Flextime Policies Achieve Better Work Life Balance Management Essay

Flex conviction Policies Achieve Better take a leak spirit Balance Man mountment EssayThe change magnitude attention of cores relating to the execution of waxy time arrangements to support race-life par solelyelism reflects significant frugal and social changes at the individual and organizational level. Since 1950s, thither has been a significant change of the measuring stick cliping time (Bittman and Rice 2001 Blyton, 1994), resulting from the demand to increase flexibility with start undermining break factor.As a result of the blanket(a) operating hours, production linees have cognize a frequently wider range of bestowing hour arrangement, especially in the case of part-time and hourly turn overers.The changes in the profile of labor trade collect to the increase in female participation in the representforce, the elevate of single-p atomic number 18nt and dual-income families and the increased number of scaters in sandwich generation ,the process on expe nditure and debt levels, and the prospect of boundary-less lock organizations in the future pose particular questions about peoples true and future ability to satisfactorily mix their bunk and plaza-lives, the support system available to facilitate that integration, and more(prenominal)(prenominal) broadly, the role and cheer of naturalise and consumption in contemporary society (Ransome, 2005 and Schor, 1999). at that place is no one that fits for all solution to the issue of implementing conciliative time polity in the workplace. The case interpret demonstrates that discordent policies, practices, and strategies will be compulsory to address the issue of flex-time conflict. Furthermore, we will analyze the role of communication, monitoring, and information overlap to achieve optimal benefit from flextime. By using bendable work arrangements, employers give employees a sand of control and empowerment.This will lead to cut down cost from absenteeism, lower level of productivity, increased distort level, increased swage and replacement.IntroductionWe have seen the images of works adults, trying to rest period the burden of having a spouse, children, or elders to support, and work- cerebrate issues, usually coping with deadlines and increased work pressure, on the other. The balance is brittle, if they spend too much time at work, their family will bruise and vice versa.The role of work has changed, from zero-sum game to win-win interactions largely because of changing economic and social conditions (Harris Marmer, 1996). Win-win lines can be achieved by arranging work-schedules to meet work-family demands, qualification priorities, using employment- affectd resources, and having access to behavioral and emotional support from others especially employers (Friedman Greenhaus, 2000). unmatched of the biggest take exceptions for organizations has been how to respond to the economic and social changes that alter the works environments. In response, legion(predicate) work organizations atomic number 18 introducing a variety of innovative approaches to cope with the changes in working roles and structures. Once perceived as a matter of requirement and survival, work is now seen as a source of psycheal satisfaction. wholeness of the vehicles to attain balance and fulfill personal satisfaction is flexible-time arrangements. In the contiguous section we concentrate on how this fashionable destination has evolved and discuss hassles think to the implementation of the program. Key ConceptsResearch on work-life balance started in the mid-1960s ( Rapoport Rapoport, 1965 ) and actual from the focus on women and work-family conflict, to a more recent focus on all employees. However, the term work-life balance is a misnomer. The phrase indicates that work is recess from life, although work is increasingly dominating peoples lives. Furthermore, the word balance seems to imply that there is a trade-off amongst wo rk and life, yet they ar non necessarily mutually exclusive (Kanter, 1977).Parasuraman and Greenhaus introduced the term work-life integration to overcome the problem of work-life balance (1997). The idea is to integrate work and personal lives rather than comprehend them as two separate do of imports that rule out one a nonher, olibanum have to be balanced. However, one misunderstanding of the term integration is that it implies work and personal life must be integrated in the sense of merging each other, eliminating the hypothesis of integrating the two by designedly keeping these domains separate (Lewis Cooper, 1999). As a result, the word harmonization has been introduced to relate work and personal life domains in harmonious ways without notion out one another or merging these domains together (Gambles, Lewis, Rapoport, 2003). For light purpose, we will not delve into the issue of these terms and use the term work-life balance interchangeably with work-life harmoniza tion orwork-life integration.Ballard and Seib sometime(a) (2004) stated that flexibility pertains to the stop of rigidity in time structuring and task completion plans. Flexibility is categorize into flex-time, job sharing/part-time work, and telecommuting(Hall Richter, 1988 Sullivan Lewis, 2001). Flex-time is a simplified term that describes flexibility in work schedules and hours. Employees can manage their work eld within core-hours the hours which employees must present at work, usually between 1000-1400- and a bandwidth the earliest and latest starting and finishing times make around core-hours to which they can choose to go down (Christensen Staines, 