so you have set up a culture where you allow this... I realize it is a problem at most shops. But every study I can find says that if you empower you employees to manage time, and you trust them, they actually are much more productive vs money spent. Flex-time, allowing say a 40 hour week, but not paying too much attention to whether it is 3 9 hour days and 2 6.5 hour days (assuming office hours are covered) - always yields more production per employee per time and employees tend to be happier as well.
the key is starting with people you trust and building a culture of teamwork and time management.... going home an hour or 2 with headaches can be just fine, especially if he makes up with extra time to cover the work..... again, trust and culture. 10-15 minutes late every day can be just fine - especially if it is made up on the end of the shift with making sure all commitments are met.
It was more inherited than fostered... Half the issues come from new employees, but the rewsin it happens is because the old employees who have worked at the company and been allowed to do it for 20+ years fight any changes.
If it weren't mutually beneficial, we wouldn't allow it even if it meant replacing half the employees. I hate it, but I'm not the one paying the bills - between the 15 employees we probably save 40 hours of labor every week ... If it were me, I'd rather 14 employees who work 8 hours a day totalling 560 hours than 15 who wokr the same amount of hours with all the flexibility they have. Managing it's a headache.... It has its benefits, but it has its drawbacks too.
We have salaried people as well, and they're free to come in 30-45 mins late (but we do need a heads up) and as long as they either make it up, or don't do it every other day... It's never an issue.
I do believe in managing it the way you're saying, but I also think its all dependant on employees - some employees are just there for a paycheck, and there's nothing wrong with that.... But if you let them make their own hours, of course the people only there for a paycheck would work less hours if it meant they were paid the same.
We have a mix of both - which is where the problem lies. I'd trust half the people in our shop to be free and manage their time... The other half I wouldn't. Doesn't mean they're bad employees, just that managing their time isn't their strong suite.
We gave most people the option of salary, and almost everyone in the warehouse didn't take it... I believe 3 people are on salary in the plant... In the office, every single person took it. Warehouse staff didn't want it because they felt it'd mess with their overtime / time off. If someone on salary works overtime... They don't get paid for overtime, but they can bank the time and take it off the next day, or add it to their vacation time. On the honor system and not tracked... Payroll gets an email to add xx vacation hours and they do it. It's a great system! But not every employee wants it.
So yes... Rather than manually track those employees hours, especially when they're not consistent... A time clock is needed.
It'd be a lot easier if everyone was salary, we wouldn't have 2 payrolls to do, it wouldn't take an hour of time to enter the weekly hours .... You'd consistently know exactly how much payroll is for budget purposes, etc. But for many reason, and not all of them are bad or anti worker... Some companies still need time clocks!
