How to respect the rhythm of each employee in a company?

24/04/2019 by Hicham HMICHE​

rythme des salaries au travail

Problems related to absenteeism at work

You've probably had trouble getting up some mornings or, on the contrary, had a lot of energy and ideas when you were no longer at work? The same is true for most employees. . This observation is almost similar to all companies, to the extent that some of them are considering adjustments to their working hours in order to promote the well-being of their employees and therefore productivity. To help you do this to see more clearly, we offer you a small overview of this movement which attracts more and more employers every year.

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Respect for each person's rhythm: a gain in productivity

We all operate at a different pace: some feel fitter in the morning and others are more productive in the late afternoon or early evening. Although the schedules have been frozen for a long time due to many factors (legislation on contracts, reception of clients, adaptation to service providers' schedules, etc.), they tend to fade away to become more flexible and more flexible. This is a beneficial trend of the on both the employee and employer sides.

Peaks of activity during the day

To better understand this new trend in the world of work, it is necessary to look at the peaks of activity during the day. For example, if we take an employee at the end of the morning, we will notice that the thinking and productivity are more important than in the early hours of the day. In the early afternoon, however, the body (and brain) is in slow motion, as all energy is concentrated on digestion.

Favouring à la carte timetables

One of the measures which concerns the respect of the rhythm of each person is the fact of to privilege a la carte schedules. To be able to organise an efficient and above all fair planning for all employees, you must take several criteria into account: the time span of your company (from opening to closing), the specific time schedule of each position (for example, a project manager must be available to clients) and Finally, the positions that are not eligible for measurement (for example, the person in charge of the switchboard). Once you have gathered all these elements, you will be able to consider the following plannings that can be personalised and adapted to each employee.

Coordinate the wage bill based on working hours

Harmonising the working rhythm of employees must be a measure that promotes well-being and not conflict: this is why schedules must be coordinated and fair for each employee. As a first step, you can collect everyone's preferences (some people like to start earlier and finish earlier and vice versa, others like to arrive later because they feel more productive at the end of the day). morning and early evening). Depending on your wishes and needs, you can then compose a tailor-made schedule.

Solutions for timetabling

In order for personalised timetabling to be carried out correctly, each company must have its own operating system. In order to harmonise with other structures (customers, service providers, suppliers, etc.), it is important to have a system that is adapted to your needs, competitors, etc.), you can define mandatory working days with imposed schedules (for example Monday to launch the main production lines for the coming week). For workers known as " For "nomadic" people, i.e. those who do not need to be present on the premises, you can consider teleworking on a volume of tasks rather than on strict schedules.

The limits of à la carte timetables

The respect of the rhythm of each person and the à la carte schedules have their limits: often they can only be applied to a part of the timetable, because the specificities of the functioning of a company and its sector of activity. If we take the example of catering, it is difficult to deal with such arrangements because of the fixed timetables (lunch service and the evening service). On the other hand, it is possible to set up fair rotations so that each employee can benefit from them.

As far as tertiary activities are concerned, many solutions can be implemented: the only requirements are opening and closing times, availability for customers and meetings to be held for the whole team.

Respect of the biological rhythm

Finally, respect for the rhythm of each employee is achieved through respect for the biological rhythm. For efficient production and therefore increased profitability, you can make the most of the potential of your employees. You need to take into account their preferences, the digestion time, the resting time the body needs and optimise energy regeneration.

To encourage these reggae, you can consider setting up relaxation areas so that everyone can rest when they feel like it and be less strict on breaks. The human body is not a machine and often needs much more than 10 minutes every three or four hours to regain the energy it needs to function. The same applies to lunch breaks: you need to take in counts the time of the meal, the conviviality between the employees and the time of digestion.


If you are attracted by the idea of flexible working hours that can be adapted to suit the pace of your employees, it is important to measure the impact on your day-to-day business and study the feasibility of such a measure in relation to your sector of activity. You can certainly gain in well-being and productivity, but this requires a careful and fair organisation for each person.