1990). There is no comprehensive definition of cadence work days due to unalike legislations crossways countries.however, we assume that it is defined by 40-hour and five-day working week.The Current Flextime Trend in CanadaFlex-time programs ar common in Canada and the trend reflects employers belief on that flex-t ime implementation results in better melodic line feats. According to Statistics Canadas 2003 Workplace and Employee Survey (WES), which sampled 20,834 employees from 6,565 workplaces, some 57% of all working Canadians are already using flex-time programs, including sloshed workweek and flexible work schedule. In the study, Flexibility Whose Choice Is It anyhow? conducted by Cooke and Mann, they analyzed the WES data and discovered that flex time programs are implemented to improve business performances and minimize cost rather than to hang employees with their work-life balance.The Demographic ChangeThe sandwich generation and workaholics are the two main groups of employees that are experiencing low satisfaction due to their poor work-life balance. According to Statistic Canadas global Social Survey (GSS), the sandwich generation population has increased from 670,000 in 2002 to about 2.7 million Canadians in 2007 (General Social Survey Cycle 21, 2007). In 2002, it was estim ated that approximately 27% of people age 45 and above are struggling to support some(prenominal) their children under 25 years old and their aging parents while working a full-time job (Williams, 2005). In fact, the latest GSS published in 2008 indicates a steady increase of sandwiched deal outgivers due to the late marriage trend, currently tyke boomer generation are sandwiched in between family and work.In addition to that, the increasing population of females in the workforce today in like manner constitute to the proportion of the sandwich generation. There is an 11.6 % increase of all working women from 1976 to 2006 ( skirt 1). Increased education, desire for personal fulfillment, increased consumption, the high cost of nutrition, and the high rate of divorce has contributed the growth in women participation in the workforce. In fact, according to the Statistics Canadas data collected in 2006, 73% of all women with children are part of the workforce (Almey, 2006). This in dicates that families with children are more likely to have dual income from both the wife and the husband, leaving lesser time for individuals to take care of the family. 2005 GSS excessively collected data display that there are 31% working Canadians aging 19 to 64 who think they are workaholics. Comparing to the non-workaholics, the majority of workaholics are unsatisfied with their current work-life balance. The large proportion of working Canadians who are unhappy with their work-life balance indicates the possibility that flextime can be a feasible solution to booster with their stress in time focusing.Society in any case witnesses the increasing number of throwing stick generation. Boomerang generation or boomerang kids are young adults age 20 and above that have returned from independence to live together with their parents. The growth of the boomerang generation is partly due to the economic condition and also to the multicultural family structure of Canada. According to Statistic Canada, 73% of Asian-Canadian families have adult children living with their parents whereas only 26% of Canadian born parents are allowing their adult children to live with them (Turcotte, 2006). Nevertheless, the boomerang generation relies partially on their parents in order to lighten the cost of owning and renting a house which swear outs maintain their desired lifestyle. overdue to the emergence of the boomerang generation the burden has doubled for the aging baby boomers who have to continue working in order to take care of their adult children and the elders in the family (Canada Year Book Society and community, 2008).The Caregivers Wish itemizationIn order to assist with the growing number of employees with work-life balance concern, Statistic Canadas 2007 GSS take into accounts farther data which include 712,000 caregiver aged between 45 and 64 and explore their major concerns with their work and personal life. According to the statistics, 70% of sandwic hed employees remember if the company provides more support and flex time programs, their work performance will improve (General Social Survey Cycle 21, 2007).The following statistic is from Cara Williamss article, The sandwich generation, which shows the significant cost for sandwiched employees when they do not have access to resources that help them balance their work and personal life (2005).15 % deoxidized their work hours 20 % changed their schedules 10 % disoriented income 70 % are stressed out turn off 2 (refer to the Appendices ), The Caregivers Wish list, is a comparison of the deals from sandwiched employees to employees with elder care needs. The highlighted percentage of sandwiched employees shows that the top two wishes for both sandwiched employees and employees with elder-care responsibility are some form of workplace support such as flexible schedule and elder care to help accommodate their overwhelming responsibilities (Williams, 2005). Overall, both statistic and employee assess suggest that flexibility is a major attribute that authorisation employees consider in a company.Flextime PoliciesThe acceptance of flexible time policies differ widely by the level of public preparation and glossiness of the organization. round researchers argue that laissez-faire market stimulates employees concern of work-life