Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 10, 1994                   TAG: 9407150048
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By CAROL KLEIMAN CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SMALLER FIRMS USE FLEXIBLE HOURS TO HELP WOMEN WITH CHILDREN

The picture is particularly heartening at large corporations, where the work that the absent employee is responsible for is easily absorbed - often without hiring a single temporary worker.

But what happens at smaller firms, where there aren't enough people to do the undone work and employers refuse to hire more workers?

What happens is the remaining, already-busy workers must pick up the slack.

``At our firm, flexible hours are part of the value system of top management,'' said Marilyn A. Gardner, public relations director of The Hiebing Group Inc., a Madison, Wis., advertising, marketing and public relations agency. The agency has 41 employees and does $20 million in billings annually.

Here's what ``flexible hours'' mean at the forward-looking Hiebing Group, which does not come under the Family and Medical Leave Act because it has fewer than 50 employees:

One new mother, a public relations account executive, is on half-time after returning from eight weeks of maternity leave. A former full-time employee, she is able to coordinate her hours with her child-care provider's schedule.

Another new mother, an advertising account executive, is on less than half-time with completely flexible hours. She also does some work by phone.

An office manager, a mother of young children, works full time but arrives and leaves early in order to be home when her children return from school.

``Here, flexible hours are given from a sense of fair play,'' said Gardner, who heads a staff of three employees, one of them on flexible hours. ``Allowing flexible hours avoids the costs of recruiting and training. It also gives continuity with clients, which is important in our business. It's good for the company and for the individuals and their families.''

That being said, Gardner admits there are problems, too.

``In a small firm, all jobs are intertwined, so if one person is out, other people may not get the answers they need to questions they have as quickly as possible - and work temporarily comes to a grinding halt,'' the manager said. ``We are busy. We don't have people standing around looking for something to do. But someone has to do the work.''

At a variety of small firms, complaints about picking up the slack for absent workers include such issues as productivity, which may be hurt, and teamwork, which often is difficult to maintain. Also, the absent worker is perceived as not as up-to-date on company matters as she was previously, and some employees feel the absent worker is getting more ``privileges'' than they are.

``Flexible hours need careful management to be successful,'' Gardner said. ``And everyone involved must conduct themselves professionally.''

Gardner cites a production manager who, while on maternity leave, was always available by phone and came in after hours and on weekends and worked at her desk - with her baby in her lap. She's now back full-time.

``She had a commitment to her job, she was the only one who could do it and she wanted to keep it,'' Gardner said. ``She went above and beyond to make sure the work got done.''

Concern about the extra work generated by flexible hours may be a ``perception'' gap, said Jennifer L. Glass, associate professor of sociology and director of the labor project at the University of Notre Dame. Glass also heads the school's gender studies program.

``We make exceptions for our colleagues who are going through a divorce, midlife crisis or who have a heart attack or are studying for their MBA, but when it comes to dependent children, that's not an acceptable reason to miss a phone call or a meeting,'' said Glass, who has two children under the age of 5 and works flexible hours - not an unusual arrangement in academia.

``However, if you expect to get these concessions, you have to be a triple-A employee,'' she cautions. ``You have to show you will do your job better because you have been given the tools to do so.''