Living and working in major cities worldwide can be particularly stressful because of the high traffic congestion and the increasing rise in house prices. This, together with the pressure of working long hours, spending hours traveling and still struggling to maintain a family life, tends to make it very difficult for workers to strike this work-life balance whilst also trying to keep up with the speed of working in the such busy cities (Kodz, Davis, Lain, Strebler, Rick, Bates & Trinczek, 2003). Such reasons, along with awareness on environmental conservation, and employee participation and efficiency are all considerations why several businesses must consider adopting a company-wide Flexible Work Structure strategy that provides Flex Time and Telework alternatives. This report has the objective of demonstrating:
- How flexible working alternatives improve job satisfaction among employees
- Flexible working options boost employee morale and minimize turnover.
- Flexible working options improve work-life balance
- Flexible working alternatives can all reduce carbon footprint while lowering administrative and general costs overall.
Background.
With the advancement of information and digital technology, there is now a considerably increased scope of telecommuting professionals, mainly in computer engineering, software specialists, journalists, consultants, and other skilled workers. They can use personal computers and electronic communications. It is important to note that Internet growth often significantly enhances the need for these specialists to have political, commercial, and public organizations.
It is difficult for several parents to keep decent work and personal balance since family and work are critical to their lives. But digital technology today enables workers to operate from wherever they are. With the aid of computers, tablets, and smartphones, cloud computing optimizes coordination between staff members at long distances. To encourage workers to do their job in a more rewarding environment, most businesses may provide flex-time jobs in order to be able to work full-time, but not technically in the office during formal operating time. Flexible time-work would enable their employees to gain higher productivity and employee morale.
Flexible employment provides a vital advantage for employers, staff, and even self-employed. It could also be referred to as teleworking; it can have a wide variety of social benefits, including a decreased inflow of traffic, as there is no commuting. Hence, it reduces the environmental impact of road transport (Liechty & Anderson, 2007). Furthermore, the growing participation of primary caregivers workers in the workplace requires flexible hours and has intensified the need for remote working. If flexible work is successful, if not more productive than a brick and mortar office, then businesses will endorse it.
Importance of Flexible Working.
Of course, companies are benefiting from such benefits as saving rental office space costs, general office costs, and staff. Industries that use telecommuting accomplish a substantial decrease in in-office use. If an organization adopts a standard flexible work policy, it will effectively remove all the costs associated with staff selection and travel (Saunoi-Sandgren, & Lari, 2013). If an organization has evidence of flexible workers being at least as productive as their conventional ones, then flexible working becomes an appealing choice.
Sustaining work-family balance is an essential component of the social environment as both play a vital role for our lives. When people spend more time working, they spend less time with their families, and vice versa. That could lead to stress, depression, and confusion. The stress of a worker in one role could have a detrimental impact on his or her productivity. By comparison, those that can manage the demands from these two critical places usually report higher work satisfaction rates. People tend to spend more time at work to avoid family problems; consequently, exhaustion and overwork create distress over conflicts between work and family. However, using our time at work as an opportunity to hide from interpersonal disputes in the family, that problem can’t possibly be resolved by company flex-time policy (Kelly, Moen, Oakes, Fan, Okechukwu, Davis & Mierzwa, 2014). There is no single formula for solving people’s needs. In the case of work schedules, flex time policy allows employees to choose their arrival times and departure from work. Employers who promote the development of a program to balance their employees’ work.
Productivity improves, absenteeism diminishes, and the recruiting process becomes more straightforward. It’s not shocking that this has had a positive effect on the workplace commute. Some employees assume that their overall efficiency improves with versatility. This is a technique of working that motivates workers to do their best in the workplace, without sacrificing their personal life and obligations.
In the evenings some people work best, in the afternoons some work better, and some are absolute night bloomers. It ensures the best outcomes by encouraging people to work during their highest productivity hours. According to Bowles, & Candela, (2005), if workers work from an atmosphere that allows them to feel relaxed, they will actually be more efficient. Flexible working and mobile staff have the right to work wherever, anywhere. Equally, telework workers will not need to fly every day to their workplaces. It will undoubtedly increase concentration and efficiency by living in a quiet environment away from distractions. Often it may be off-putting, inconvenient, and costly to set up the infrastructure to serve the workers, making the flexible working individuals handle the infrastructure issues for themselves.