programs, whereas others argue that public provision creates a climate which employers become active in pursuing this entitlement (Lewis, 1997). hideout Dulk (2001) merely reinstates that active government provision does not translate into the disappearance of the motivation for employers to implement work-life programs. Poelmans and Sahibzada (2004) summarize all factors that may go the ad selection decision. They argue that the probability of an organization to address work-life conflict is a give way of the macro-level context of use in which the organization runs the business. The country level context is related to empl oyees sense of entitlement to receive support from their employers, whereas the labor market context affects employees survival of the fittest and negotiation power over organizations work-life policies, thus increasing the pressure on firms to implement them (Poelmans Sahibzada, 2004). The complete factors that influence organizations adoption decision is presented in Table 3 (refer to the Appendices ).Organizations need to decide the flexible work arrangements that suit their business model and the needs of the workforce. Business model that requires employees to meet fluctuating demands from clients foreign work hours may implement flexible work arrangements. In fact, flextime is class-conscious more favorably than reduced-time schedules because many (full-time) employees with family responsibilities cannot afford to work less than standard full-time schedule (Rodgers, 1992).BenefitsEmployees that benefit from flex-time include working parents, especially working mothers, who want to be involved in their childrens lives while having the balance of having a family and a career at the same time. At Bristol Myers Squibb, 72% of those who worked flexible hours in 2003 were female (Poelmans Beham, 2005). Flextime options are excellent recruiting and retention tools. An article in the Long Island Business News interviewed many executives and shew that they agree that enthronisation in such programs shows that the company cares about their employees well-being and increases the companys attractiveness to exceedingly skilled people who might not be ready to go back into the workplace on a full-time basis or just need flexible schedules (Starzee, 2009). In a survey by Careerbuilding.com in 2008, 54% of 7600 workers felt that companies offer flexible work arrangements to help manage stress levels and work life balance. 90% of American employees also feel that they are more value by their companies if accustomed the option of flexible schedules (Sweeney, 200 3).Benefits offered depend on the type of job, industry or the employees.. With the proper(a) employees and good implementation on the part of management, cost of flex-time policies should be much less than replacement costs, which includes recruitment, hiring, training, and orientation. Even for an entry level position, replacement costs can exceed $10,000, not including lost time, energy and effort of management (Bednar, 2010).Using this strategy, companies can keep their top talent happy and reduce turnover. When the same employees stay with the company for a long time, they can provide better service for clients due to increased experience. Absenteeism is also likely to decrease since employees are more motivated to work when they feel they are valued by the company by giving them options to help them juggle their home and work demands. Table 4 in the Appendices lists the possible favours of flexible work arrangements.CostsThere are also costs to implementing flex-time policie s. First of all, it is not one size fits all. Most employers identified through years of experience that many employees might not have the same motivation to work hard and get work done by staying late if they were given the option of coming in after the official start time (Bednar, 2010). Therefore, monitoring is essential to ensure that employees are not taking advantage of the policy. In order to properly and effectively implement a flex-time policy, employers need to introduce a series of impudently rules and procedures to manage the flexible workers and culture change, such as stricter punctuality and related provisions to ensure the equal, or even higher level of productivity. It is a burden and a luck for management. They are also required to monitor the performance of flexible employees with different measures to reduce scheme risks and achieve work goals.Secondly, starting such programs requires a great amount of communication to the employees about the availability and de tails (Bitti, 2008). unheeding of the results, management must spend time and effort in the assay to make flex-time work. Productivity could decrease, service level might be displace and lead to customer dissatisfaction, and employee dissatisfaction might also arise if they believe the arrangements were unfair.Flex-time is not always supported by all employees, even though it is more often than not considered as a benefit for employees. In 2008, a Deloittes survey of more than 1600 workers showed that 39% respondents agreed that taking advantage of formal flexible work policies including flex-time would harm their career. Based on the survey, employees are more comfortable with sexual policies, such as taking time off for personal activities, if leading are more open about their own needs and practices (CFO, 2008).To further complicate the matter, flex-time was seen as both alleviating and generating stress and was generally seen to have a negative impact on opportunities for learning and advancement (Kelliher Anderson, 