In an economy where many businesses want employees back in offices, there’s a case to be made for flexible hours. Why? Giving employees control and ownership of their schedule has numerous benefits, including boosted productivity, employee satisfaction, lower absenteeism, and reduced burnout.
Ultimately, all of this improves a company’s bottom line.
Let’s start with a not-so-fun fact: absenteeism costs the U.S. economy $225.8 billion a year or $1,685 per employee, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Payroll and HR company Paychex points out that absenteeism is a pattern of not showing up for work because of a range of factors, including illness, personal emergencies, childcare responsibilities, or car trouble. But not all time off falls into the same category.
The company notes that there is an important difference between absence and actual absenteeism. Taking time off for a scheduled doctor’s appointment or pre-planned vacation is a regular absence that can be managed by leaders and the rest of the team. It’s the instances of often missing the first hour of work due to traffic or frequent unscheduled days away from work that are considered absenteeism. The result can be gutting losses in productivity and higher costs to cover for absent workers (in the form of overtime and/or temp hires).
The topic of absenteeism is timely as more employers are mandating their workers return to the office. The trend since the darkest days of COVID has been to cautiously allow employees to come back to the workplace on their own terms. But recently it has changed from “come back as you can for a couple days,” to “we want you back in all the time.”
As more companies are taking this approach, the rate of absenteeism is climbing. This is especially true for employers that are stricter about how many days workers are in the office.
A National Center for Biotechnology Information paper says the impact of bringing workers back into the office may be more clouded than just a straight boost to productivity. “Sickness absenteeism generally declined during the pandemic among teleworkers, possibly due to increased flexibility and a reduced risk of exposure to workplace-related health hazards.”
By contrast, sickness presenteeism, where people work while they’re sick although they’re not as productive, increased during the pandemic. This was attributed to the blurred boundaries between work and personal life, and the ability to continue to work from home even while unwell.
With absenteeism in mind, companies that adopt a return-to-the-office policy for workers may want to consider the benefits that come with a flexible approach to routines for their employees. Workplace wellness initiatives, including flexibility, are attractive to job-seekers.
There are a number of practical benefits that come from a flexible approach to work, like getting more done while paying for less space. People coming and going at different times means that companies can go with a hotel or hot-desking model where places are not assigned and can be used by different people, reducing the overall real estate footprint. And with a smaller space comes a reduction in rent charges, utility charges, and technology costs.
There is also an actual boost that comes when employees feel they are trusted and empowered to own their schedules.
Human resources company ADP developed an employee sentiment survey that collected monthly data from a random, stratified panel sample of 2,500 U.S. workers dating back to December 2021. Here’s what they noted in the survey results: “One of the strongest relationships we found is when employees have a sense of freedom, flexibility, and autonomy at work.” This refers to being able to choose how work gets done. “Flexibility is the latitude workers have to choose where they work and to set their own schedule. Autonomy refers to an employee’s ability to make daily decisions instead of being told what to do.”
The company found that workers who trust their organization’s senior leadership are 41 times more likely to be highly motivated and committed to the company. If they have the trust of the company in return to give them flexibility and autonomy, that’s a win.
The pandemic was a turning point, forcing employees into the position of working more independently, managing their time, and prioritizing their tasks. From that experience, workers have become used to having flexibility in how they get things done. And those who have enough freedom are both highly motivated and committed to their employer.
Another consideration in workplace wellness is commuting, which puts more strain on the workforce. As CNN reports, commuting is now unaffordable for some American workers. Nick Bloom, Stanford University professor and expert in work-from-home trends, saw the share of days worked from home tick up to an average of 26.2 percent in March and April 2026, compared to 24.6 percent in January and February, according to the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes. “It’s just allowing employees here and there to take an extra day at home,” he says, alleviating some of the very real economic pressures of working.
In the same vein, recruiting and talent retention is another advantage that can come from a more flexible work schedule. Casting a wider net beyond local geography is a better way to find better employees; it can’t be assumed that the best workers are all conveniently living near the office just hoping to be hired. Employers need to be actively looking for the best talent without limiting the geographical proximity.
It is also fair to say that a 9-to-5 workday does not guarantee maximum production for everyone. Some can get in first thing in the morning and crank out a lot of work, while others do the same thing, but their peak starts later in the day or even extends into the evening. But, despite these variations, the traditional 9-to-5 workday, which was invented by U.S. labour unions in the 1800s, is still the standard. That means many people are working outside their preferred hours of peak productivity.
While flexibility may not seem like an urgent issue that needs to be addressed when considering all the other challenges a business must face, it is one of the factors that can put more stress on employees and backfire for the bottom line. When pushed too far, restricted structure can lead to absenteeism that reflects that $225.8 billion black hole, and from there to burnout, which brings its own serious issues and costs of replacing workers.
Consider this: when a specialized employee leaves a company, it can cost between 50 and 200 percent of their annual salary to replace them. Liz Elting at Forbes looked at employee burnout, noting that employers underestimate how many of their employees are experiencing it. She refers to Care.com’s Future of Benefits Report: 69 percent of employees say they’re at a moderate to high risk of burnout, while employers believe only 45 percent of their employees are at risk. Employees benefit from “slack” or “unscheduled, unassigned time in the workday that workers have complete autonomy over.” The benefits of this include a greater sense of accountability for their productivity while not feeling overwhelmed by tasks that they do not feel are as consequential.
While it is true that there are solid benefits to having employees in the office at the same time, employers should also consider what they could gain by providing a level of flexibility to their attendance policy. Balancing having everyone in versus longer employee retention and reduced absenteeism is important for long-term success. Based on the research, workers seem more than willing to make up the time they spend getting to and from the office with productive work.
Striking a balance between how much time in and out of the office is required could be the best move employers make.
