Flexible Workplaces are Important for Today’s Organizations

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Globalization, industrialization and technological advancements have led to a status quo where organizations are constantly being forced to forging alliances with individuals from different nations around the globe in order to tap into the best talents for the various jobs irrespective of their age, race and sex.

As such, the importance of creating ideal working environment for employees cannot be understated. This paper shall in detail discuss the impacts of having Flexible workplaces in today’s organizations. The benefits and flaws of these programs shall be highlighted and recommendations on how organizations can promote the same given.

Hankin (2008) asserts that good leadership is about respecting and acknowledging differences among people in relation to their age, sex, ethnicity, abilities and beliefs. The success of any business depends on the level of commitment, loyalty and productivity of the workforce.

As such, each organization should ensure that the employees are always at their best; psychologically, mentally and physically. Having a flexible workplace creates one avenue through which these desirable aspects can be realized and harnessed. With this in mind, the question that is left wanting is; what does flexible workplace mean?

According to Golden (2000), this term refers to the ability of an organization to adapt to an individual’s mode of working to suit both the employee’s and employer’s needs. What this means is that the employees are given the freedom to schedule how they fulfill their duties and obligations in an effective and timely manner.

As the cost of living escalates all over the world, more people are indeed looking for work so that they can meet their needs (especially those with children). In addition, limitations in terms of costs and reliability in the transport sector present a barrier to such determinations. As such, workers are working extra hard to maintain a healthy life-work balance. How does an organization cope with these cultural and economic hurdles?

For any organization to remain relevant in the current competitive business environment, it has to consider the needs of its employees and address them accordingly. This will in return ensure that they give it their best. However, the interconnection between work and life issues cannot be overplayed.

This is because they affect each other and actively contribute to the actions which an employee undertakes in a given scenario. Workers must adhere to the job requirements but at the same time, due consideration should be given to their personal affairs. The proponents of flexible work programs contend that they offer a competitive advantage to those organizations that embrace them. This they attribute to the fact that these programs ensure employee retention.

In a survey report presented by Golden (2000), a significant amount of workers claimed that they needed flexible work schedules so that they could at least get some time off to spend with their families and do other personal things.

The underlying reasons behind this proposal included but were not limited to; flexible work schedule would give them time to spend with their growing children, they offer a viable solution to the transportation crisis, enables willing workers to have more than one job especially those working on minimum wages.

Considering the professional manner in which employees are expected to act, it may be argued that personal ethics should only play a secondary role in the decision making process of the employee since they sometimes hold no significant backing. However, total disregard for ones belief system may lead to psychological disturbances and hence greatly affecting the productivity of the worker (Hankin, 2005). Therefore due merit should be given to an employee’s personal ethics.

There exist various packages that serve as a framework when dealing with flexible work issues in any business settings. They act as viable options that an employee may decide to choose depending on their work-life balance schedule. There exist various options such as telecommuting, flexi time, compressed work days/weeks, job sharing and prolonged leave among others. All these option are designed to cater for the needs of various employees so that they can attain their work-life balance.

As stated by Peper et al (2005) there are various benefits that employees have attested to since the introduction of these programs in 2003. The benefits range from flexibility to cater for family needs and personal responsibilities in a convenient manner, reduction in travel costs and commuting time, reduced workload therefore a reduction in stress, ability to work at the desirable environment and time (morning person and night person) and those with children claim that such flexibility reduces the costs and hours dedicated to external childcare services.

From an organizational point of view, flexible work schedules increase employee morale as well as their commitment to the organization. According to Peper et al (2005) flexibility at work reduces stress and gives the employees a chance to work in their desirable environment thus increasing their productivity.

Also, many employers claim that these programs reduce absenteeism since employees have the chance to sort out the issues that lead to the same. In addition, having flexible work schedules enables an organization to extend its hours of operations for various departments such as the customer care a fact that ensures consumer loyalty and quality assurance in terms of service delivery.

However, there is a down side to these programs. Shields (2007), states that in as much as these programs may help an organization retain employees, boost their morale and increase their productivity, there are challenges that are worth noting. For starters, flexible work schedules entails working from an ideal environment and time.