2008). Some businesses cannot adjust their employees work schedules, because such a change would not fit their business (Wensley, 2008). A client may call in looking for something immediately, and the person with the flexible schedule is absent (Starzee, 2009). These potential negative effects may lead managers to be more conservative about implementing flex-time options.Despite all costs associated with the implementation of flex-time policies, employers that provide greater flexibility have been found to be related with higher perceived organizational performance (Perry-Smith Blum, 2000) resulted in increased shareholder return (Arthur, 2003). In addition, flextime policies create a golden view of the organization, thereby suggesting that the organization is more attractive to job seekers (Casper Buffardi, 2004). In fact, many of the industry leaders listed in the Best 100 Companies to Work For in Fortune Magazine provide excellent flextime policies that better integrate work-family life of their employees.Case Study Kraft Foods, Inc.Kraft began to support work-life balance programs after a national employee survey in 2000 showed that the major challenge for most Kraft employees was finding balance between home and work-life. The survey also indicated that Kraft hourly workers that account for 59% of Kraft employees were the least satisfied with their work-life balance among all the employee groups. To overcome the problem, Kraft introduced the steadfast Adapts program. Initiated in December 2002, quick Adapts allows workers to swap shifts, take single day vacations, and call for job sharing arrangement from their supervisor. Fast Adapts program was published in the company newsletters and broadcasted on the video monitors. The program was also communicated in the first-string plant-wide meetings. The flexible arrangement enables employees who are out on leave because of extended illness, family issues, or taking vacations to switch shifts with other employees. All hourly workers are eligible to use Fast Adapts program, given that the arrangements are aligned with work process, plant policy, or union contract. If not, employees are encouraged to discuss their situation with Human Resource managers to find alternative work solutions. To evaluate the metier of this program, information about employee satisfaction was collected in the first trace of 2003. The biannual survey showed improvement in hourly employees satisfaction with work-life balance. coatingThe repetitive nature and inflexible schedule of the job in Krafts working site contributed to the decreased level of work-life balance satisfaction among hourly employees. Krafts Fast Adapts program has been successful for some reasons. Employees receive more autonomy over their work schedule, thus they are able to better integrate work-life demands. botany managers also need to be more accountable, as they have to wax flexible w ork arrangements that work best for each individual plant. Fast Adapts program also encourages employees to communicate their needs to employers. The other key issue is to understand that flexibility should be an ongoing and mutual commitment between Kraft and its employees, win-win situation can only be achieved if both sides work toward Krafts vision of a supportive culture.AppendicesTable 1 utilize Women by age group in percentage197619861996All women41.950.252.115 to 2451.458.152.025 to 4450.066.470.945 to 5445.655.966.355 to 6430.330.333.5 initiation Statistics Canada. (2006). Women in Canada Work Chapter Updates. (Catalogue no. 89F0133XWE). Retrieved April 2, 2010 from Statistics Canada http//www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89f0133x/89f0133x2006000-eng.htmTable 2 The Caregivers WishlistEmployed (%)SandwichedRespite Care52Flexible work or study arrangements46Information on long-term disabilities43Information on care giving42Financial compensation / tax breaks36Counselling28Other12Source Williams, C. (2005). The sandwich generation. Perspectives on Labour and Income.(Catalogue number 75-001-XIE). Retrieved March 27, 2010, from Statistics Canadawww.statcan.ca8096/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=75-001-X20041097033.Table 3 Macro-context factors that influence adoption decisionCountry LevelExtensive government-supported policies, as in social democratic countriesEgalitarian gender-role ideologyLow in malenessLow in power distanceCountries high in laissez faireLabor MarketScarcity of talent or skillsHigh spreading of work-family benefitsHigh percentage of women in the active populationHigh trust on knowledge workHigh reliance on prime(a) of customer serviceSource Poelmans, S. Sahibzada, K. (2004). A multi-level model for studying the context and impact of work-family policies and culture in organizations. Human Resource Management Review, 14. 409-431.Table 4 Advantages of flextime policiesBenefits for employersCost savings because of increased retention of valuable emplo yees amend morale, employee satisfaction, productivity and employee commitment because of better integration of work and family lives.Better programing for the departmentA public relation tool to attract new employeesSavings in office space and equipmentLess time lost in traffic jam can be invested at work, also improved parking optionsGovernment incentives to encourage flexible employment fuelled by concerns about traffic, air quality, etcSource Poelmans, S. Sahibzada, K. (2004). A multi-level model for studying the context and impact of work-family policies and culture in organizations. Human Resource Management Review, 14. 409-431 various.