HC2101 Performance Management for HR: Work-life Flexibility

Introduction

Work life flexibility will replace the work life balance is the topic which has been selected for discussion. This is a report, which shows how the work life flexibility will replace work life balance in the modern organizational culture. The modern family structure shows that most of the children in our society are having working parents and this kids’ do not follow a corporate schedule. The parents are required to have flexibility in work during the daytime so that they can make up for it by working in the evening sessions and on weekends (Allen et al. 2013). However, the employees are not the only ones who require a flexible work schedule; there are large numbers of companies who cannot function properly at the normal work schedule. There has been immense growth for the multinational and the online companies and the type of business requires someone to attend to the clients and the suppliers.  There are large numbers of people who consider work as the top most priority leaving behind other aspects of life. This may lead to a disruption in both professional and personal life due to the immense stress a person has to bear.

There is no fixed way of achieving the work life balance because diverse people have diverse needs and their goals vary at different times of life. Most of the employees are not ready to sacrifice their personal life for their career. The employees will have to be provided with flexibility to ensure that the productivity of the organization increases. Thus, the flexibility in the work life will provide a better work life balance for the employees (Bernhardt and Krause 2014).

Implication on the employees

The flexible working method has many advantages but from the perspective of the employees, it may vary from person to person. The male employees working in an organization think that the work life flexibility will decrease the income and increase the employment insecurity in the company. The men in the industry perceive the work life flexibility as a way to develop commitment for the organization while the women perceive as a way to improve their work life balance. The flexibility in the shifts is mainly preferred by women more than the men. The statistics show that the women resort to the flexible working hour option more than the men do (Chung 2016). However, the changing society shows that more and more men are opting for the flexible shift option. The employee health issues and the flexible working hours are directly proportion to each other and it is seen that the flexible working hours reduces the stress and improves the mental condition of the employees.

The different types of flexible working methods include flexitime, part time work, overtime, job sharing, compressed hours, shift work, annualized hours, term time, temporary working, fixed term contracts, sub contracting, zero hour contracting, home working, mobile working, and hot desking (De Menezes and Kelliher 2016). The flexitime will work differently for different types of organization as it depends on the needs of the business. This is a working method in which the employees are allotted flexible slots during the schedule but it includes core time in which the employees will have to work. The remaining day the employee can chose their flexible timings. The employee may choose to leave early or arrive late at work or even take longer breaks between working periods. This helps the employees to work more freely and strengthens the commitment of the employees towards the organization. This also helps the employees to work from outside of the workplace (Emeraldinsight.com 2017).

The part time work is one of the most type of flexible working methods. The employees can work for less number of hours and earn a living for themselves. The part time workers provide extra help during the rush hour or peak season of the organization. This also helps the employees to increase their free time.  The overtime is availed by the employees so that they could earn some extra cash (Goodwin and Graebe 2017).  The job sharing is a type of practice in which the two people share a particular job. The employees share the payments and the benefits in equal proportions and they generally tend to work on alternate weeks. This helps the employees to share their workload and have a balance in the professional and personal life. The compressed hour process is also another type of flexibility in which the employee is allowed to work the assigned time in longer or shorter time periods during the week. This helps the employees have a flexibility due to which they can work shorter periods throughout the week or may finish their shifts by working continuously for longer hours according to their suitability. Shift work is a process in which the employees change their working shifts. The annualized system is a process in which the yearly work hours for the employees are fixed but they have their own shifts and work as flexibly as possible.  Thus, the employees can the output one can generate and it helps the employees to have steady compensation package even though they are having a varied working hours throughout the year. The term time helps the employees to take unpaid leaves in the time of crisis, for example, a person may be allowed to pursue a higher educational qualification and then after completion of the degree come and join the organization (Journals.sagepub.com 2017).

 The temporary process hires employees for a shorter period of time and fixed term process employees workers having a fixed contract where the time period of recruitment is mentioned and fixed. The sub contracting is similar to other contracting methods in which the employees are hired for a particular amount of time.  The zero hour is a type of contract in which neither the employer nor the employee is obliged to a given condition (Kirby 2017). The home working is a type of process in which the worker is allowed to work from home and not from the premises of the organization. This helps the employee to save time and money and improve the productivity by maintaining a proper work balance. The employee is allowed to work from a afar away location which is not included in the premises of the company. Hot desking is a process where the employees are not assigned to any desks but can use any one of them while they are present in the office. This process will increase the work life flexibility and help them to balance their personal and professional life (Moen et al. 2016).

