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Balancing one’s professional life and personal life can be a challenge in any job. There are kids, pets, parents, or spouses to worry about, and the occasional emergency is often inevitable.
Companies that offer flexible scheduling, time off, and other programs geared toward a sustainable work-life balance may find that they get more out of their employees than companies that don’t.
In our list of the 50 Best Employers In America, based on exclusive data from PayScale, the majority of the companies on the list ranked high in flexibility offered to employees, who often have the freedom to work from home or move their schedules when needed. Here's what some of these companies had to say about maintaining flexibility.
Agilent Technologies, which ranked as the number one most flexible on our list, recognizes the need to provide flexibility to their employees. Because more than 15 percent of Agilent employees don’t work traditional Monday through Friday schedules, the company offers part-time, telecommuting, and job share work arrangements, stressing the need to "be the best place to work for everyone” in order to succeed.
NetApp also made our list. NetApp has a “unique offering of employee benefits and our culture of credibility, fairness, respect, pride, and camaraderie. Creating a healthy work environment plays an important role in building employee enthusiasm and fostering the collaboration and creativity for which NetApp is known. Our daily activities and events help us build our community and maintain a healthy balance between work and play.”
Qualcomm, Inc. notes the importance of allowing their employees to better themselves outside the office so they come to work happier and more fulfilled. “Everything that you would need in your personal life as a resource as far as I can think of is available here," company spokeswoman Yelena Durmashkin tells The San Diego Union-Tribune. "But more than that the people that I work with genuinely want to be here.”
Studies have been conducted that show how valuable flexible scheduling is to individuals and the companies that employ them. Compliance and Safety compiled information about flex scheduling in an infographic demonstrating the benefits to both parties.
For example, employees who are able to shift their schedules are 55 percent more engaged in their work than those who can't, and flexibility is shown to increase productivity by 27 percent. Managers also experience 43 percent fewer interruptions from employees who have the option of flexible schedules.
Flexibility is so important to employees that some are even willing to give up a portion of their pay for the option. If that doesn't say something to their employers, what does?