To hire and retain very good talent is a challenge for any organization. The costs of finding and hiring new employees are very high both in terms of time and money, especially when it comes to top talent. In this scenario, alternative work arrangements like flextime are becoming very popular in today's workplace. The advances in technology have made alternative work arrangements more possible and successful than ever before. The results from flextime work arrangements have been highly encouraging. There have been increases in productivity, employee satisfaction and job loyalty. The attrition rate is lower when flexible work scheduling is used in organizations. There are opposing views about this non-traditional work arrangement, but the benefits of flextime outweigh the criticisms.

The major types of alternative work arrangements are flextime, job sharing, telecommuting and compressed work week.

1) Flextime: The term flextime is a short form of "flexible work time" or "flexible work hours". It allows employees to choose their own working hours within some limits.

2) Job sharing: It is an arrangement in which two or more employees share the responsibility of a full-time work position. This is a type of part-time work arrangement.

3) Telecommuting: Telecommuting or flex-place is an arrangement where employees do not travel to the office, but do their work from any other place like their home, etc., via the use of technology.

4) Compressed work week: In this work arrangement, employees complete their work obligations of 40 hours per week in lesser number of days instead of the standard five or six.

Some other alternative work arrangements include compensatory time off, annualized hours, temporary work and gradual retirement.