The Impact of Flexible Scheduling on Employee Attendance and Turnover

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance and the contribution to this manuscript provided by three anonymous ASQ reviewers and the associate editor. The implementation of an experimental flexible-scheduling program was the basis for a naturally occurring field experiment. A six-year assessment tests the effects of a flexible-scheduling program on absenteeism and turnover for the division implementing the program as well as a comparable control group. Results indicate gross reductions in employee absenteeism after the flexible-scheduling intervention for the experimental group, while no such changes were evident in the control group. The twoyear period after the program ended indicates that absenteeism immediately returned to base-rate levels. The rate of employee turnover, however, was unaffected by the intervention. The concluding section discusses the problems encountered in trying to apply flexible scheduling to a large-scale organization.s