How the Flexible Working Arrangements Will Benefit to Your Business?

 

How the Flexible Working Arrangements Will Benefit to Your Business?

 

Many areas of human resource management, including employee recruiting and retention techniques, have been affected by recent shifts in demographic, cultural, economic, and legal situations (Scullion and Collings, 2012). The need for work-life balance, which is now considered a basic requirement by an increasingly educated workforce, has fueled the demand for flexible working practices.

While monetary elements such as salary, bonus, and allowance remain significant, non-monetary advantages such as flexible working hours are increasingly being employed to manage employee turnover (Oczkowski and Smith, 2011). More importantly, some academics suggest that monetary rewards are not long-term motivators of job commitment since social value shifts have resulted in a higher concern for work-life balance among the younger generations (Pirannejad and Kozekanan, 2010). As a result, top companies like Nestle and Vodafone are aggressively introducing flexible working to assist their companies compete for the best personnel. (Bruhn, 2010)

Flexible working arrangements, as we all know, provide numerous advantages to employees, including improved work/life balance, enhanced job satisfaction, increased autonomy, increased energy, creativity, motivation, and morale. Flexible working allows employees more ownership and control over their time and working hours, allowing them to balance their personal and professional obligations.

Employees who are struggling to juggle their hectic lifestyles may experience less stress and anxiety as a result of this. There was little awareness or interest in investigating the underlying benefits of flexible work arrangements and how they may be leveraged to achieve corporate goals and objectives.

Many firms were content to stay on the fence, unsure whether this "new craze" would catch on, while employees embraced flexible work arrangements and actively sought out employers that could provide them with a better work/life balance. Flexible working is clearly not a fad; it is a trend that is set to continue, with several counties now enacting legislation to support it.

If you're still on the fence, now is the time to jump off and join the party. It can make a significant impact to your business and, as a result, your bottom line if used as part of your overall business strategy.

In this article, I'll look at how flexible working arrangements can be deliberately utilized to benefit your company. I'll discuss the various sorts of flexible working arrangements available today, as well as the benefits they can provide to a business, such as higher retention rates, lower expenses, and increased productivity. Examine firms that have embraced flexible working arrangements and how this change has benefited their bottom line.

The Rise of Flexible Working 

Because of advancements in communications and information technology, we have witnessed a great increase in the usage of flexible working in recent years. Employees are not required to work in their offices every day of the week. People can now regularly work from home while maintaining contact with the office. 

Furthermore, there is a growing desire for flexible working, with employees wanting time and space freedom. They prefer not to work set hours and instead prefer to select when they work. Flexible working is increasingly the rule rather than the exception for many young workers. Organizations' need for flexible working has risen at the same time. Flexible working is in demand as businesses try to meet the needs of their customers around the clock. The recession has changed the structure of employment dramatically, lowering the number of full-time jobs and forcing many businesses to rely on part-time and temporary workers with flexible schedules.

 

Benefits of Flexible Working Arrangements 

 

Benefits to the Business

 • Improves employee recruitment and retention.

• Increases employee motivation by giving them more power.

• Allows employees to better balance work and personal duties, reducing stress, weariness, and lack of focus.

• Improves staff morale and satisfaction.

• Support for personal work style choices increases commitment and productivity.

• Absences and tardiness are reduced.

• Improves the department's coverage and scheduling.

• Increases the number of transit and parking alternatives.

• Time to work on creative, repetitive, or highly detailed tasks without interruption.

• Improved customer service, including the possibility to extend hours and days.

• Improves employee health and well-being.

• A positive company culture is beneficial to the organization's public image.

 

Financial benefits 

 • Aids in employee retention by lowering training costs and costs associated with new employee onboarding.

• Lowers costs - in some cases, doubling up on facilities, such as desk sharing, may be possible.

• Enables companies to prolong service hours, decreasing overtime requirements.

• Working hours can be adjusted to the business's peaks and troughs to increase productivity and reduce costs.

• Low-cost implementation and automated solutions yield a speedy return on investment.

• Lowers the expense of absenteeism, sick absence, and tardiness.

• Employee turnover and recruitment costs are reduced.

• More office space options and lower real estate prices are possible.

• Improves peak-period scheduling and lowers expenses by aligning schedules with business demand.

The Future is Flexible Working 

 

Organizations must become more flexible in order to remain competitive and respond to rapid changes in demand, adapt to new technology, and continuously innovate. To attract and retain top talent, companies must be able to respond to employees' requests for non-full-time and/or flexible work schedules that fit their lifestyles and allow them to combine work and family life.

 “ Millennials view work as a thing, rather than a place. So, companies will need to free themselves from the traditional nine to five mentality if they want to attract and retain this generation of workers. The Millennial generation will make up 50% of the workforce by 2020 so it is vital employers understand what motivates them. Many companies will have to completely re-think how they attract and reward their workers, or risking losing the best talent to companies which adapt to meet their needs in near future. “

 

References

Abid, S.& Barech, D. K. (2017). The Impact of Flexible Working Hours On The Employees Performance. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 5(7), 450-466.

ACAS.(2015). Flexible working and work-life balance.

Allen, R.S., Dawson, G., Wheatley, K. & White, C.S. (2007). Perceived diversity and organizational performance. Employee Relations, 30(1), 20-33.

Atkinson, C. & Hall, L. (2011). Flexible working and happiness in the NHS.  Employee Relations, 33(2), 88-105.

Clarke, L., van der Meer, M., Bingham, C., Michielsens, E. and Miller, S. (2009). Enabling and disabling: disability in the British and Dutch construction sectors. Construction Management and Economics, 27(6), 555-566.

Costa, C. and S. Sartori. (2005). Flexible Work Hours, Ageing and Well-being. International Congress Series 1280, 23–28.