Lynda Silsbee

Lynda Silsbee

Lynda Silsbee, B.A., specializes in human performance improvement, leadership and team development, performance management systems, and process improvement. Her diverse industry experience includes 21 years working with companies like Nordstrom, Genie Industries, and Vulcan Northwest.

Lynda is on the board of the Society of Human Resource Management--Seattle, is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources, and serves as an adjunct faculty member of Seattle Pacific University in the Human Performance Improvement program. She is a gifted and natural human developer who keeps an eye on the strategic mission of her clients, while empathizing with employee needs.

Contact Information:
info@pdgroup.net
425.889.5942
http://www.pdgroup.net

Knol
 

Flexibility = Productivity

Flexibility isn’t just for yoga instructors and Olympic gymnasts anymore. These days, it’s also for the workplace.

When you look at the demographics of today’s work force, it’s easy to see why. Older workers are winding down their work life — perhaps not yet ready for full retirement, but not interested in 80-hour workweeks either. The sandwich generation has its plate full dealing with job stresses on top of raising their children and caring for aging parents. Younger workers are as interested in playing hard as they are in working hard.

Given those realities, the image of the 9-to-5, desk-bound workday seems as old-fashioned as record albums and rotary-dial telephones. These days, worker productivity can happen anywhere and anytime. And there’s growing evidence businesses that accommodate how their employees get their jobs done are reaping benefits like never before.

Many forms

Flexibility in the workplace can take many forms, including:

Job sharing. Just like it sounds, job sharing allows two or more people to divide the responsibilities of a single full-time position.

Telecommuting. This is when employees work from home or another remote location.

Flextime. It allows employees to have some say over their work schedules. They may have compressed workweeks (such as working 40 hours over four days instead of five), nontraditional work hours (such as working from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. instead of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), or longer midday breaks (for which they stay later).

Career breaks. Sabbatical programs and other types of extended leave give employees the ability to start and stop their careers.

Designated no-meeting or no-call times. Making certain days or times of day off limits for company meetings and interoffice communication lets employees have dedicated chunks of uninterrupted time to work on projects.

Some companies are broadening requirements for a worker to receive benefits, offering reduced — and sometimes full — benefits for workers in part-time or job-sharing positions.

 


Labels: communication practices  managing and supervising  success factors