If you're a business owner considering switching to a flexible schedule for your employees, here are some articles and research papers for you to check out:
Successful Trial of 4-Day workweek in Britain 4 Day Week Pilot Results Alternative Works Schedules - Public Sector Effects of Alternative Work Schedules on Employee Morale (Research Paper) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Abstract) Also, in California, in order for an employee to qualify for regular pay for an alternate work schedule, it has to be property adopted. You can read an explanation of the process here, and here's a summary of the steps to take: 1. Determine who is in the work group. 2. Hold a meeting to propose the schedule and communicate effects. This should include a written disclosure that is in English and Spanish. Employees must be given advance notice of this meeting. 3. 14 days later, hold a secret ballot election. A 2/3 vote is required to adopt the alternate work schedule. 4. File the election results with the state's Division of Labor Statistics and Research within 30 days. 5. Send your proposed alternate work schedule to the Department of Industrial Relations. 6. Wait 30 days from the voting day before implementing the schedule.
I've worked with a few companies to implement alternative work schedules, and all of them have found them to be very successful. One thing to keep in mind is to be very clear about what the alternative schedule option is. The most common are: 5-4/9 in which you work 8 9-hour days and 1 8-hour day in the pay period and get an extra day off. 4-10 in which you work 4 10-hour days each week of the pay period and have an extra day of each week.
If you have specific questions that are coming up, and you'd like to talk them through, you can book a call with me here.