
Department:
Manager:
Date request submitted to manager:
Flexible Work Option Requested:
Part-time / Job Sharing (employee must find partner) / Telecommuting / Compressed Work Weeks / Flextime / Other
Part-time work. Some people would gladly accept reduced pay and benefits to receive a reduced work schedule. Many companies will honor this arrangement for high achievers because it’s more cost-effective than losing them altogether. Some employers recognize that you already have the knowledge and training, which would enable you to achieve the same (or better) results on a part-time basis as someone else could on a full-time basis without the same training.
Job sharing. This is perhaps the most difficult of all scenarios to secure because it requires the moon and the stars to align in ways that aren’t always realistic. Even though some job-sharing relationships work successfully, the jury is out on the overall effectiveness of such arrangements.
Telecommuting. Can your position be performed from your home one or two days a week? This would require you to have — or your employer to provide — whatever equipment and supplies are needed for your job. This eliminates a commute and typically leads to increased productivity among already-motivated employees. If you’re easily distracted or you don’t have dedicated space at home to work from, this might not be a viable option.
Compressed work week. If your standard week is 40 hours — typically broken into five days, eight hours per day — could you perform your position in four days at 10 hours per day? Even if this is possible just once or twice a month, bottom line is you get a free weekday to tend to personal and family needs or to run a side business.
Describe your current schedule and the hours/schedule requested:
(Days & Hours, Current; Days & Hours, Requested; On-site; Off-site; Total Weekly Hours)
How will your proposed schedule sustain or enhance your ability to get the job done?
This is where you, as the employee, have to keep in mind that flex time is an accommodation, not an entitlement, so don’t just walk into your boss’s office all fired up about how this is going to make your life easier. Your boss wants to know how it’s going to make his or her life easier. Show enthusiasm for your job and be clear about how flex time will improve your ability to do it. Be positive about your work. “I’m exhausted running from work to my kids’ daycare each day” is not a business case. Instead, explain how working from home will give you more time to devote to work and less stress because you aren’t sitting in a car for four hours a day. Be willing to compromise.
Slackers and clock-watchers won’t get the benefit of the doubt. Good workers and solid, reliable producers are more likely to have requests approved. So your first step is asking yourself if your performance is truly outstanding. If it’s not, focus on improving it before asking for a special accommodation.
Research other departments within your company. If someone else has had success with flexible work arrangements, it could help to persuade your boss to give it a shot too. The same is true for other employers in your area and in your industry. Those precedents can be very powerful in your favor.
Consider power in numbers, where appropriate. If other co-workers would benefit from a similar arrangement, join forces. There’s often great leverage in numbers if you work together on a proposal that benefits the department and the company.
What potential barriers could your changed schedule raise with:
external customers / internal customers / co-workers / your manager
External/Internal customers: the biggest problem would be occasional understaffing, where the office would be a ghost town on Fridays and Mondays, since many people may want a condensed work week and a long weekend. Similarly, the boss won’t want everyone leaving work early. There has to always be enough people to provide the usual level of service.
Co-workers. Unfortunately, a co-worker’s flexible schedule will inevitably invite scrutiny from co-workers who don’t qualify or believe in the benefits of flex-time. There’s also the ever-present threat of frustration caused by eventual understaffing where people have to step in and do other people’s work. That can be compounded if there were other employees who applied for flex time and felt slighted when they didn’t qualify.
Manager. Under flextime the manager’s job can become more complex and involved. Flextime makes it harder to schedule work and more difficult to coordinate meetings; keeping track of worked hours is also more difficult. Furthermore, there are often periods during which supervision is lacking and there are occasional times when understaffing occurs (definitely an issue) or when employees need to interact with others who are not present.
How do you suggest overcoming any challenges with these groups?
(If applicable): Describe any additional equipment/expense that your arrangement might require. Detail any short- or long-term cost savings that might result from your new schedule to offset these expenses.
What reasonable deliverables and measurements would you propose for you and your manager to assess how your performance is meeting or exceeding expectations? Be as quantitative as possible.
What review process with your manager do you propose for constructive monitoring and improvement of you flexible work option? Are there measurable outcomes to use in the review process?
