Gone are the days when your eyes would constantly wander towards the office clock even as your mind keeps switching between the ongoing staff meeting and your baby left back at a daycare. There is a new arsenal in the hands of those who find it difficult to work within the confines of a 9-5 schedule and it is called flexi work hours!

Just like distance learning courses revolutionized the education system, flexible work hours have taken the corporate world by storm. Flexi hours have made it easy for many people to juggle work and personal commitments like never before. Whether you are a working mom who needs to rush back home to her children, a student who wants to finance his higher education, someone who just wants the extra time to pursue other interests, or a go-getter looking to enhance his skills through online education degrees – flexible schedules have made it possible to keep a job and still be able to do all this.

And its not just employees who benefit from flexi work schedule. Even employers stand to gain from it as it increases employee morale and productivity, reduces absenteeism, lowers the turnover rate, and saves the overhead costs. Therefore, it works for both employees and their supervisors to agree on flexible schedules such as:

Reduced Work Hours: Employees clock less than eight hours a day and get paid accordingly

Condensed Work Week: Employees work fewer days in a week, but longer hours.

Flexi Time: Employees can choose the time of coming in to and leaving work around certain core hours when everyone must be present in the office.

Work in Shifts: This means that employees work alternative shifts such as evening shifts, night shifts, rotating shifts, etc.

But it must be mentioned that some professions are more flexi schedule friendly than others. For example, it is easier to implement flexible schedules in jobs such as nursing and respiratory care as they involve working in a 24/7 environment.

Many men and women enter the nursing profession because of its flexible nature. Hospitals offer family friendly work schedules to Registered Nurses (RN) apart from benefits such as signing bonus, child care, etc. You need to complete an Associate’s or a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and pass a qualifying exam to practice as an RN. Many universities these days also offer online education degrees in nursing.

Similarly, respiratory therapists or technicians operate in a round-the-clock setting as patients need care 24 hours of the day. With the demand for trained respiratory therapists growing in hospitals, home health care services, doctors’ offices, etc., they can choose to work their desired hours. The minimum qualification to become a respiratory therapist is an Associate’s degree in Respiratory Care along with the required licensure.

Another career you can consider is preschool and daycare teaching. Although, strictly speaking, it doesn’t offer flexible work hours, but it does allow some kind of part-time schedule. According to the Department of Labor, some teachers teach two classes a day even now. Most teachers work 10 months an year with a two-month summer break, which they are free to enjoy as they like. To become a daycare or preschool teacher, you need to complete at least an Associate of Science in Early Childhood Education degree and obtain a license.

One can enter these professions with relative ease thanks to the availability of online education degrees. So, you don’t need to wait until you retire to chase a dream or feel miserable about missing the best days of parenthood. All you need to do is get your boss on board about letting you choose your work schedule!