Having flexible hours is becoming a workplace standard, if it hasn’t already. In a recent Capterra survey, 59% of HR managers from U.S. companies with at least six employees reported they’re allowing or planning to allow staff to set their own hours, while 71% agreed that the traditional workweek is outdated.

While not a totally novel concept at the time, “flexi-time” and remote work became essential when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and businesses had to adapt fast to lockdowns and travel restrictions. Offering work-from-home setups with hours outside of the typical Monday through Friday, 9-to-5 structure helped keep many companies afloat during this period.

This shift in working arrangements was not to be reversed once restrictions eased. The pandemic redefined everyone’s sense of normalcy and caused a change in attitude towards when and where work can be accomplished. Specifically, office workers figured they could be equally, or even more productive without working strict office hours.

Thus, flexi-time has become a core pillar of employee satisfaction across my businesses. It allows team members to balance their personal lives and leisure with work: they can schedule doctor’s appointments on slower days, go to the gym outside of peak hours, or attend classes during the day. All of these contribute to their overall well-being which manifests in the workplace as motivated, satisfied individuals.

On the other hand, companies that could operate with flexi-time but refuse to do so are likely to see a revolving door in their workforce. As seen during the Great Resignation, a return to the old framework was enough reason for a worker to quit a job or decline an offer. Almost 80% of HR executives in the Capterra study mentioned earlier reported losing at least one strong candidate because the setup their organization offered wasn’t flexible enough.

Requiring people to work during regular office hours is an especially tall ask when you add a 14-hour time difference. For some of my teams in the Philippines, there’s little practical reason for them to work the night shift. Just a few hours of overlap between us is enough to keep the businesses running smoothly.

In this blog post, we make the case for implementing flexible hours specifically for businesses with staff from the Philippines and describe how we collaborate across time zones.

FILIPINOS ESPECIALLY APPRECIATE FLEXITIME

Flexitime holds particular appeal among Filipino remote employees, especially those with experience working in the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry. Workers in this sector have skill sets tailored to Western companies and likely constitute a large percentage of online jobhunters and workers.

Many BPO employees work the night shift at call centers to align with Western business hours. This leads to chronic disruptions in their circadian rhythms, mental health, and physical wellbeing. In the Philippines, long-term night shifters have an increased risk of developing asthma, insomnia, chronic back pain, and other occupational diseases. Disruption to family life and social connections also contributes to stress levels and burnout. Few statistics summarize the quality of life of Philippine BPO workers better than its 40% attrition rate in 2023.

Providing flexitime allows Filipino employees to mitigate some of these effects by giving them a degree of control over their schedules which is particularly valued in a culture with strong family bonds. For former BPO and regular 9-5 employees, flexible hours are a welcome alternative to rigid schedules and commuting to work in congested urban centers. Simply being spared from the brutal daily commute is a huge incentive to stay in a job.

NAVIGATING TIME ZONES

Ask any of my employees what their working hours are and they’ll probably say, “It depends.” I couldn’t put it better myself. As long as team members log a total of 7-8 hours each workday and attend required meetings, they’re good. These meetings are usually scheduled within a three-hour window when it’s morning in the U.S., allowing them to work synchronously within that time and accomplish everything else on their own schedule. 

On a regular day, Filipino staff are usually logged in from 6:00 pm–12:00 am Philippine Time (PHT), which is 4:00–10:00 am Central Standard Time (CST). This schedule gives us a reliable three-hour window from 7:00–10:00 am CST to meet and collaborate. So far, my teams and I have run three companies with the amount of overlap our body clocks allow us. 

With 4-6 hours in the evening allotted for work, team members complete the rest of their hours at times that suit them best. Some would clock in at 4:00 pm and log off by midnight, others start at 6:00 pm and end around 2:00 am. Occasionally, someone might work 3 hours in the morning then continue from 7:00 pm to midnight.

I have two accountants who juggle work with caring for their toddlers. One of them has a particularly dynamic schedule: she might start working at dawn one day, and on the next, clock in before evening or late at night. Nevertheless, she consistently attends all meetings where she’s needed.

Even with all this flexibility, there’s still a need for a dependable overlap where everyone can connect in real time. Having these predictable collaboration windows keeps projects moving forward while still giving team members the freedom to shape their own workday. 

Common collaboration periods

The common time window for synchronous tasks shifts slightly with time zones. Refer to the table below for a 24-hour alignment between U.S. time zones and Philippine time. Green indicates our usual window for synchronous work, while blue highlights a potential overlap for those who prefer managing their businesses earlier or later in the day.

One practice we try to be consistent with is minimizing meetings beyond 10:00 am CST or midnight in the Philippines. Beyond this point, people’s attentiveness and mental faculties naturally decline. If I or any team member needs to schedule a call around this time, we start the invitation email with an apology. Similarly, when we schedule interviews for job candidates around or beyond midnight, we assure them that these hours won’t be part of their regular schedule.

Finding the right balance between overlap and flexibility is less about enforcing rules and more about building trust. When everyone knows there’s a shared window for collaboration, it creates stability without sacrificing the freedom that makes remote work so appealing.

Ultimately, the goal of providing flexible hours isn’t for the team to end up working at completely random hours each day. And trust us when we say that’s not what will happen because humans are neurologically wired to settle into routine. What flexitime aims to provide is the autonomy for staff to craft their own schedules with the option to deviate from it when needed.

At Wise Scout, we’ve seen firsthand how flexible hours make all the difference in building strong, motivated teams across borders. As a U.S.-based company with a majority-Filipino workforce, we not only connect American businesses with skilled remote talent from the Philippines, but also share what we’ve learned about keeping those employees engaged for the long term. If you’re ready to grow your business with top-notch Filipino professionals and keep them around, we’d be happy to help you get started.