Celebrate Earth Month & Workplace Flexibility
March 29, 2010
Want your company listed in USA Today?
Has your company been in operation for at least one year? Do you have 10 or more employees reporting to the same worksite? United States, Private and Public Sectors, Profit and Non-Profit: The Sloan Award! Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility. Last year 29 Houston area businesses qualified as finalists – 24 won. You can too!
April is Earth Month. Celebrate by promoting flexible work schedules and share the change!
3 Initiatives:
- Flexworks: Flexible Workplace Initiative Program (Designated cities/areas)
- Flex in the City: Companies testing flexible work options (Houston)
- The Sloan Award: National Recognition for Flexible Workplace Environments (National)
Flexworks: Encourage employers to adopt flexible work policies. Builds a business case and identify the measurable benefits including:
- Improved mobility, air quality
- Increased worker productivity
- Less Stress, better family/work balance
Participating Locations: Arizona; Aurora, CO; Boise, ID; Charleston, SC; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Dayton, OH; Durham, NC; Georgia; Houston, TX; Kentucky; Long Beach, CA; Long Island, NY; Louisville, KY; Michigan; Morris County, NJ; New Hampshire; Providence, RI; Richmond, VA; Rochester, MN; Salt Lake City, UT; Seattle, WA; Spokane, WA; Twin Cities + St. Cloud, MN; Winona, MN
Criteria:
- 35% of Managers knowledgeable about flexible work options and how to leverage the advantages and mitigate the disadvantages
- 75% of jobs evaluated to see if they are suitable for flexible work options
- 80% of employees understand the flexible work options available to them
- 40% of eligible employees participate in a flexible work option
Flex in the City: Want to see if flexible work schedules would work for your company? Houston, check other locations for availability, provides this opportunity. Flex in the City asks Houston area employers to adopt at least one new flexible work option to eliminate commuting during peak travel time, for a trail two-week period. Effects on productivity are measured by employers. Houston measures effects on mobility. It’s easy!
- Identify the jobs and employees where flexible options make good business sense.
- Offer employees the opportunity to try the flex option(s) for two weeks.
- Request participating employees to complete a simple online questionnaire describing:
- When they normally arrive at work
- Which route they use
- What changed as a result of their Flex in the City schedule
Sloan Award: Any employer in the U.S. is eligible to apply in 2010. An employer with a worksite located in one of the 26 participating When Work Works (Fleworks) communities or states should select that community when registering to apply. An employer that does not have a worksite located in one of the participating communities may apply as an “at-large” applicant. If an organization has multiple locations, separate applications must be submitted for each location that wants to be considered for the award. It is the worksite that is considered for the award, not the organization as a whole. Be in operation for at least one year and have a minimum of ten employees currently working from or report to the eligible worksite. (This does not include contract workers or consultants who are not reported to the IRS, but does include employees who travel frequently or work from home as long as they report back to the eligible worksite.)
Timeline:
Round 1: Applications open to Employers Jan 12 – April 16
(will most likely be extended, START the online registration TODAY and save initial information)
Preliminary Results April 23
Round 2: Employee Survey for Qualifiers April 30 – June 11
Final Results June 18
Award event October
Round 1: Employer questionnaire. Employers nominate themselves by completing an online application survey about their workplace flexibility programs, policies and culture. The survey will take approximately one hour to complete. (Be sure to write down the email address and password that you register with so that if you need to stop in the middle of completing the application, you can log back in later to finish.)
Round 2: Employee survey. For qualifying employers from Round 1, a sample of employees will be asked to complete a survey about their access to work flexibility programs and about the culture. The survey will take 20 minutes to complete. Eligible applicants will be considered based on their ability to demonstrate that workplace flexibility is being used successfully to meet both business and employee objectives. Award recipients in participating communities will be recognized locally. All recipients will have the opportunity for national recognition and benchmarking.
City of Houston contact. (Free initial assessment and consultation)
Shirley Crews Taylor
Shirley.crestaylor@cityofhouston.net
Tina Smith, TT&J Associates
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