Is Flextime the Way Forward?

When the management of ToKu, a Malaysian timber manufacturing company, decided to implement flextime for its production staff, Ann, the shift supervisor, pondered on that decision. Her boss, Mr. Tan, had hinted that he was willing to invest in moving the company forward and was particularly interested in increasing the morale of all its employees. For a time, she saw a boost in the employee morale, but productivity did not show much improvement. “Sales are down and there are problems meeting customer orders. Call for a meeting immediately!” Mr. Tan exclaimed. His reaction was due to customer complaints about important delivery dates being missed. “All right, I’ll set the meeting for tomorrow afternoon,” said Ann. She made phone calls and sent e-mails but didn’t get many responses. On the following day only one employee, David, out of 20 was available for the meeting. Another employee, Susan, mentioned that she had some errands, other employees were out of town, and some employees did not respond. Mr. Tan was furious. “That’s it! I’m getting rid of flextime and restoring the old schedules! Ann, please inform all the employees to report back to work as usual next week at 9 a.m. I don’t see how flextime can work here, because the employees are taking advantage of it. Please send warning letters to those absent from today’s meeting,” said Mr. Tan, as he stormed out of the meeting room.

Questions

1. Why was the implementation of flextime a negative experience for the management at ToKu?

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of flextime?

3. How would you propose that flextime should have been implemented at ToKu?