Play devil’s advocate. Anticipate the reasons why a boss might say no, and offer counterarguments. Before you present the proposal, figure out what the opposition might be — and address it in the proposal. If you think the boss will be worried that you won’t be available for key meetings that might pop up, explain how you’d be willing to alter your schedule as needed to accommodate such needs. If you’re worried the boss will say, “If I do it for you, I must do it for everyone,” then remind him or her that a) not everyone wants to work at home — many are thrilled to get out every day and b) not every job can be done from home. The boss can offer other forms of flex to other staffers
Put it all in writing (congratulations, that’s exactly what you’re trying to do here!). Write a formal proposal that presents the benefits from your and your boss’s perspectives. Decide exactly what you want: a compressed workweek, an earlier start time, two telecommuting days a week? Then make a business case for it on paper. This is a serious change from the norm that you’re proposing; don’t ask for it casually. A written document is also great if your boss has to ask his boss about your request. You’d rather have your words passed up the chain of command. Many people have learned this the hard way; their verbal, spur-of-the-moment requests were rejected because it was easy for the boss to say no.
II. (Manager completes this section)
Request for a Flexible Work Option (approved or declined). If you declined this request, please describe why:
Manger’s signature/Date
Employee’s signature/Date
Effective date of Flexible Work Option:
Ending date (if option is to be limited or terminated):
Manager: Please send copies of this form and any attachments to (contact name - Human Resources).
Charles Rodgers tells how Work/Family’s flextime request form talks (mostly) business:
“Some nontraditional schedules are more difficult to implement for nonexempt employees. Some kinds of alternative work arrangements require employees to work in excess of 40 hours — every other week, for example. In those instances, nonexempt employees have to be paid overtime.”
“We define [the Flexible Work Options] in guidelines that we distribute throughout the office, so people know the range of choices that are available to them.”
“It’s very important to have a baseline for seeing how an employee’s schedule will change. You can’t assume everybody starts out working 9 to 5, particularly in a place like this.”
“The idea here [How will your proposed schedule sustain or enhance your ability to get he job done?] is to focus on business needs. We ask applicants to think about how their job could get done on a different schedule, assuming they understand the key parameters of the job. When an employee starts to think through the process, the application might end right there. But often, by not focusing on the sanctity of the 9-to-5 schedule, we find better ways of doing business.”
“This [What potential barriers . . .] is the checklist we like people to go through as they think about the question above. By asking to work part-time, for example, are you making your manager’s job more difficult? Are you asking coworkers to cover your schedule? If you’re asking them to do a significant part of your job, that’s a barrier; on the other hand, as people talk to their coworkers a lot of these things tend to get worked out. We think the process furthers exchange among employees.”
“If applicants identify challenges, we want them to think through how they’re going to address them. The point is to place responsibility for initiating the solution process with the employee.”
“Like any business, we’re sensitive to costs. If someone is going to telecommute and incur additional costs, we ask the employee to suggest ways to help offset the costs.”
“We’re really asking [What reasonable deliverables and measurements . . .], How do we know the job is being done? The word deliverables is used to focus people on results — the value they add, as opposed to the time they spend. A valuable by-product is acknowledgment that it’s not as important how, where, or when you do it as that you do it and that you deliver the service to the client in a high-quality way.”
“Here [What review process . . .] we’re focusing on the process for monitoring the results agreed on in the previous question. The manager may say, ‘I’m a little uneasy about this, but I think it’s worth a try. So let’s do it for three months, and let’s check in once a month and ask how it’s going.’”
“[Declined requests for flextime] are usually because of identified barriers. If you work the phones in our family-resource area and the peak volume tends to be between 5 and 7 in the evening, but you want to come in early in the morning, when there aren’t many calls, that’s probably grounds for a denial. But if it’s an evening schedule you want, that obviously won’t be a barrier; it will be a plus.”
“We have both parties sign off on grounds of common sense as much as for legal reasons. Signing off ensures that everyone sees what’s written down and that there are no surprises. You’re both aware of the issues and acknowledge that you’re aware of them, even though you may disagree.”
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Closing thought: Be patient. Even though we all love instant gratification, don’t expect an immediate answer. If your flex time request is turned down, ask for feedback on why the idea was not accepted. Ask to establish a time frame for revisiting this — and then be ready to go back with gusto. If you’re rejected, ask if there are any particular concerns the boss has and see if you can help alleviate them. Work to see if there are compromises that can be reached. Ask for a time frame for revisiting the conversation.
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