ork environment; ability to schedule work around "personally productive" hours, rather than adhering to an organizational norm (8am to 5pm); reduced expenses (e.g., commute, clothing, lunch), and/or the employee's appreciation for the convenience, independence, and supervisory trust shown by such programs. Improved recruitment and retention. It is important to be able to recruit and retain the best employees possible. Flexible work patterns can help in these areas. By increasing flexibility and autonomy, reducing commute time and work expenses, and by allowing employees a more pleasant work environment, flexible work patterns can make a place more attractive to work for both current and future employees.Flexibility is not without its problems. It is clearly more difficult to supervise employees who have flexible schedules. Staffing/vacation/leave coverage. Having employees who do not work at the central work location, or who do not keep the same hours as others, may make vacation, sick leave, and other types of leave- coverage somewhat more difficult. It may be necessary, at times, for a manager to temporarily alter a flexible work pattern arrangement if staff coverage is necessary in the central work location. Scheduling meetings. As with coverage, scheduling meetings can become more complex. Trying to accommodate meetings to days in the office- or flexible work patterns reduces the core period of time employees will be in the same place, at the same time. It may, at times, be necessary for an employee to adjust her/his schedule in order to be available for a meeting. Loss of cohesiveness/interpersonal dynamics. Altering the dynamics of the work place, and the relationships that have been established, can have consequences (though not always negative). There can be a loss of "team" feeling; there may be feelings of increased isolation and loss of social contact for flexible work pattern employees; hard feelings can develop among emplo...
