Flexible Scheduling: A Benefit Worth Keeping

An analysis of Fortune’s list of America’s 100 Best Companies to Work For conducted by Workforce Management notes an interesting trend: Even the most employee-friendly firms are trimming back benefits. In 2001, for example, 33 companies on the annual list paid 100 percent of employees’ health care premiums. Today, 14 do. Since last year, 27 companies on the list have cut what they pay in health care premiums. And the number of companies on the list offering a defined- benefit pension to new employees has dropped from 40 to 27 in three years.

But at the same time, more companies on the list are adapting inexpensive, employee-friendly ideas--like personal con­cierge services and flexible work policies. In 1999, just 18 companies on the list allowed telecommuting, compared with 79 today. Only 25 firms on the list in 1999 offered compressed workweeks, such as four 10-hour days with Fridays off. Today, 81 companies do. "

Such benefits do make a difference," Fortune writes, "and they’re a lot less expensive than health insurance."