This week’s talking point on FTNow, FTW’s sister publication on the internet, questioned the feasibility of flexitime in the freight industry, particularly in the age of cell phones and laptops. Here are some of our readers’ views. ‘Controlling flexitime can become a nightmare’ Company cell phones and laptops are restricted to management and sales. Your client interface is the shipping controllers, who have neither. Controlling flexitime can become a nightmare for a company, which is why several no longer have it, after having tried it. Your truly dedicated staff who come in early and work late, do not benefit by it at all. Errol Thompson ‘Core hours’ create the problem Flexitime should not be touted as a panacea, although it has obvious advantages for certain industries. Problems start when you need to determine your “core” hours as everyone will want to ensure that their own parochial interests are served. Then there is the additional problem when deciding how the additional time will be spread. Let us look at shipping as an example where you may want maximum staff to be available when a ship docks to ensure shorter turnaround times. If the ship docks at 02:00 and staff have to be there, is this going to be viewed as normal hours or will staff expect this to be traded at time and a half? Remember that the idea behind flexitime is increasing efficiencies, and if the system does not achieve this then it clearly defeats the purpose. Flexitime work also requires a high degree of employee task maturity and discipline, as many employees will be lured to the golf course and other recreational pursuits only to find that they will all be working 24/7 during the last week of the month. Percy Thomas
