Business benefits:
• Increased availability to clients.
• No-cost, highly valued benefit.
• Increased emergency capacity.
• Smart use of human resources.

Statistics:
• Flextime first offered in 1992, now used by over 70% of staff.
• Telework first offered in 1997, available for use by over 25% of staff.
• Compressed workweeks first offered in 1993, currently used by 3% of staff.

"These days, employees are looking for more than a good salary."
– Dick Woo, Director of Finance and Information Technology

Broader days mean more customer service
Flextime, compressed workweeks, and telework not only are appreciated by Seattle Housing Authority's employees, but the three work options meet important business needs for this quasi-government housing agency. "Alternative work options allow us to be more accessible to the public and our residents. It provides us with additional emergency capacity and a broader range of hours in which to accomplish seasonal work," says SHA Human Resources Director, Charles Hayashi. "This program meets our corporate needs and makes effective use of our workforce," he adds.

Start times between 6-10:30 a.m.
Seattle Housing Authority has enjoyed flextime-flexible start and stop times clustered around core hours-since 1992. Work options are built into SHA's union contracts with the Teamsters, Professional Office Workers and the Trade Unions. Nearly three quarters of SHA's staff take advantage of flextime. Employees may set their own work schedules within core hours, with a supervisor's approval, allowing them to balance work and personal needs, and to help reduce peak-hour traffic congestion. Starting times for employees using the flextime option are between 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. at quarter-hour increments of their choice. Exempt employees may, with management approval and as a result of business necessity, work more than or less than eight hours in one day so long as the workweek still reaches 40 hours. “Flextime and CWW schedules are arranged directly with the supervisor, then logged and tracked in our Kronos Timekeeping system,” according to Human Resources Manager Marc Nilsen.

8-5 doesn't always fit
Flextime allows employees such as Darrell Hubbard, a buyer for SHA who starts at 6:30 a.m., control over their own schedules. "I'm a morning person, and I find I can get two hours worth of work done in that one hour before most other people arrive," Hubbard says. Hubbard buys everything from office supplies to plumbing fixtures for SHA, which helps house more than 24,000 residents. He finds it is more efficient to place orders in the early morning hours and to take care of processing orders in the afternoon.

Expanded coverage also allows SHA to be more agile in responding to emergencies related to its residents and housing units, because it has staff to call on for more hours of the day.

Flextime proved to be an efficiency for the Finance Department as some tasks need to be accomplished before 8 a.m. to make input from field personnel easier. When Director of Finance and Information Technology, Dick Woo, arrives at work, he immediately is able to begin reviewing reports and other products prepared by his executive assistant, who comes in earlier. "With proper planning, different start times can make the flow of work between support staff and management more efficient," Woo says.

Not everyone can have their first choice of start times; however, they usually can have their second choice. Through common sense monitoring of employee schedules, SHA reaps the benefit of 10+ hours of office and field coverage each workday.

“Flextime has always been very popular with staff,” notes Nilsen, “and even more so as traffic and parking difficulties have increased. Many employees will gladly work earlier shifts to avoid the heaviest traffic, both coming to work and returning home.”

Four 10-hour days—compressed workweek
Compressed workweeks were implemented in 1993 to take advantage of daylight savings hours for housing maintenance and construction work that needs to be done during the summer season. Approximately 3% of SHA employees work four 10-hour days. To account for holidays, employees working compressed weeks record two hours of annual leave on their time sheet, in addition to the 8 hours of holiday time, to cover the full 10-hour day.

Telework means trust
Another facet of SHA's work options is telework. Over 120 supervisors and professional employees are eligible to work at home from several hours to a several days per week on occasion. For example, Woo's part-time budget analysts are able to work from home on their scheduled days off, and respond to information or work requests. Management is delighted with the results. "Working at home implies trust, a higher level of responsibility and the ability to work independently," Woo says. "Both the employee and the supervisor have to be flexible and honest about what works and what doesn't work, but we've not experienced any problems working that out."

“Telework options have greatly improved with technology advances, including a new and easy-to-use web based portal,” says Nilsen. “Formal telework agreements are standard for non-exempt staff and for others who regularly telework in whole day increments. However, formal agreements are not required for exempt staff and supervisors who telework periodically in partial day increments.” Any exempt professional employee or supervisor with a home PC can telework periodically. A telework policy outlines employees' responsibilities for their work and equipment. SHA ensures telework participants have a reliable web portal so that communication does not suffer.

Administrative assistant Vi Frederick has worked at SHA for 14 years. After suffering an injury that threatened to limit her time at work, Vi, with the agreement of her director at the time, began teleworking every Friday. Even after her recovery, it was decided that the arrangement worked so well that Fridays at home became part of her regular schedule. In her fifth year as a teleworker, the last two under Dick Woo, she has continued to make her hour and a half commute each way via ferry only four days a week. On Fridays, she can log into the network to perform budgeting and other projects that benefit from the productivity offered by telework through limiting the interruptions that are common during a typical day in the office.

Work options provide flexibility
"These days, employees are looking for more than a good salary," says Woo. "Providing flexibility in their schedules and work arrangements recognizes that 8-5 at the office doesn't work for everyone or every job, and that employees have many responsibilities and pressures to balance in their lives."

Revised July 2005 by Commuter Challenge. Original version © 1998 Washington State University Cooperative Energy Program. The Telework, Compressed Workweeks, Flextime case study is a publication of the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program in collaboration with Commuter Challenge with additional support provided by the Washington State Department of Transportation. This publication contains material written and produced for public distribution. You may reprint this material, provided you do not use it to endorse a commercial product. Please reference by title and credit Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program and Commuter Challenge. Trade names have been used to simplify information; no endorsement is intended.

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