May 2000

Four years ago, annual turnover at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners was an alarming 30%. What that meant, in human terms, was that every two years NAIC was forced to replace more than half of its highly skilled staff, almost 360 employees.

Today, though, NAIC’s turnover rate is half that. What changed? The association made a commitment to meet employees work-life needs by offering them flex-time and compressed work schedules.

All employees are eligible for flex-time but everyone must work 9am-4pm. At NAIC, workers can choose their start and finish times and whether they want a 30 or 60 minute lunch break.

Compressed work schedules let both exempt and non-exempt employees compress their total weekly hours into a four day week, as long as each department has the necessary five day coverage.

NAIC workers opting for flex-time and/or a compressed work schedule must stick with the schedule they’ve chosen for 90 days at a time although supervisors are empowered to provide even more work schedule flexibility where and when possible.

Supervisors must approve their direct reports’ schedules and NAIC personnel policies require a legitimate reason for rejecting an employee’s preference.

Nearly 80% of NAIC’s employees participate in one or both programs and 40% have selected a compressed work schedule.

NAIC has seen no noticeable change in productivity.