Effect of flexible time and place arrangements for employees
Section 1- Case Summary
This case suggests that striking a balance between work and life is a very important attribute that the employees seek from their jobs. Employees like Joe often after receiving promotions in their designation prioritise work-life balance and a higher designation with no work-life balance leads to dissatisfaction and demotivation. AESC surveys reveal that many companies are striving to include programs for increasing the family time of the employees as 85% of the recruiters have experienced recruits rejecting roles which lack work-life balance.
The candidates seeking jobs are negotiating on work aspects like flex time, work from home option in order to be able to spend time with family and children. Flexible work is productive only in the case where employees are self- motivated and disciplined.
Section 2-Critical Thinking Question 1-Jobs
The types of jobs that are best suited for flexibility with hours and office locations are;
IT Industry employees a lot of the seasonal workforce granting them flexibility as the work usually requires technology that can be assessed at any feasible locations.
Actuaries involved in using mathematics and statistics for risk assessments are also the workforce that is very often granted work flexibility
Attorney’s and lawyers (Beers, 2000)
Management consultants and tax managers (Smith, 2013)
Telecommuting and remote jobs, freelancing and part time job
Also Probit estimation reveals that the changes of getting flexible time and locations for work are more if the individual is self-employed, studying, married, part-time workers
The type of jobs that are less likely to afford with type of flexibility are;
The roles that require working in a standard day shift or 40 hours weekly and the ones that requires Frontline customer interaction and a lot of supervision and client visits.
Section 3- Critical Thinking Question 2- Self-Managed Team Impact on work-life Balance
Self-Managed teams take initiatives and are actively involved in the decision making process. The whole concept of flexible working schedules is suitable for individuals who are self-motivated to work and require less supervision. Self-management boosts the flexible work regime by increasing productivity, ownership and responsibilities (Blakeman, 2016). So self-management makes attaining work life balance easier.
Section 4- Critical Thinking Question 3- Key Learnings
The two key learnings from this case are;
Employees prefer roles ensuring work life balance - The importance of work-life balance is increasing day by day and employees seek a balance between their work and life apart from a pay and designation hike. According to Shore, (1998) with demands increasing both on the job and the home front, the management of family and work has become a very complex task leading to the preference of flexible work culture by many recruits.
Also the flexible work arrangements are not suitable for all the employees in the organisation as it requires self-management, self –motivation and clear performance measures (R, Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2012). Also the employees that requires facing Frontline customers cannot demand such flexibility at all times.
Section 5- References
Beers, T. M. (2000). Flexible schedules and shift work: replacing the '9-to-5' workday? Monthly Labor Review, 33-40.
Blakeman, C. (2016). Why Self-Managed Teams are the Future of Business. Retrieved from Inc.: http://www.inc.com/chuck-blakeman/why-self-managed-teams-are-the-future-of-business.html
Golden, L. (2001). Flexible Work Schedules Which Worker Get Them. Ameirican Behavioral Scientist, 1157-1178.
R, L., Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2012). Managing Human Resources. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Shore, R. (1998). Ahead of the curve: Why America's Leading employees are adressing the needs of new and expectant parents. New York: Families and Work Institute.
Smith, J. (2013, January 15). 10 High-Paying Flexible Jobs. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/01/15/10-high-paying-flexible-jobs/#7ea5be643b67
