Workplace flexibility for hourly lower-wage employees the necessities of work-life balance strategies: * A study using data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workplace implies that employees with greater access to temporal forms of flexible work options report less stress, fewer work absences, and fewer tardiness incidents (Halpern, 2005)
Method
This study was conducted in collaboration with a Fortune 100 retail firm. The firm operates over 6200 stores in 38 states in US.
Results
Six primary forms of flexible work practices were identified from managers’ interview. 1. Schedule preference * Permitting employees to have some choice into the times and days that they are scheduled to work. * Within this context, managers suggested two practices: a. Preference for specific days, shifts, or hours. This option allows workers to coordinate their work schedule with their off-the-job responsibilities, such as working another job, attending classes, and providing care to a loved one or fix work schedules with those of other family members. b. Preference for a set, routine schedule. This allows employees to work the same shifts or same days each week, enabling them to have predictability in their jobs.

2. Preplanned Schedule Modification
This practice gives employees the opportunity to request that they not be scheduled for a particular day or shift prior to the creation of the weekly schedule. It is good for employees to request 2 weeks before.

3. Just-in-time schedule change
This practice permits employees to request a modification to the existing schedule. Just-in-time schedule change requires that employees work closely with store supervisors and often their coworkers as well. There are two ways: a. Employee-generated schedule coverage.
This allows an employee to have his or her shift covered by another