Options such as flexiplace where workers work from the comfort of their homes use laptops and compress hours so as to create freer time eliminates the need for supervisors.

As such, employees are not under pressure to perform and this may reduce their productivity. In addition, working from home has its own challenges such as distractions, children, friends and entertainment. In most cases, employees have stated that the productivity and quality of work reduced tremendously upon the introduction of these flexible work hours and places.

On the same note, it becomes very difficult to monitor and manage home workers due to their residential location and lack of resources to supervise all of them.

Also, there is a high possibility of the employees loosing their working skills, the organization may incur more costs while providing the necessary equipments to meet all standards of a good working environment such as safety standards, laptops and PDAs an catering for the needs of disabled employees.

Finally the most threatening disadvantage of flex work schedules is the general problem of communicating with the employees and maintaining information security (Madura, 2006).

Over the past decade, many organizations have accepted the flexible work programs due to the competitive nature of the business environment. As such, organizations are constantly pressuring employees to do more with the little resources available. This in turn has forced employees to work more hours so as to meet the high expectations set by the organizations that they represent.

IBM a leading computer manufacturer is among the companies that adapted well to these programs. Bohlander and Snell (2009), state that you could not stay for a long time before you get wind that IBM was laying off workers. Consequently, the productivity of the company reduced and its public image was tarnished since employees were less motivated and under constant fear of loosing their jobs.

They therefore introduced telecommuting and job sharing as alternatives means of maintaining their work force all the while reducing the costs of maintaining them. Job sharing refers to the situation whereby two employees share the same job but work at different times. In this scenario, some employees at IBM worked for approximately 20 hrs per week instead of the expected 40 hrs. This gave them a chance to remain relevant to the organization through sharing their jobs instead of firing them.

On the other hand, telecommuting is most effective to some jobs such as accountants, engineers, programmers, writers and even architects. IBM being a computer manufacturing company employed this program so as to retain the most talented workers and at the same time reduce costs such as overtime and transport allowances.

The importance of having flexible work schedules to any given organization cannot be taken lightly. There are various measures that organizations can employ to ensure great work flexibility that support employee’s work-life balance. According to the Golden (2000), employers must incorporate work-life balance initiatives into the organization’s mission statement, strategic and operational plans. This will boost organization commitment.

In addition, they should establish the timeframe and planning strategies to be used in the introduction and implementation process of these programs. However, due consideration should be given to the cost, needs on the organization as well as those of the employees and the impacts of these programs to service delivery, productivity and to the legislative framework in place (Griffin, 2006).

To further encourage flexibility in organizations, employers must develop a work life balance policy and other relevant programs that support flexible work places and hours. In addition, they should ensure that they include training programs that facilitate work life balance such as induction training, time management, computer literacy among others.

Also, employers must ensure that there is equitable access to flexible work schedules to all employees and develop guidelines that may be used in assessing requests. These guidelines must include the decision making process used, negotiation and how these programs are to be implemented. Finally, the employers must try to provide appropriate support services that facilitate optimum work life balance (Shields, 2005).

In conclusion, the importance of flexible workplaces to an organization has been discussed in this paper. The advantages and disadvantages of the same have also been offered. Recommendations on how organizations can encourage flexibility at work have also been given.

In my opinion, I believe that these programs if well managed will increase productivity and boost employee’s morale. This will in the long run ensure that an organization remains relevant and give it the strength it requires to survive the obstacles and challenges that are rife in today’s business environment.

References

Bohlander, G & Snell, S 2009, Managing Human Resources, Cengage Learning.

Griffin, R W 2006, Management, Cengage Learning.

Golden, L 2000, Flexible work schedules: who gets them and what are workers giving up to get them?, Pennsylvania State University, Dept of Labor Studies and Industrial Relations.

Hankin, H 2005, The new workforce: Five sweeping trends that will shape your company’s future, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.

Madura, J 2006, Introduction to business, Cengage Learning.

Peper, B et al 2005, Flexible working and organisational change: the integration of work and personal life, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Shields, J 2007, Managing employee performance and reward: concepts, practices, strategies, Cambridge University Press.

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Flexible Workplaces are Important for Today’s Organizations

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