Today, flexible work arrangements are alternate schedules from the traditional working day and week. Employees may choose a different work schedule to meet anyone needs and work from home.
Work arrangement and the way work is being done now is very different as compared to work in the past. Historically, working hours are fixed and we have to revolve our personal lives around stringent schedules from Monday to Friday. We were expected to devote a set amount of time and may even need to come in on weekends to finish our assigned tasks.
If we take excessive leave, we are made to feel guilty and ashamed of ourselves even if we have finished the tasks that were assigned to us. This is perhaps because of the fact that we work “less” hours than other workers while still receiving the same amount of pay. But then again, why are we being penalized for being more productive than our peers?
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What is flexible work and why it’s so popular?
Flexible work in modern working environment
In the present, millennials are questioning the need to be situated in a desk for fixed hours every single day (Thomson, 2019). Why are they required to be physically present when they can be more productive at home while saving on travelling time and cost? Why does their life have to revolve around work when they can answer phone calls and emails on the go and as efficiently? Why do they do what they do when communication can be done with colleagues online instead of face-to-face? Historically, this is a heritage from industrial-age, when factory owners required docile workers who would follow instructions of managers (Schrager, 2018).
As millennials prefer working flexible hours, companies that do not constantly adapt with the times might find it hard to survive and be eliminated in the face of new industry trends. From a survey done by Know Your Money, over 83% of Vietnamese workers (Minh, 2019) consider flexible working hours and location to be the key criteria to job satisfaction. If companies do not adapt, they will start to lose prospective talents affecting the revenue and profit of the company. Furthermore, flexible policies will result in improvements in creativity, motivation and mental wellbeing of workers and will contribute to the growth of the company.
Most of modern companies and startups use flexible work
What are advantages of flexible work?
So why do Millennials and Generation Z prefer flexible working hours that much? Well, they may have some benefits you may not know of:
Flexible work arrangements help employees manage their time
With flexible work arrangements, employees will be able to manage their time more effectively. In fact, a survey done by Zenefits reported that flexible work arrangements help 78% of employees (Noyes, 2018) to become more productive.
For example, employers with young children are able to come into work late after sending their children to school or even work from home so that they will be able to take better care of their children. Parent-child bonding time is essential and once parents neglect their children because of work, the consequences on their lives might be irreversible (Jeanne Segal, 2019).
Therefore, with greater work-life balance and flexibility, employees do not have to worry much about other problems and can focus intently on their job contributing to rise in productivity.
With flexible work, you can easily control your working time and plan
Alternatively, employees who live far away from the workplace can have the option to work from home. However, we definitely do need to have ways to monitor the output and achievement of employees since they are not physically present in the office.
In order for such practices to work, employers have to trust their employees enough to establish such a process, the productivity would fall and deadlines would not be met on time. One example would be Finland and Nordic countries. This trust translates to a belief that staff working at different times or locations will end up completing their work instead of slacking off. However, this might be hard to replicate since Nordic countries have their own unique culture.
According to the Eurobarometer (Survey, 2016), Finland’s trust in fellow citizens is significantly higher than anywhere else in Europe. This can be attributed by the system of the country – welfare model based on equality and financial security promoting confidence in institutions. This is something being built over the years and it is virtually impossible to create such a culture overnight.
Flexible work arrangements save costs and time
Next, a flexible work arrangement allows both employers and employees to save valuable costs (Kratz, 2016) and time. With flexible arrangements in place, the space required for workers will be much lower since employees might only have to come in on certain days. Dell expects to save approximately $12 million on office space expenses (Clark, 2019) as it starts to offer more flexible work arrangements. Different departments can come on different days such that the office will not be at full capacity at any point. Meetings can be conducted virtually without the need to be physically present.
Transport expense & time can be effectively save when you get flexible work condition
Moreover, the cost of electricity, water and food will be reduced as well since employees are working from home or in coffee houses. In addition, employees can save money on transport and fuel. The Global Workplace Analytics statistics show that organisations such as IBM and Sun Microsystems managed to cut real estate costs by about $50 million and $68 million a year respectively.
Flexible work contracts
With the rise of such arrangements, there has been a rise in just-in-time workers hired to perform tasks when necessary. This allows workers to take on more ad-hoc work when they feel like and also allow the employer to cut costs since they do not have to provide full-time employees with employee benefits, job security etc.
Yet, some of the disadvantages of this arrangement include a lack of job security for employees. There won’t always be ad-hoc work posted and during periods of time where there is no supply of such jobs, workers will not receive any income and will suffer.
Furthermore, given the seasonal shifts in employment, it might be better for employers of certain industries to focus on flexible arrangements since it allows them to match the revenue with the costs. During busy season, payroll increases and so does revenue. Likewise, during off-peak season, payroll decreases together with revenue decrease with the employee being paid less but given more time to engage in outside interests.
Negative impacts
Even though much has been said with regards to the benefits of flexible arrangements, there are definitely some negative consequences that come with this way of working.
Decreased social interaction
Firstly, there might be less room for social interaction even with the increased use of technology. Employees working from home will have less chance to form strong bonds with their colleagues. They only communicate with their colleagues when necessary instead of spending time on casual conversation.
Lack of social communication can lead to problems when working with your colleges
Consequently, employees will be more likely to feel lonely since they are unable to voice out their concerns or grouses to anyone and will more likely immerse themselves in negative emotions. This loneliness will result in poorer performance and decrease productivity amongst employees affecting the performance and hence revenue of the company.
Increasing stress amongst employees
Next, instead of reducing the amount of stress for employees, it might end up increasing the pressure on employees to perform. Research (Savage, 2019) has shown that such arrangements have increased the tendency for people working irregular hours to put in additional hours than those who work standard fixed hours.
This might be because of staff feeling the need to check emails and be constantly responsive even when spending time with families. Therefore, flexible work arrangements will not result in more quality time spent with children since as much as quantity is increased, the quality of care deteriorates.
Security risks thanks to flexible work arrangements
Finally, working from home might also result in security concerns. Some companies and industries require a high level of confidential information. Any potential leaks will lead to significant loss of the company’s reputation and its revenue. Furthermore, working from other places may result in more lapses as employees gain greater access to information independently.
Some companies, especially technology company can afraid of security risk allowing their employees work flexibly
In the Banking and Finance industry, information is vital and any leaks or oversight will generate a significant amount of loses. However, we can try to mitigate this issue by initiating protocols that can shore up any gaps in security including training on remote access security and frequent password updates (University, 2019). One example would be the ICICI Bank which implemented the facial recognition technology (Reporter, 2016), scanning the face of personnel to ensure that there is no intruder accessing the office system.
In conclusion, we definitely need to start creating new arrangements of work that more accurately fits the changing landscape of today. However, what works for one industry might not work for another industry. More research and trial and error needs to be done to ensure that the new arrangement is suited for both employers and employees. Together with the onslaught of new technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet Of Things (IOT), things will change swiftly and as employees and employers of the future, we would need to constantly adapt and reinvent to stay relevant.
Source:
- Openmind
- BBC
- Yle
- Helpguide
- Work Flexibility
Jobhopin Team