Alternative Schedules offer both the employer and employee a versatile and innovative
work scheduling program in the work place. In recent years, the importance of flexible and
compressed work schedules have been enhanced by the emergence of work and family issues. As
the workforce ages, becomes more culturally diverse, and women make up a greater percentage
of the work force, management officials are grappling with ways to resolve conflicts that arise
when an employee's work and family responsibilities collide.
Alternative Work Schedules (AWS) are non-traditional work programs that allow employees an alternative to the standard 8 to 5, Monday through Friday workweek. An alternative work schedule refers to varying types of flexible and compressed work schedules.
Compressed Work Schedule (CWS) means a full time employee who has an 80-hour biweekly basic work requirement can choose to work more than 8 hours per day in order to complete the basic work requirement in less than 10 days. Examples of a compressed work weeks are the 4/10 schedule, in which an employee works 10 hours a day four days each week, or the 3/13 where a full time employee works 13 hours and 20 minutes each day three days a week for 40 hours per week, or the 5/4-9 model which schedules employees to work nine hours a day for 8 days and 8 hours one day gaining one extra day off every other week.
Flexible Work Schedule (FWS) refers to a full time employee who has an 80-hour biweekly basic work requirement can choose to vary his or her times of arrival to and departure from the work site within the limits set by the requirements of the position and consistent with the policies of the agency.
The difference between the two types of schedules mentioned above are, flexible work schedule frequently referred to as flextime replaces the fixed shift work-day, by breaking the day into two types of time bands, core time and flex time. Within a flexibl...