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Published on 09/28/1998 All articles from this issue

Flexing their options

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By Carol Tiegs

Special to the Town Crier

Local companies offering multitude of perks to attract, retain employees

Work from home or bring your dog to work. National publications are touting the flexible options technology's giants are offering to attract and retain employees. The likes of Yahoo!, Sun Microsystems and Oracle aren't the only firms competing for scarce employees in the Silicon Valley.

Small to medium-sized companies, public as well as private sector employers need those well-trained workers as well.

A survey of Los Altos-area employers shows a range of flexible offerings aimed at competing successfully in the race for a stable, skilled staff.

Flexible work hours and telecommuting opportunities are among the most popular of the flexible benefit options. And employers say the benefits accrue to companies as well as to their employees.

The Los Altos-based architectural/engineering firm Ehrlich-Rominger has offered flexible hours since the firm was founded in 1968.

"We've had a four-nine-four schedule since we started," said founder and chief executive officer Joseph Ehrlich. The schedule offers a nine-hour work day Monday through Thursday and a four-hour day on Fridays.

In addition, employees may choose to come in earlier or work later than the core 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. work day.

Ehrlich said the firm is considering moving its 8 a.m. start time to 8:30 a.m. "to help commuters."

"People also bring in their kids sometimes when needed," said Cindy Lou Dyer of Ehrlich-Rominger. "Ehrlich-Rominger is pretty open - they believe in family values."

Public agencies, including the cities of Los Altos and Town of Los Altos Hills, face some problems in blending customer and employer needs, but they are doing what it takes.

"It's difficult for a small agency to have a lot of flexibility," said Los Altos Hills City Manager Jeff Peterson. "You need to physically be here all the time for walk-ins and meeting scheduling."

At the same time, Peterson said, it is difficult for the planning director, Curtis Williams, to balance the concentrated time needed for working on General Plan elements with the day-to-day and evening demands of applicants, staff and council or committee meetings.

Williams now alternates a Friday off with a Friday spent working at home. "It helps him and helps the town," Peterson said. "It keeps him from burning out in light of the number of later night meetings."

"We try to be really flexible overall with employees," said Layne Long, Los Altos personnel director and assistant to the city manager.

For Planning Director Larry Tong that flexibility means working from his East Bay home on Fridays while staying available by pager and voice mail, a program he started a year ago.

"It's allowed me to be more productive," Tong said. "I'm able to catch up on paper work, answer phone calls and work on the computer. Some of the staff say I'm more accessible on Fridays than when I'm running from one meeting to the next during the week."

City building inspector Kirk Ballard has the flexibility to take plans home to do building permit plan checks. "You need to really be able to concentrate on doing that," Tong said. "There's lots of research involved."

"The city is being really innovative and responsive to work needs and the area's housing situation," Tong said. "It understands the commute problems."

The Los Altos Police Department also responded to officers' requests for more flexible schedules, according to Capt. Cliff Balch.

"Lots of agencies offer a four-10 schedule (four 10-hour days)," said Balch, "but we're a little too lean for that so we looked for other alternatives."

For the past year, uniformed police officers have worked a combination of eight- and 12-hour days, working a maximum of three days in a row to minimize fatigue. Detectives and police specialists work five nine-hour days one week and four nine-hour days the next.

The two schedules "seem to have been working pretty well," Balch said.

Elliot Ames mortgage brokers of Los Altos consciously invested in "technology to be able to hook people up at home," said President Susan McHan.

"A lot of women in our industry appreciate the flexibility to handle child care needs," McHan said. "They get the work done we need done, and probably more."

Elliot Ames also offers flexible hours. Some employees leave for a few hours in the afternoon, usually for something connected with their children, and return later to complete the day's work, said McHan.

"We're in a pretty specialized market," said Andrew McGowan of Seer Systems, creators of software for synthesizing music for the Internet. "To attract the people we want to work for us we're really big on telecommuting."

"We're pretty lax as to dress, if someone wants to bring their kids to work or whatever," McGowan said. "We work pretty long hours, so we'll do whatever we can to make it easier for people."

Casual dress is one of the options offered by BAL Associates of Los Altos, a specialty high technology recruiting firm.

In addition to flexible hours and telecommuting, firms such as Legato Systems, a Town Crier Stock Index company headed by Los Altos resident Lou Cole, offers three weeks vacation beginning in the first year. Monday bagel breakfasts and Friday beer bashes are also the norm at Legato.

Another popular benefit is Legato's rooftop gym. "It's heavily used," Cole said.

Stock options are the backbone of many Silicon Valley fortunes. They are part of the benefit package for growing companies such as Legato Systems and Harmonic Lightwaves, the Town Crier Stock Index company headed by Tony Ley of Los Altos Hills.

The Foothill-De Anza College District offers sabbaticals to staff as well as faculty, said district human resources director Greg Parman.

After seven years with the district, staff employees may take up to 10 consecutive months off at 85 percent of regular pay to pursue continuing education, Parman said. Under a staff development leave program, staff taking leave must commit to coming back to the district for at least two years, he said.

District faculty and staff may also apply for a variety of professional recognition, service achievement or longevity awards based on professional growth and development and performance criteria, Parman said.

Foothill Community College employees can also take advantage of classes at the campus Wellness Center at no or low cost. Benefits include use of the pool and nautilus equipment, a personal trainer and golf instruction.

And while it's not the norm, there is sometime room for the dogs.

"We do have people who bring dogs into the office on a Friday when they are taking off after work for a weekend trip," said McHan of Elliot Ames.