6 Steps to a Schedule With Flexible Hours for Working Moms.

Do Your Homework

Just one in five working mothers with minor children say full-time work is the ideal situation for them, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Most want flexible hours.

But it's hard to find part-time work unless you're a sales clerk or preschool teacher. Indeed, the best way to get a satisfying, well-compensated part-time position is to negotiate a more flexible schedule with your current employer. You may not even need to reduce your workweek if you can complete your duties through telecommuting. Or, perhaps you can shift around work hours to accommodate doctor's appointments and school events.

Follow these six steps to achieve a flexible schedule at your current job:

Talk to friends and colleagues with flexible schedules. Ask them what they like or dislike about the arrangement. See whether it's hurt their career or earning potential. Make sure to think about the full range of possible schedules.

• a compressed work week means four longer days, but you get Fridays off
• working a 6 or 7 hour day in the office and finishing up after the kids are asleep
• job sharing may be the best solution for time-intensive professions, like law
• reducing your hours can be tough in client-driven fields; you don't want to get paid less and end up working full-time because of the pace of the industry

Think About Your Needs

Decide what schedule will work for your personal life. As much as you'd like to work less, you may not be able to afford the pay cut that comes with part-time work. Make sure you understand whether your employer reduces benefits for people who work less than full time.

Also, look at your work style and child care realities. Working from home may sound great until you're trying to concentrate on a report with three screaming kids underfoot. It can also be isolating, especially for introverts who need the encouragement of close quarters to interact with their co-workers.

Investigate childcare options. If your children are still little, see what you would save by cutting back on child care. Some centers don't really discount part-time care, so you might want to continue full time to retain the flexibility at work. If you have a babysitter, gauge how open she would be to a more flexible schedule with possibly fewer hours.

Make sure you have a backup for personal responsibilities, such as the inevitable sick child. Have a frank discussion with the people in your life to get them on board, whether it's your husband, mother or school carpool buddy.

Think About Your Employer

This is probably the most important step. It's really up to you to figure out how to cover your job responsibilities with the schedule you want. If others in your department are looking for better balance, they might be open to a group schedule that would give each person more time off while making sure all work is covered.

Determine which tasks must be completed in the workplace, which can be done on your own schedule, and which can be eliminated or delegated to another person. If you plan to go part-time, you will either have to eliminate certain duties or produce at a slower pace.

Write down your proposal. Ask co-workers with flexible schedules to share any documents they have, or look for templates on the Internet. Be sure to specify how work emergencies and crunch times would be handled.

Make Your Pitch

Take a deep breath. Now ask your boss to consider the new schedule. Again, it's up to you to make the case for how it helps the business.

If the initial reaction is frosty, ask your supervisor to simply consider the idea, or perhaps implement it on a trial basis. Try to work with your employer.

Implement the New Schedule

Communicate your new schedule to your superiors, colleagues and any customers. But don't go overboard. If you're planning to regularly check email and voicemail, only inform people who would need to reach you urgently.

The first few months may require some fine tuning for you to get the workload right. Try to set realistic deadlines and expectations, so you're not working overtime unnecessarily. Differentiate between urgent tasks and those you can delegate or delay.

Succeed With Flexible Hours

It's not a win just because they say yes. You need to stay in close touch with your boss, colleagues, and clients to make sure everything continues to go smoothly.

Remember that flexibility works both ways. Be willing to cover job emergencies, but make sure to take back the time off when work is slower. Nobody else will set those boundaries for you.

Be prepared for some resentment from others who want better work-life balance themselves. If confronted, gently remind them of the sacrifices you make for the schedule, whether it's checking email from home or earning less money. Don't apologize, or your co-workers will conclude that you have something to feel guilty about. Instead, be confident and perhaps they'll follow your example.

By Katherine Lewis,

Commission Based Jobs and Wage Theft

When it comes to wage theft, many employees who have been victims of their employers do not know if they have rights because they work in jobs that do not operate on a typical pay scale such as hourly or salary. Individuals who work in jobs that pay based on commissions often fall into this gray area.

But while it may seem that commission based jobs would not apply when it comes to basic rights under the Fair Labor and Standards Act, the requirements of employers are still fairly black and white.

The Fair Labor and Standards Act revolutionized employment standards and since its inception has continued to be the cornerstone of employment law and employee rights. Although commission based positions are technically the result of a mutual agreement between employer and employee, there are still a number of things that employers must legally provide including:

• Detailed records of all commission transactions, hours an employee works and how much those commissions work out to hourly.
• Payment that at least works out to the federal minimum wage--if an employees commissions are extremely low, the employee should not go home either empty handed or with an amount of money that is less than minimum wage. A working employee is a working employee and refusal to compensate for that work is wage theft.
• If the employee works in excess of 40 hours a week, he or she should be paid what would most closely equal out to overtime pay or time and a half.
• Employees should receive every commission that they rightfully earn--employers who keep commissions for any reason are likely engaging in wage theft.

Regardless of the type of payment a worker receives, every employee is entitled to the basic rights stated under the FLSA.

To find out more about commission based jobs and wage theft, visit the website of the overtime lawyers of Tycko & Zavareei, LLP.

By James Witherspoon

8 Tips for High Performance Hiring

Success in hiring the right people determines how quickly a small business moves from survival mode to growth paths. Business success depends on not only hiring good people, but hiring extremely talented people who are the best for the position and the company.

Below are eight tips for increasing your hiring success-in big or small businesses:

1. Define Key Objectives of the Position
   Make a prioritized list of five key objectives, then determine the skills and experience needed to be successful in the job.
   
   

2. Create a Thorough Job Description
   Or, at least create an outline of the functions and expectations of this position. Thinking this through helps refine the description and firms up priorities in the hiring decision.

3. Use a Broad Base of Sources to Find a Sufficient Number of Prospective Candidates
   Asking employees, vendors, colleagues, trade associations, educational and alumni groups, advertising in traditional and non-traditional places helps you cast the broadest net. Give yourself plenty of choices to screen, so that you can narrow down the best choices.

4. Utilize the Screening Process
   Take advantage of the screening process to gain valuable data on competitive salaries, intelligence and best practices. Call in only those who pass the first few hurdles when evaluated against your key objectives and skills required screen.

5. Use a Structured Interview Process:
   A. Screen
   B. Inquire
   C. Evaluate & Investigate
   D. Trust but Verify
   

6. Ask All Applicants a Core of the Same Questions, then Some Custom Questions Created for their Particular Experience
   During the interviews, ask specific experience and accomplishment-related questions and ask for examples. Try to avoid hypothetical questions as most candidates know the right things to do/say. Asking for specific examples give a better read on what they did and will do in the future.

7. Check References, Verify Degrees and Steer Clear of People Who Have Too Many Ready Excuses
   Unfortunately in today's litigious employment climate employers must practice "defensive hiring." Be cautious of people who look too good to be true-as they often are.

8. After the Hire, Create a Thorough Orientation for the New Employee
   Getting the right person off to the best start takes only a little more effort and can reap big rewards. Give progress reports and feedback in the first few days, weeks and months.

No system is fail proof. However, after thirty years in the staffing industry, as an owner of executive recruiting, employee leasing and employment agencies, I have learned that the extra effort in creating the right climate helps to avoid disasters and hire better people almost every time.