10 Companies That Embrace Flexible Work Schedules
More and more young professionals—and particularly women—are seeking out a flexible work life, trading in the daily commute and cubicle for work-from-home options, fully remote jobs, and more. But flexibility isn’t just good for employees—it’s a win for businesses, too: hiring candidates who can live and work anywhere lets companies recruit the best talent, and Millennials and Gen-Zers say they are more likely to stay at a company longer that offered a flexible schedule. Here are a few companies that will work with you to build your ideal work-life situation.
1. Groove
This customer communication software company is about as flexible as they come. Groove is fully remote, meaning employees can work from anywhere with a Wifi connection. But that’s not all: Groove doesn’t count or track vacation days either. CEO Alex Turnbull says the key to making remote work, well, work, is communication. “Remote working is a skill like any other, and you need to hire for it.”
2. Meetup
Meetup offers generous relocation packages to work in its offices, but if you’re not swayed by an NYC lifestyle they’re also strong proponents of remote and flexible schedules. Employees have access to any WeWork location in the world (WeWork bought Meetup in 2017) to work remotely, and the company champions flexible PTO options. A tech stipend ensures that your teleworking bills for your phone and internet won’t be a burden.
3. Airbnb
If you’re interested in working at Airbnb but don’t want to relocate to one of their main offices, you can still build a career at the popular travel company. In addition to being able to work remotely for many positions, Airbnb also closes for most of December each year and offers employees paid time off to volunteer. New parents have additional flex work options like the ability to work 4-day weeks for two months upon returning to work after having a child.
4. ADP
This human resources management company encourages teleworking and, as of 2018, about 6,500 of its employees worked remotely. If you’re interested in working remote down the line, or moving to an office in the future, ADP has dozens of office locations across the U.S. to ensure you don’t have to move cross-country to build a career there.
5. Upwork
It’s no surprise that Upwork—which connects businesses with temporary and contract workers around the world—has flexible working dialed. Everyone gets to work from home on Wednesdays, and Upwork also offers unlimited PTO and 12 weeks of paid parental leave to ensure that work fits around your life and not the other way around.
6. Humana
Since Humana embraced remote work and overhauled its company policies around time off and time out of the office 4 years ago, nearly half of its employees have embraced working from home at least some of the time. In addition to full or partial remote jobs, employees can also opt into flexible schedules with varying hours and have daily “well being time” to use at their discretion. Employees also have pooled days off—a change from separate vacation, sick, and personal days—that they can use for whatever they need.
7. Raytheon
This defense contractor company located just outside of Boston has a range of flexible work schedules for employees. If the standard 9-5 work day isn’t for you, Raytheon allows you to work a 9-80 schedule that gives you every other Friday off, work longer hours Monday through Thursday to get every Friday afternoon off, or designate your own daily and weekly schedule as long as it evens out to 40 hour weeks.
8. American Express
American Express knows flexibility isn’t just a bonus for employees: it’s great for the business, too. Since implementing its BlueWork program—which allows employees to work via remote “home” and “roam” options, among others—the company estimates it has saved $10-$15 million in real estate costs by cutting office expenses and has started designing new offices around the program’s ideals. However, unlike other companies on this list, the work options are determined based on the employee’s role and not up to their personal preference.
9. Trainual
Trainual adopted flexible work hours in 2017, allowing employees to set their own schedule based around overlapping 9:30am to 3:30pm hours—that means one employee can work 7am to 3pm to accommodate dropping their kids off at school while another can work 10am to 6pm to avoid rush hour traffic and so on. “It’s empowering to have authority over your schedule. It makes me want to work harder,” said one employee. Trainual also offers a generous 4 weeks of vacation to make sure work-life balance stays in check.
10. Boston Consulting Group
BCG employees have flex time and flex leave, both meeting different desires and needs for workers. Flex time is for being out of the office but still somewhat online, while flex leave is for going totally offline for a set amount of time. According to the company, many employees take advantage of both. Additionally, employees can use flex paths for bigger shifts such as working abroad or taking a leave of absence.
Remote and flexible work options are the future, and studies have shown time and time again that the benefits are numerous for both employees and businesses. Work for one of these companies and take control of your time.
