Workplace flexibility 'a myth for most employees'

A new study has shown that flexible work options are out of reach for most employees and that when they are offered, arrangements are limited in size and scope.

Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ph.D., Director of the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College and one of the researchers of the study, said that while large percentages of employers report that they have at least some workplace flexibility, the number of options is usually limited and they are typically not available to the entire workforce.

The study examined the flexible work arrangements of 545 U.S. employers and found most arrangements center around allowing employees to move where they work and when they report in, but didn't include reduction of work or temporary leaves from jobs.

The study, co-authored by Stephen Sweet of Ithaca College, Elyssa Besen of the Center for Disability Research, Lonnie Golden of Penn State Abington along with Boston College's Pitt-Catsouphes, found only one in five companies offered more than one approach to workplace flexibility, despite the fact that different employees need different options.

The study has been published in the journal, Community, Work, and Family.