Designing A Flexible Work Schedule

Of all the benefits a company can offer, the one that provides the greatest satisfaction is flexible work hours.

As entrepreneurs we love our freedom – being in control of our time, money, decision making…

And so do the people who we employ.

To create a great culture it’s important we understand the needs of our staff and how they work best.

It may not be enough, though, to give them the opportunity to schedule their own time if they are not aware themselves how to implement the 80/20 rule and be their most productive each day.

To do this you will need to first implement training that provides the knowledge of best practices to be productive and then to coach them to greater inner awareness of what works best for them.

Here are 3 ways to improve productivity:

  1. Nutrition – only make energy boosting, healthy food available in your company kitchen and offer affordable healthy meals to purchase.
  2. Host a weekly breakfast meeting: Every week the company assembles for a company breakfast — fresh fruit, eggs, oatmeal, juice, full hot breakfast are served. The team shares news and announcements, goes over the targets and deliverables for the week and connects to the customer through a “story of the week.”
  3. Offer Concierge services to support a healthy work/life balance. Although these are not free they will provide a large amount of convenience and are a time/stress saver. The services would include day-care, on-site car washing and detailing, laundry and dry cleaning, haircuts, etc.

These processes help your staff to be more productive and save time. This helps them to be able to be flexible with their time.

For example, there’s the 9/80 Schedule that allows employees to work 80 hours in nine days and then get every other Friday off.

Building on this…to really excel at attracting and retaining top quality employees get to know what they will do with that 3-day weekend.

If they are outdoor-sporty types you can have a policy where you provide an annual stipend of $300 to cover entry costs for races and competitions.

And here’s a final kicker to retain your best staff…

A mandatory sabbatical – after seven years you get to enjoy an eight-week sabbatical.

If your staff needs flexibility and time off, what do you as a CEO do to recharge, to find space to think for periods of time? Culture starts at the top and flows down. Your staff is watching what you do and will mimic your behavior whether you like it or not. Don’t expect them to feel comfortable taking vacation if you never do.

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