Implications of Human resource management  

In the present business scenario, work flexibility is more beneficial than the work-life balance for the effective human resource management. In the case of work-life balance, human resource manager have to manage the tasks or the job role in such a way that it will let the employees to manage their personal life along with their professional responsibilities effectively.  However, flexible work will let the human resource manager to design the job role of the employees in such a way that they will work more effectively and efficiently. In addition, various tools of flexible work such as, job sharing, flexible time, shift work and part time work (Hughes and Stephens 2016).

In the case of human resource management, the implications of flexible work over work-life balance will be positive. Human resource manager do not have to manage the time for personal work of the employees. Time allotted for the personal work of the employees does not fetch any outcome for the human resource manager (Bal and De Lange 2015). In addition, it is not guaranteed that making time for personal life will motivate any particular employee. However, in the case of flexible work, human resource manager have to manage the timing and the job design of the employees without letting extra time for them for personal work. Therefore, the productivity of the employees will be more due to employing more time for professional work.

To implement the flexible work, human resource manager have to design the job profile in a completely new way. Particular job have to be classified in different parts, which will let the employees to perform the particular job by the means of job sharing or in flexible time shift. Human resource manager have to maintain the different shift timings on which employees can do their job at their own choice. Human resource management should be implemented in such a way that employees in the organizations can be divided according to their expertise. This division will help to allocate more than one employees in job sharing. Flexible work also demands work timings around the day (Rees and Smith 2017). Therefore, it is important for the human resource management to have shift timings around the clock. Employees will choose their convenient time form the available job timings. In the case of flexible work, human resource manager have to be careful about the productivity of the employees. Otherwise, it will be seen that tools for flexible work such as job sharing have incurred more cost than their output. Human resource manager have to monitor the productivity of the employees who are working from home. Without this monitoring, the motive or objectives of the flexible work will be diluted (Timms et al. 2015). Human resource manager should also be careful about the effect of the flexible work on the attitude of the customers. If the majority of the employees are working from home and customers cannot meet with anyone in the office, then it will obviously have a negative impact on them. Good and effective communication is required between the human resource manager and the employees. Effective communication will help the human resource manager to be aware about the employees who are doing work from home or sharing jobs with other (Barak, 2016). 

Implications of leadership and manager

Flexible work for the employees will have positive impact on the leadership and the managers. Motivational level and the morale of the employees will be higher and therefore helps in increasing the productivity of the employees (Bolman and Deal 2017). Absenteeism will be reduced due to the fact that employees will have the options to work at their convenient time and place. This also helps in reducing the employee turnover. Employees will be more satisfied with their job due to the flexible work culture. Therefore, the turnover of the employees will be low. It will help the managers to reduce the cost of recruitment of new employees. Motivated employees also help in effective leadership because the decisions of the managers have more impact on the motivated and satisfied employees. They are more tending to listen and follow the organizational decisions. It benefits the managers in hiring new talents also. More talents that are passive will be available for the recruitment process due to the increased goodwill of being the sustainable employer. Flexible job also let the managers to identify more solutions or approach for a particular issue by implementing job sharing (Northouse 2015).

According to a recent report on flexible working provision and uptake, it is found that more than 72 percent managers have the favorable image about implementing flexible working culture. Majority of them believes that it will have positive impact on the employees’ motivation. By implementing the flexible work culture, the organization will be more effective and productive.

Conclusion

The above report shows that the work life flexibility will take over the work life balance in the modern corporate society. The work life flexibility is the option, which will increase the balance between the social and professional life of the employees. Most of the top multinational companies who belong to the fortune 500 have shown flexible work life culture for their respective employees. The employees are the biggest assets of the organization and they are the ones who will increase the productivity of the company so it is the duty of the organization to take a good care of its employees. The comfort ability of an employee improves the working environment and in turn increases the operational efficiency of the company. The society is advancing and so are the views and opinions of the people, the medium scale and small-scale companies are also incorporating the work flexibility options. Thus from the above discussion it can be concluded that the work life flexibility will definitely take over the work balance of the organization. However, some of the employees can misuse these facilities so proper monitoring is required at all times.  

Reference

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