Cathy Carlson, a maintenance electrician in Facilities Services, works part time so that she can give her two sons, ages 5 and 7, the attention that young children need. Robert Talda, programmer/analyst in CIT, varies his workday hours and works evenings and weekends so that he can be involved in his daughter's school activities. The arrangements that Carlson and Talda -- and many other staff members at Cornell -- have worked out with their supervisors help explain why Cornell recently became a recipient of the 2011 Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.

Depending on the needs of the organization and the individual, flexibility in the workplace can be implemented on an occasional or ongoing basis, case-by-case or throughout an entire unit.

Carlson began thinking about having a flexible schedule about a year and a half ago, when her supervisor asked what would make her job perfect. "The first thing I thought of was to work part time," Carlson said.

Carlson works 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. The schedule allows her to pick up her children from school or take them to doctors' appointments and to complete household chores on Fridays. Carlson's elderly parents are moving to town after Thanksgiving; her schedule will allow her to attend to their needs as well.

The Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility are given by a research-based initiative, When Work Works, to organizations that successfully use flexibility to achieve business goals and help employees meet their responsibilities on and off the job. Based on the results of questionnaires, the top 20 percent of applying organizations were asked to provide a random sample of 250 of their employees for Sloan to survey about their use of and experiences with flexibility and other aspects of an effective workplace, the supportiveness of their workplace culture and whether they perceive any negative consequences for using flexibility at their workplace.

"The awards that Cornell has received this fall from the AARP, Working Mother and the Dave Thompson Foundation for Adoption all indicate that by objective standards Cornell is on the right track in becoming a best place to work," said Lynette Chappell-Williams, associate vice president for inclusion and workforce diversity. "The Sloan recognition is particularly meaningful because it also is based on the assessments of our own faculty and staff members."

In addition to case-by-case and ongoing flex agreements, many Cornell units have occasional-flex agreements in place. In a separate employee survey of more than 700 staff and faculty conducted in May 2011, 82 percent of nonexempt staff, 94 percent of exempt staff and 95 percent of faculty said that their work schedule is somewhat or very flexible. Among staff, 78 percent of nonexempt and 74 percent of exempt staff reported using occasional flexible work hours.

For a list of all recent workplace awards given to Cornell, see https://www.hr.cornell.edu/awards.html.

Carlson's department has been supportive of her reduction in work hours, though they have said that they would be glad to see her return to full-time status. "There is no perfect balance," she said. "I feel pulled in needing to be at home with my family, and I feel pulled in wanting to stay at work to get more done."

But, she admits, with this schedule she avoids feeling like she is sacrificing one set of responsibilities to the other. "If you need the flexibility, try to make it happen," she said. "Don't be afraid to ask. Every workplace is different."

Talda's work involves maintaining the E-Z Backup system for all university data. His department had implemented flexibility on a broad scale because its staff members often need to work evenings and weekends, troubleshooting hardware problems or upgrading software. The department identified core office hours, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., but gives staff members the flexibility to come in earlier or stay later, work during the weekend or work remotely, depending on the work they need to complete.

Talda's daughter has just started kindergarten. He appreciates having the flexibility to attend some of his daughter's school-time events or to take her to the doctor's office.

Having flexibility also helps him with child-care concerns. "If our daughter has a day off from school, my wife -- who also works -- and I often split the day, with one of us taking care of her in the morning and the other in the afternoon," Talda said.

"Because of the kind of work my department does, we are evaluated based on the quality of our work rather than on the hours we are in the office," Talda said. "We also have a marvelous supervisor who trusts his employees to use that flexibility responsibly."

For more information see Flexibility in the Workplace.