Flexible working will decrease employee expenses, too. Staff can reduce the daily commute spending by a remote worker, which can be massive savings. According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics, commuting costs are the second-largest expense of American families after rental expenditure. When a car is only used to get to the workplace, the cost of buying one in the first place can also be avoided. Eradicating the traffic often means the worker can be effective during the period he usually travels. Flexible working allows employees to attend meetings without having to fly to various offices or places physically, thus reducing company travel costs
Working flexibly seems to claim less sick leave. Managers say this is because flexible employees have more flexible hours, so they don’t have to take a sick day for personal activity. Telecommuting workers will also work part-day from home when they are not well enough to go to the office. In the workplace world, sickness has always been a problem when people walk into work sick, not worrying about spreading the disease to others. Telecommunications is also useful when recovering from sickness or surgery.
There are also increased job prospects and decreased family-life issues. Employment prospects are not restricted to positions that are far away from home, either. A good flexible work program, regardless of the venue, eliminates the need to switch to a current job. Flexible work provides a better balance between work and family life (Romer, 2011). Also, if a flexible worker spends too much time working to be productive, they remain with the family and can engage more easily in domestic chores like child care, laundry, and so on. With the normal working method, people spend this time on the way to and from work.
Just like different ends of every coin, there are also some significant negative aspects of flexible working. When they need to get in touch with the telecommuters, the managers would have to keep clear records to reach any telecommuting employee. Telecommuting will fail when workers need continuous monitoring with remote employees, which is much more difficult, if not impossible (Bergiel, Bergiel & Balsmeier, 2008). Accountability is the primary challenge of operating a remote workforce. Most managers say they trust their staff, but there are still those who say they want to see them just to be sure. It can be challenging to say whether workers are productive or just relaxing around the house. It is essential to ensure transparency by developing performance management systems, including regular communication and activity reports. Supervisors were worried about many problems, including limited face-to-face contact, ineffective teamwork due to reduced engagement, less managerial influence over flexible working and their results, non-teleworker envy, home disturbances, and insufficient technology and file sharing.
Through the off-site management process, managers must be extremely organized and skilled at conversing, both in writing and over the phone. Managers, once acquainted with keeping communication lines open by stopping offices all day long, are searching for new ways of digitally replicating the contact.
Frequent teleconferences are vital. They assist organizations in understanding whether the desired result is on target and, if not, what improvements can be made or further consultations. In essence, new workers thrive from daily scheduled check-ins to address their performance and plan. Consistent contact also allows the manager to understand the latest hire is available.
Flexible working leads naturally to less contact with colleagues. Many who enjoy the social aspects of office-based employment may be dealing with telecommuting’s solitary existence. Consequently, you can fall out of the social loop when your supervisor or colleagues see you less often at the workplace, losing chances to interact and establish relationships. The greatest obstacle with flexible working is to create and sustain a sense of camaraderie among employees who seldom see themselves in the same house, much less the same space. Companies must establish programs to ensure that staff members remain linked to each other and also to the mission, priorities, and values of the organization.
While flexible work might have certain drawbacks, it will be beneficial in the long – term, and it has even been shown to be successful in many companies, particularly with productivity. To thrive with flexible workers, organizations must find maintaining an adaptive and linked community through technology. Work ethics has also shifted from one where each worker is situated at the same location, to one where many sit distantly yet share the same culture and experiences as other co-workers.
Staffing
Staffing is one of the main aspects of handling human resources. Recruiting is the method of finding the right person to fill particular roles within the company. The human resources officer does the planning, drafting, and subsequent selection in the course of doing so (Clardy, 2008). The recruitment manager determines the expectations the company needs from the new workers during the planning process. Flexible working arrangements make it easier to hire people from different locations. That way, you get rid of any boundaries, and you’re able to pick and choose a candidate who fits your organizational culture and meet expectations. Besides, flexible working is attractive for those who can’t afford the 9-to-5 schedule like stay-at-home parents.
Flexibility in the workplace culture may have a significant effect on the recruitment process, as certain positions do not require the candidates to be physically available. Therefore, in the pre-qualification package for hiring employees, the hiring team could include the fact that individuals with remote working experience have additional privileges. The effect is that the desire to collaborate remotely can serve to limit the number of people who turn for the interview while also placing several other potential employees ahead of others at the same moment.
Conclusion.
A major misconception is that employees who telework tend to be less productive, when, in fact, it has been proven to do the exact opposite. With productivity increasing and turnover reducing, telework and flexible work arrangements can not only benefit the employee; it can help the employer as well. With competition all over major world big cities, employers have to set themselves apart from other employers, and if providing flexible work arrangements, helps sway one recruit from taking a job at another organization, it can prove to be a valuable benefit.