Why flextime is good for firms

By  PETER KAMURI

It is on a cold Wednesday afternoon and Martin Mwangi, an IT expert with a private firm in the Nairobi, is rushing for work. This day, he is reporting for work at 10am and he will work until late evening.

Mwangi works in a company that allows flextime system, a policy where employees are permitted to vary their working hours, though subject to some preset conditions.

These days, many organisations are going liberal on almost everything. Here comes flextime, that is giving workers freedom to do their work without compromising what they are paid for.

Lameck Omusolo, HR officer with a travel agency operating in Nairobi says flextime allows an employee to select the hours he or she will work.

“It is a work schedule that allows employees to work during hours that are not within the normal 8am to 5pm. But there specified limits set by the employer.”

He adds, “When it is well planned, the flextime policy is changing the way people work by making them to be more productive and efficient. This is primarily because employees are given flexibility to allow them to work during hours that best suits their needs.”

Omusolo advises, “When planning a flextime system at your workplace, it is important to determine a central period of the day when all the workers should be in for work. This is the ‘core time’ when all employees must have part of their working time fall within these hours.”

Omusolo says this time can for example be between 10am to 2pm. During such a time, the employer can use it to communicate important information to the workers. The time may also be used for team building activities as all workers are present.