[cullenking]

The employee can still leave at 3pm, but maybe he shoots off a couple of his team-oriented emails at 6:30am. That shows he's indeed working early, so leaving early isn't weird.

One of my employees does this by spending the morning hours managing his inbox and otherwise catching up. Additionally, he always makes a fresh pot of coffee right when getting in. The coffee maker has a 2 hour heat timer, so when it dings at 8:30am it's a clear indication he was in the office early.

You don't have to be blatant. He isn't, but he's well known as the guy in the office that likes working super early, and no one gets bent when he steps out of the office by 4pm. They occasionally whine about how it's unfair he's a morning person and gets to enjoy the afternoon sun, but it's jovial joking about their night owl habits compared to his morning habits.

Basically, having a good team that understands and respects each other is the key. If you don't have that you miss out on many of the good parts.

[wesleytodd]

This was a much better way to make my point. Thanks, because this is exactly what I meant.