Chapter 8

Cases 1. Living with your mother wasnt your plan, but you are trying to save to buy a house. You are making a decent salary in your full-time position as an Operations Analyst at a local manufacturing company, but saving on rent is helping you move closer to your goal. Your mother has enjoyed having you around to do things at her house, but she has just asked you for some specific help that you arent sure if you can provide. She is scheduled to have major surgery and will have to recover at home for almost a month. For at least the first week or two of her recovery, she will need help managing at home and has asked you to take time off work to take care of her. You know that you need to help your mother, but you arent sure about how it will affect you financially. You cant afford to take time off from work without pay. Further, you arent even sure if your company will allow you to take this time off. While your company has over 100 employees, you are the only Operations Analyst and you arent sure who can cover your work while you are out. You are concerned that the company will deny your request and you will lose your job if you take the time off. Before you talk with your manager, you decide that you need to have a better understanding of your companys time-off policies. You have worked for the company for eighteen months and youve only taken two days off for a short trip with some college friends last year. You do know that your company has a paid time-off bank instead of time-off options such as vacation days and sick days. You learned about this at the end of your first year. You realized that you had not taken any time off and you were worried that you would lose your accrued days. But your Human Resources manager explained to you that any unused time off rolls over to the next year. You start by reading more about the paid time-off (PTO) bank. The policy states that you accrue one day of PTO for every month that you work. It further clarifies the rollover of any unused days that you already know about. As you dig further into the employee handbook, you read with interest your companys policy related to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The policy explains that the company is required to provide you with up to twelve weeks of leave for a variety of circumstances. It seems like taking a leave to care for your mother might just fall under this policy, allowing you to take the time off that you need. However, you still arent clear on your pay and what will happen to your job while you are out. You pull out a notepad to make some notes as you prepare to meet with your manager.

Should you be eligible to take leave under the Family Medical Leave Act? Why or why not? What questions should you ask to understand your time off and the impact on your job and your pay?

2. Formalizing Flexibility at Grandier Bank The last several years have been a whirlwind of challenges for Vincent Ramos, Director of Human Resources at Grandier Banka small regional bank working on shifting its business model. The banks main office is in a large metropolitan area and for many years, they had 20 branches located in rural communities within about a 100-mile radius of the city. As mobile banking has become more prevalent, the branches have seen a significant decline in walk-in customer traffic. As a result of this trend, as well as the ability to offer more secure online transactions, the bank decided to transition to an entirely online banking model. Vincent has been busy during this transition period as operations have consolidated and branch employees have been reassigned to other duties. The online banking model has been a success, so fortunately they have not needed to lay off many workers. As the branches closed to walk-in customers, initially most of the branch employees continued working in the branch offices. However, the costs of rent and utilities to keep the offices open for just a few workers does not make sense and so eventually all the branch offices will close permanently. The transition has already started and has led to some flexible work arrangements for the branch employees. As the building lease at each branch expired, branch employees were either transferred to the main office or transitioned to work remotely from home. Due to the long commute, many of those who transferred to the main office were approved for compressed workweek schedules, so they only needed to drive into the office three or four days per week. Those former branch employees who are telecommuting or working compressed workweeks have all negotiated their arrangements individually. However, several employees that were already working at the main office have asked Vincent about the options of also telecommuting or working a compressed workweek. As a result, Vincent knows that the bank needs to come up with a consistent and fair flexible work arrangement policy to offer all employees. As Vincent looks at setting the policy moving forward, he is considering if the bank should also offer flextime. Given that the banks office is in a busy metropolitan area, Vincent has responded to concerns from employees over the years who were challenged with traffic congestion and getting to the office on time every day. Further, many of the banks employees are balancing commitments outside of work including families and school. Vincent realizes he has many decisions to make as he works to propose a flexible work arrangement policy to the management team. While he sees the value in offering the flextime policy, he does have some concerns that flextime may not work for all employees. For example, even though all banking transactions will take place online, the bank will still have customer service representatives available by telephone or videoconference during traditional banking hours. Further, he needs to determine if all employees will be permitted to telecommute or use a compressed workweek, or if these options will only apply to some employees. These are important decisions and he needs to make sure he thoroughly thinks through the proposed policy before presenting it to the management team.

Why should Grandier Bank offer flexible work arrangements to all employees? What are some advantages and disadvantages to adding a flextime option? Should Vincent include a flextime option in the flexible work arrangement policy? Why or why not?