Performance Management For Deconstructing Flexibility

From the perspective of the employee

Discuss about the Performance Management for Deconstructing Flexibility.

With the increasing years, a variety of new options have been introduced in the workplace cultures in order to make the employees comfortable in their workplace. One of them that have been found to be the most successful trend is the work flexibility that is believed to be raging trend in the coming generations. Flexibility in workplace is the new trend that is adopted by a large number of organizations both on a global and the national level that has helped to change the workplace environment for the better (Bloom et al., 2014). This is said so because this trend has allowed a large number of organizations to achieve the best productivity from the workforce. This is because it has been suggested by reports that both the employers and the employees have got scope to maintain a work- family balance that have helped them to overcome different types of physical and mental stress (Kossek et al., 2014).

This report will contain how work flexibility is perceived by the three important components of job sector like the employees, HR management and the leaders. This essay will also contain the positive effects that the recent trade will have on the three components along with the company’s productivity and will also portray how each of them will adapt to the changes required to implement the new trend of the future in the workplace.

Reports have suggested that employees who experience work life flexibility have been more successful in managing stress. Work life flexibility also plays a very good role in reducing different stresses that the individual often face at different stages of working with the organization (Carlson et al., 2014). Employees getting such opportunity will be more satisfied with their lives. They will be effective in managing a perfect balance between the work and family and therefore will be contented with his life. Comparisons show that employees who have a high work life fit perform much well and fare much better than those employees who have moderate or low work life fit. They are also found to be more engaged in their work and dedicate themselves to the company’s objective to achieve its mission. They are also found to less likely to search for new jobs in the coming years as they remain satisfied with their performance and experience no agitation and grudges against the organization (Kelly et al., 2014). They experience a sense of discretion to fit job related responsibilities into their personal and social lives and therefore these results in situations where they face less or no burnout at all. Surveys conducted in big companies of pharmaceutical, financial, manufacturing, professional and technical services proved that lesser burnout related with their work flexibilities and therefore contributed to less stress (Allen, Cho & Meyer, 2014). Surveys in multinational countries have shown that companies who have adapted the trend had employees who were reported to have better health not only in physical domain but also experiences less strain and stress (Fiksenbaum, 2014).

Spillover process

Another important term that also needs to be discussed in this context is the Spillover process. By the term spillover one specifically means the the attitudes and the behavior that is carried by an individual when he tries to transit one role at the workplace to another role in the family. Spillovers are mainly accounted on the context of positive spillover that results in the work and life enhancement. Another is the negative spillover which mainly results in the work family enhancement in the work culture. Both of the spillovers are found to exist in a company. Negative spillover mainly results from the work types that demands long hours of working at the office and also relates with psychological stress that is carried to home. This automaticity resulted in the destruction of quality time with the family and cause family conflicts. Positive spillover also exists for employees who perform in organizations providing family financial security and also opportunities for personal development which leads to a better family member. Different trials and experiments have been conducted which have shown that employees who spend greater time at work and experiences job stress or job involvement experience increased negative spillover. They tend to experience situation where they tend to involve more work interference with their family rather than undertaking more family interference with their work (Voydanoff, 2014). Therefore it has been shown that employees who experience work schedule flexibility are tend to carry less spillover of work stress to their home. They become successful enough to balance the different roles on their dual domain and hence negative spillover gets reduced. Properly scheduling the time of work by the individual depending up in their own capability of giving the best productivity at the particular time of the day help them to reduce spillover of work to home (Lewis, 2014). Organization should therefore give the individual an option of the shifts when he can perform his best giving the maximum output in the shortest time that will help to reduce negative spillover rate.

Work family balance is an important criterion that is often seen to have a very negative impact on the life of the individuals if not handled with expertise. Researchers have stated that work flexibility especially in scheduling the shifts have often helped to act as a very good tool for such issue (Moen et al., 2016). Not only the job features and the workplace demands and objectives have a propounding impact on the life of the patients but also employee’s family situation can modify the performance of the employee and his attitude towards work. Hence organizations have come up with the trends of varieties of flexible work arrangements which will help the employees to achieve maximum balance on work and family life (Allen et al., 2013). Schedule flexibility provided the employees to minimize work family conflict that in turn promotes work family- environment and enriches the bond. It also helps in improving functioning and performance at workplace or also in home. Both work demands and family demands can be handled effectively by the individual keeping not only work and family but him happy as well (Kossek, Thompson & Lautsch, 2015).

HR Management

HR managers always play a very big role in maintaining the work flexibility of the employees. Managing the shifts, wishes and demands of the employees are to be handled efficiently to avoid confusion, commotion and discrepancies in the work place. This when maintained and governed properly, the company may expect high productivity and little loss and at the same time can maintain a happy workforce who wants to dedicate themselves to the organization’s needs (Perlow and Kelly, 2014). There are two important domains that the HE management should be concerned with and take extensive care to meet the needs and detail their procedures according to them.

