What Marissa Mayer Doesn't Know About Why Telework Is Good for a Company

FLSA, Telecommute, And Flexible Work Schedules FLSA It is well past time to reform the Fair Labor Standards Act. The minimum wage has not kept up with inflation and many people who work in the service industry, for instance, must hold more than one job in order to make ends meet. A common criticism is that people who work full time should not receive such low salaries that they live in poverty (Alderman & Greenhouse, 2014).

In many Scandinavian and European countries, workers in the service industry are paid at levels that enable them to live middle class lives and support their families (Alderman & Greenhouse, 2014). Also, as with many federal laws related to employment, exemptions are created for businesses that employ a certain number of people or less. The slow economic recovery following the financial meltdown showed that job creation was the result of small business activity, and that small businesses are a major source of employment in the United States.

This means that the Fair Labor Standards Act exemptions enable a substantive number of small businesses to operate in ways that do not offer the protection of The Act to a large -- in absolute numbers -- body of people FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULES AND TELECOMMUTING Unlike Yahoo's Marissa Mayer, savvy employers can develop telework and flexible work schedules that contribute to a company's bottom line and result in high employee satisfaction and lower expensive employee turnover.

Employers who plan to engage in or are engaging in flexible work schedules and telework arrangements with employees must ensure that managers receive training in this area. The training for both employers and employees must cover policy and procedures on telework and flexible work schedules, including leave and pay, performance evaluation, and accommodations for workers with disabilities. Indeed, employers may wish to pursue consultation in order to develop and establish appropriate qualitative and quantitative measures and teleworking goals.

Telework and flexible work schedules are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act, workers' compensation, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and anti-discrimination laws (Flynn, 2001). Benefits plans must be scrutinized to be sure that employees are not penalized by their flexible works schedules.