Workplace Redesign
Flexibility, customization can help employers meet their bottom line
Contributed by Jacquelyn Flowers
Would you be shocked to hear that for every dollaryou spend creating a more flexible andaccommodating work environment, you’d get$3.60 back? The proof is there, and a report by the U.S.
Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment
Policy confirms it.
“The traditional job does not necessarily fit witheveryone’s work life, with everyone’s skills and capabilities,and with everyone’s need for flexibility in the workplace,”said Lisa Cuozzo, director of program operations forTransCen, Inc., where she is also a project manager for theMaryland Customized Employment Partnership.
Flexibility is “a powerful strategic tool for expandingrecruitment pools, both geographically and to includepeople who face barriers into the workplace,” said LindaRoundtree, president of Roundtree Consulting LLC, a firmspecializing in the design and implementation of work-life
initiatives.Roundtree, Cuozzo, and MichaelWilliams of the Department of Labordiscussed the successes and challengesof workplace redesign at a recentWebinar sponsored by BPWFoundation and the Department ofLabor’s Women’s Bureau.
Redefining flexibility
Many organizations haveexperimented with flex time andtelecommuting, but flexibility is aboutmore than relaxing the 9 to 5 workdayor allowing employees to work fromhome.
“I’d like to encourage you to think ofa much broader range of flexibility thataffects all aspects of organizing when,where, and how work gets done,”
Roundtree said, “and that’s also an option for every personno matter what job they hold in the organization.”
Only 10% of people who are eligible to telework in a given monthactually do, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Along with flexible hours, Roundtree discussed severalways that organizations have used flexibility to successfullyredesign how they get work done:
Amount of hours worked, such as job sharing or “flexyear” options. Dow Corning adjusted their compressedwork weeks for working parents who wanted their schedulesto better coordinate with their children’s school andvacation schedules.
Place of work, including working from home, from asatellite or community location, or from a hotel. “Otheremployees might be ‘road warriors’ who just come into theworkplace and make a reservation for aworkspace for the day,” saidRoundtree. Jet Blue has used virtualreservation offices in employees’homes, and McKesson HealthSolutions realized a savings of $1million directly related to their workat-home program for 600 registerednurses who provide telephonic diseasemanagement services.
Management of time, such asteleconference planning, or carvingout quiet time or meeting-free time.
Organization of career, whichenables the employee to adaptflexibility differently throughout theircareer. At consulting firm Accenture,employees self-fund sabbaticals andthen step off their career paths at theirdiscretion. CVS Pharmacy recruitsolder workers who split their time between homes they havein the north and the south, enabling them to work fromdifferent locations at different times of the year.
“Flexibility then moves beyond being an under-the-radar accommodation for a few highlyregarded employees and it becomes a team-directed work redesign effort.”
And Ernst& Young’s program supporting employees who havechildren with special needs includes a parents’ network,seminars and an online message board, and comprehensivehealth care that covers special therapies.
“Workplace flexibility is also most effective when itinvolves the team in finding the new ways to get the jobdone,” said Roundtree. “Flexibility then moves beyondbeing an under-the-radar accommodation for a few highlyregarded employees, and it becomes a team-directed workredesign effort.”
Job customization
Thirty percent of people entering the workforce todaywill become disabled, according to the Council forDisability Awareness. A disability can happen to anyone,said Lisa Cuozzo, and customization is an important tool inmitigating the impact of such life changing events on boththe employer and the employee.
“Customized employment is a flexible blend of strategy,services, and support, which is designed to increaseemployment options not only for job seekers withdisabilities, but job seekers with complex needs,” saidCuozzo. “What we’ve learned is that by customizingemployment situations and job descriptions for people withcomplex needs,” she added, “retention rates and the bottomline greatly improve - a little creativity goes a long way.”
33.2 million – the total number of people in the United Statesof working age with disabilities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Cuozzo discussed several types of customization,including job carving and task reassignment.
“Job carving iswhere an existing job description may be modified andcontain one or more but not all of the tasks from anoriginal job description,” said Cuozzo. “So think about yourjob and how many times you say, ‘Oh, if I just had anassistant for a half of an hour, this could get done, and thenI could really do the work that I’m getting paid to do.”
Task reassignment is another form of customization thattypically takes the form of new job creation. Cuozzorecalled a task reassignment initiative at the Veteran’sAdministration (VA) in Washington, D.C., where paralegalswere spending a large portion of their day going to retrievelegal files from a central location. The VA created a newposition to focus solely on preparation of these files so thatparalegals could focus on other important tasks.
“This is a fabulous way to incorporate a cadre of peoplethat may not have the technical skills to do a great piece ofthe job, but truly have the skills to do maybe a supportivepiece of the job that then allows other people within theorganization to get more of their work done moreefficiently,” said Cuozzo.
The range of options for organizations looking toredesign their workplace for better efficiency andproductivity is unlimited, said Michael Williams. “Youknow the old saying there is more than one way to skin acat, and with workplace flexibility there are plenty of waysto get the job done,” Williams added.
Online tools and resources
U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability
Employment Policy’s web site covers a full range of topics,including customization, with information for workers,employers, researchers, service providers and partners andveterans.
Gil Gordon Associates created this web site to serve as aresource for information about telecommuting, telework,virtual offices and related topics.
Visit the Women Entrepreneurs, Inc. web site todownload a copy of the Flex Options Program guide. FlexOptions in a national workplace flexibility projectdeveloped by the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau.
Share your own resource
Is your employer a leader or loser in workplaceflexibility?
Visit BusinessWoman Magazine online at to share your story andtake the workplace flexibility survey.
BusinessWomanMagazine Fall 2007