The first domains where they need to look over are those employees opting for are the flexible work hours and flexible timing. The HR should have to document each and every flexibility that the employee is opting for and keep a thorough record of it. The HR also needs to manage that whether the employee is undertaking any sort of discrepancies. Flexibility can be found in timings of shifts like working 10 am to 6 pm instead of the usual shift of 8 am to 4 pm. This is called staggered hours and the HR should have thorough information about the names and the number of employees attending the different shifts and keep a record of it to maintain clarity (Galea, Houkes and De Rik, 2014). The HR can also initiate compressed workweek systems like working 10 hours for four days instead of working 8 hours for 5 days. Al these should be done by a strict monitoring so that the employees cannot take excessive benefit from the flexibility by undertaking dishonest approach. It should be e-documented so that the information can be shared and checked by all the hr executives of the firm so everybody has a clear view of the flexibilities adapted by each employee. Part time work shifts an home based working flexibilities are also be Recorded. Some of the benefits that the HR can manage to provide to the employees is the avoidance of rush hour commutes having more control over the time off strategy. They can also provide the employees with the opportunity to schedule work during quiet times to accomplish more giving higher profit margin. When the HR management will recruit staffs they need to keep on mind that enrolling the most efficient staffs is very much necessary for the benefit of the organization and no such employee can be afforded to be lost (Winefield, 2014). Hence the HR should negotiate with the aspirants of the jobs in such a way that the employees get satisfied by the added benefit of flexibility. It provides a poor impression on the employees and they tend to start a relation with the organization on a very good note. Therefore two of the tools that the management should use is keeping track of the hours work and introducing clear policies about the rules and the hours of work and how it should be maintained (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014).

They can also provide flexible working locations if they have their sector located in different cities and towns. This would help the employees to travel a shorter distance to and from work. This would save time and financial flow of conveyance. The employee can have quality time with family as they do not have to shift to other cities and can work in their own cities. Not only the employees will be satisfied, they would also not seek for newer jobs. Besides the employees, the employers will also be happy as they well need to maintain a smaller office with smaller space and less financial flow for maintenance. There will be les absenteeism and fewer distractions among employees and therefore productivity will be high. The different steps that the HR needs to follow is maintain a high level of contact that will help to encourage a two way flow communication that will be established between the management and distance worker and also between them and the colleagues (Putnam, Myers & Gailliard). The Hr requires combination of face to face communication, the telephone and also email. Face to face would help the HR management to handle the team building, performance management and introducing changes. They need to be super organized and plan well because in cases of employees, there is a tradition that out of sight meaning out of mind and therefore the HR should be aware enough to take care of the off-site work. Effective team building between onsite and offsite team building is a difficult task but must be pulled out well. They may be also run a pilot study to see the responses of workers and thereby take decisions on it.

Often employers and leaders try to implement various ways by which they can try to establish a strong bond between the organization’s objectives and employee’s dedication to achieve the goals for the organization. These are mainly done by the employers and the leaders of the organization to improve the work life balance for the workers in the organization. Working flexibility, when introduced by the leaders or the employers of the organization have found to provide some of the best results. This trend has been seen to reduce burnout among the employees, improve employee retention, improve the health of the employees, and reduce the occurrences and the frequency of the absenteeism. Not only, it has also seen to increase productivity and therefore special attention is given to work Flexibility as most of the organization has come forward with various plans. Different employers are providing different types of opportunities to their employees so that they become flexible in their work and can provide the best result to the company (Ramsdal, 2016).

In order to provide work flexibility, the leader gives a number of opportunities to the employee. This helps them to give their best to the company as their own problem gets addressed and solved by the company. One of the best opportunities provided by the company is allowing the individual to work from home. In many cases, the individuals are unable to come to office due to sudden necessities or urgencies. In that case the person gets absent and his productivity of the day gets reduced. Therefore many leaders allow work from home for those individuals as they believe that working from home would help in maintaining the daily productivity targets and reach their effective goal. Another opportunity that the employer can provide to the workers is setting the focus on the productivity rather than the hours worked (Perlow & Kelly, 2014). In many cases it has been observed that there are many workers who are efficient enough to complete their assigned task within the work time allotted and does not always require the 8 hours segment to complete it hence in this cases, flexibility should be provided. The workers should not be withheld until the completion of 8 years if they had completed their task giving the best productivity. This also helps the workers to balance their life where they can have time for themselves and provide time for their family. Workplace flexibility is also believed to be increased by providing breaks in a work day. Giving seldom breaks in the working schedule of the individual will help the individual to a great degree (Brescoll, Glass & Sedlovskaya, 2013). This is said so because frequent breaks in office help the individual to relax himself within the time interval and release out the stress. Often mini games are often introduced by the leaders to make them excited and restart their task once again with the same zeal in a fresh mind. This idea is believed to increase productivity levels and also reduces the work timings. Not only have this many of the employers come out with different types of working schedules so that they can offer the employees a number of benefits in selecting their shifts. Among them, many leaders have seen to provide an opportunity where the employees can work for about four days a week for long hours according to his feasibility to met the company’s’ demands and then take long 3 days off. The continuous stretch of holidays indeed becomes important for many workers to enjoy quality tome with families and friends and go on a small trip. Moreover providing him shifts according to the requirement of the individual when he has other personal or social commitments to attend to in the other shift, prevents the individual from dropping a leave or being absent (Hatton, 2014). Rather, his attending of any particular shifts out of the varieties of shifts available would not harm any of the stakeholders. Rather it would help him to reach his target and complete his work and Increase Company’s profit.

Conclusions:

Thereby from the above discussions, one might have an idea that how the recent trend of work flexibility has been loved by the current culture of working individuals. It had given them scope of managing a lifestyle worth living for. They have been able to keep their family happy and satisfied which had in turn helped them to be contented them. On the work front also, he has no carried spillover of family pressure to work place which make him to dedicate a full hundred percent in his assigned task. Therefore not only the employee, but also the employer gets impressed over his performance due to his increased productivity. Therefore as he can manage his work effectively within the flexible work shifts or work locations, there is no spillover of work in home and therefore a perfect balance gets achieved. A person who is socially, personally and economically very happy can live the best stable life reaching ne w horizons of success in his years.

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