Flexible Work Arrangements

Flexible work arrangements

Employers in today’s labour market are becoming increasingly more concerned with attracting and retaining the best employees possible. Research show that the availability of flexible work arrangements is a huge influence when people choose where to work and whether to stay in the organisation (Richman, Civian, Shannon, Hill, & Brennan, 2008). In the recent years research conducted on flexible work practices has shown that it not always produce the expected benefits sought after. This essay will examine some evidence for and against the use of flexible work arrangements. It will then give advice on how organisations can improve the effectiveness of such programs.

Lambert, Marler, & Gueutal ( 2008) define flexible work arrangements as “employer provided benefits that permits employees some level of control over when and where they work outside the standard workday” (p. 107). Organisations can offer a wide variety of flexible work practises and often the employee and employer discuss which arrangement to use on a case-by-case basis (Almer, Cohen, & Single, 2003). Many different flexible work arrangements is available but the most common are flex leave (Allard, Haas, & Hwang, 2007), flexitime, compressed work schedules (Baltes, Briggs, Huff, Wright, & Neuman, 1999), telecommuting (Hill, Hawkins, & Miller, 1996), part-time work and job sharing (Russel, O'Connel, & McGinnity, 2009). All these schemes give more time to attend off work activities. Therefore some benefits are expected.

Organisations use flexible work practises as a component of their family-friendly policies (Olson-Buchanan & Boswell, 2006). Previous research indicates that the availability of flexible work arrangements helps maintain better work life balance (Allard et al, 2007). Three dimension of work life balance is suggested from research on the subject, work interference with personal life, personal life interference with work and...