Close to half of employers offer flexible summer hours: Aon Survey

Results also indicate 70 per cent of survey participants do not offer flexible hours throughout the year

TORONTO, May 10 /CNW/ - Aon Consulting Canada today issued results from one of its monthly Rapid Ready survey series (http://www.aon.ca/pubs/rr/SummerHours.pdf), in which close to half (48 per cent) of the 477 organizations who participated confirmed they offer some flexible work hour arrangements during the summer.

While 52 per cent of respondents do not offer flexible summer hours, results indicate that among those who do, the most common practice for compressing the work week involved working an extra half to one hour each day in order to leave earlier every Friday.

54 per cent of organizations surveyed confirmed they had an official company-wide policy for summer hours, while 46 per cent required management approval prior to opting to follow their summer hours policy.

The survey points to a wide range of practices employers follow to compress the work week as part of their summer hour policy. Of note, 70 per cent of respondents confirmed that they do not offer any form of flexible hours throughout the year.

In Canada, because summers are short, flexible work arrangements are a non-financial benefit leveraged by employers to reinforce their work/life balance philosophy and help attract and retain employees.

While the majority of survey participants do not offer flexible work hours throughout the year, those who do are responding in creative ways. Ultimately, Canadian employers who make an effort to demonstrate this degree of flexibility in their work environments recognize that additional down time, particularly during the summer season, is a tremendous value proposition to employees.

About Aon Consulting Canada

Aon Consulting is one of Canada's leading integrated human capital consulting and outsourcing firms. Our more than 800 Canadian professionals in 12 offices coast-to-coast offer benefits, talent management and rewards strategies and solutions to help clients attract, retain and develop world-class talent. Driven by inspired and independent thinking, Aon Consulting is committed to delivering innovative and personalized business solutions with tangible value to help clients shape their organization into the workplace of the future. For more information, visit http://aon.ca.

For further information: Media Contact: Autom Tagsa, [phone], [email protected]