Written by Dorinda So, Executive Director, pointA
Over the last few years, different work models have become prevalent in our everyday lives, from remote work and hybrid working to four-day workweeks and flex time. While there is a continued growth of return-to-work mandates, there are increasingly more options for employees to work at different times, locations, and cadences than the traditional 9-to-5, in-person working model. But key to these options is still getting to/from work, which can change depending on how one works. In this blog post, we examine the different options and offer suggestions to help employees plan their commutes. Each type of working arrangement has a handy PDF that you can download with more information and tips designed specifically to help employees.
1. Compressed Workweek
A compressed workweek allows employees to complete their full-time hours over fewer days, such as working four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days. This arrangement provides an extra day off, enhancing employee work-life balance. Having an extra day off can be very helpful for employees who have familial or other obligations or simply want to have an extra day off for personal reasons, without having to sacrifice pay in the process.
2. Flexible Working Hours
Flexible working hours empower employees to choose when they start and end their workdays, provided they complete their full hours and adhere to core working periods for collaboration. For example, at pointA, our core hours are between 10:00 am and 3:30 pm, which means employees can start between 7:30 am and 10 am and end their workday between 3:30 pm and 6:00 pm, respectively. Meetings are typically scheduled within these core hours.
This arrangement is ideal for employees balancing personal commitments, such as childcare or education, but also supports those employees who may want to avoid the usual rush hours by getting to work earlier or arriving later. Some employers will ask employees to have a set working time with this flexibility built in, so be mindful of your organization’s policies.
3. Job Sharing
Job sharing or Full-Time Equivalent (FTE), involves two employees working part-time schedules to collectively fulfil the responsibilities of one full-time role. While this arrangement appeals to individuals seeking reduced working hours, it’s less common due to its impact on salary and benefits. Job sharing is great for skilled employees who may otherwise leave due to personal commitments or reasons to remain at an organization, and it provides a diverse perspective on shared tasks. This may also be ideal for workers who are returning to work, such as those returning from parental leave and do not want to work full-time hours.
It is important that there is overlap between employees when passing off work to ensure consistency of quality of work.
4. Proximate Commuting
Proximate commuting involves assigning employees of multi-worksite organizations to locations closer to their residences. This strategy reduces commuting expenses and time, alleviates stress, and contributes to environmental sustainability by lowering traffic congestion and pollution emissions. This is great if employees are concerned about their long commutes and the cost of these commutes.
This working arrangement isn’t just for larger organizations with multiple offices as businesses with coworking memberships may have access to this feature too.
5. Remote or Hybrid Work
This is the most common type of alternative working arrangement that increased significantly with the pandemic. Remote or hybrid work encompasses any arrangement where employees work from a location other than their usual office location, typically from home. This model boosts employee satisfaction by providing greater flexibility and can eliminate long commutes. However, businesses must address challenges such as maintaining secure and functional off-site workspaces and establishing clear objectives and communication protocols to ensure continued productivity and team cohesion.
6. Four-day workweek
While less popular than remote or hybrid work, global pilots of a four-day work week started in the pandemic with the introduction of the 4 Day Week Global non-profit organization that started trials with organizations worldwide. This concept is not new and goes back decades. Most four-day week work models are 80/100/100: 80% time (typically 4 days instead of 5 eight-hour days) at 100% pay, and 100% productivity.
The rationale behind this model is that productivity can be maintained because of technological improvements, especially with artificial intelligence and that employees should be for their outputs and deliverables, not on the amount of time they spend on the job.
Four-day workweeks offer a lot of benefits to employees but the implementation can take time to adjust to and organizations have to make a lot of changes to ensure that the operations are running smoothly.
7. Averaging Hours of Work
Averaging hours of work involve averaging agreements or plans in which employees work more to “bank” the time for the future, which can be taken as time off. This is best for employees who work non-standard hours (e.g., workers on 12-hour shifts). Typically, employees keep averaging to two weeks or else it may be hard to keep track of the time. Depending on the province, organizations with employees under such agreements must pay overtime pay.
These different working arrangements are great, especially as most of them help to reduce the cost and time associated with commuting. Through programs like the Smart Commute program, pointA can support employees and employers alike navigate these different working arrangements.
