The effects of flexitime on individual work performance

While flexitime is becoming a cornerstone of twenty-first century employment, flexitime policies have been largely geared toward satisfying work-life balance needs. A wider argument is emerging, which proposes that a performance case exists for flexitime. However, the empirical findings remain inconclusive. Although several limitations of prior studies have been explored, no known studies have addressed the inadequate measure of work performance, which might account for this variability. The aim of this study was to compare individual performance outcomes as a function of two-work schedules (i.e. flexitime and a traditional schedule) using the Multilevel Performance Inventory (MPI). This instrument captures an expanded set of performance behaviors. Specifically, the purpose was to determine whether flexitime employees would score higher on key performance indicators relative to the traditional hours (or control) group. The sample consisted of 136 participants either working a flexitime schedule (n = 58) or a traditional schedule (n = 78). Participants were distributed across a number of industries. A one-way MANOVA revealed a nonsignificant multivariate effect, F (9, 126) = 1.06, p > .05, η2 = .07. We identified likely reasons for the non-significant findings by integrating the findings with previous empirical research and examined the implications for future research.