The Importance Of Work-Life Balance And Flexibility In Managing Dynamic Organizations

The Impact of Flexibility in Workplaces

Question:

Discuss the roles of work-life balance and flexibility in arrangements of work to manage dynamic organizations.
 

The purpose of the assignment is to discuss the roles of work-life balance and flexibility in arrangements of work to manage dynamic organizations. According to Juliet Bourke, a partner at Aequus Partners, flexibility in the work place is having more output with a few employees instead of the original paradigm and that makes her think about the ill effects for the present strategy of flexibility at the work place. Until and unless there are efficiency in the business models and redesigning of the job roles to follow a program which will stay long in the enterprises, the firm’s strategy could backfire while seeking to gain more output with less input. Next the various implications occurred due to excessive working hours on employees and manager’s performance are discussed. According to many researches, workers tend to sleep less, giving less time to the family and other responsibilities related to personal lives. These various aspects have negative effect on the human body like fatigue, harsh behavior, burnout, turbulence and sick which leads to average performance at the work place. The last is the discussion on how the employers could make it easy for the employees to maintain a work-life balance in case of an economic downturn. To make the employees enthusiastic about their work, the management should describe the benefits of the flexibility of the working hours.  Due to higher work pressure, grievances and discomfort are bound to occur. So there should be a transparent and effective communication across both the horizontal as well as vertical levels in the organization. 

In this essay the main purpose is to have an insight about the principles of human resource management mainly the work-life balance, having flexible timings at the workplace and managing them in a diversified and dynamic environment.

Few years ago there was a cut throat competition for talent acquisition. Presently the employers are willing to diminish the old type of talent acquisition in some private sectors. Now there is a shift in the pattern by the employers to manage their employees. Recently more focus have been given to reduce the working hours in a week, part-time jobs and various types of work arrangements to suit the employers as well as the employees with flexible timings at the work place so that there is low attrition rate. Some top management are now reducing the employees inevitably as it helps the firm to plan their roles in a new way and there will be an upgraded version of job design. This helps to have flexible work timings for the employees that they could maintain their professional and personal life (Kossek & Thompson, 2016). 

Juliet Bourke, who is a partner at Aequus Partners, doesn’t agree fully where the new style of flexibility is moving. The flexibility at the work place helps in reducing the overhead costs and improves productivity of the workers but she is deeply concerned that the flexibility in the work place has taken a huge shift but not for the best intentions. According to Juliet, according to the present scenario, flexibility in the work place is having more output with a few employees instead of the original paradigm and that makes her think about the ill effects for the present strategy of flexibility at the work place. The statics were provided to her during a website launch indicates that various firms to bring various flexible ways for the betterment of the workers. The management can also get a glimpse about the crisis in economy by utilizing the flexible work timings in unproductive ways. The employers may reduce the worker’s office hours when the work load is less but can also put pressure on the employees when the work load is very high where the workers have to work for longer hours to achieve the targets. Here we can see that flexibility in the work place is always not a win-win situation in every case for employees as well as the employers.

Implications of Excessive Working Hours on Employee Performance

The only benefit that has received votes from all the sectors both vertically as well as horizontally in the firms is to have a work and life balance is flexible approach. In few enterprises, to accommodate new systems, the firms must have some sustainable solutions for redesigning the job role and the flexible work timings. Some situations may arise where the client’s demands are less so employees work hours could be reduced through flexibility approach so that they could balance both the professional as well as personal life (Gangwisch, 2014).  There should be some seminars and training programs regarding employee flexibility and assistance for the employees which would help to have a strong diversified, adaptable workforce who can cope with the business trends. Leave as well as flexible work timings could be voluntarily discussed with the employers so that there will be no redundancies and salaries and wages will be paid according to the different work hours (Richmond & Rohlfing, 2013). But in some firms redundancies can’t be avoided whether there is existence of work life culture or not. And in some organizations where the management has found the benefits of work life balance the senior management would find alternative working style for cost reduction and minimizing redundancies. The managers have a fair idea that to have a profitable business they need engaged and dedicated workforce. An organizational culture always delivers highest level of engagement among the employees if the firm has a transparent human resource policy for maintaining balance in professional and personal life. Flexibility is the effectiveness and means of efficient style of working for each and every employee whether they are full-time or part-time employees (Holland & Martin, 2015). During attrition, redeployment and flexibility most reductions took place whenever there is a situation of downturn and the workers need to relocate in these types of situations. In future perspective, when there is a positive sign in the economy there could be again a demand in talent acquisition. The workers should have a sense of responsibility. This sense is valuable when there is a downturn they have to work for longer hours to meet the targets (Daskin et al 2015).

But in some situations it can have a strong impact on employee engagement which is crucial when the employees are taking voluntary leave and working hours which could in turn hamper productivity. If the workers are not happy with the work culture then the outcome will be poor. So even for a short term, the urge to receive more output with few employees is not always a healthy option. As the firms are looking for more profits by increase the sales volume and cutting the cost options there is an expectation from the workers to get the work done and show fruitful results. This happens mainly in large multinational firms having offices in every region. As firms began to harness technology like use of teleconferencing to cut down the travel costs which is vital for the employees. They need to be present at the workplace to receive more calls when they are dealing with clients situated in different countries. Until and unless there are efficiency in the business models and redesigning of the job roles to follow a program which will stay long in the enterprises, the firm’s strategy could backfire while seeking to gain more output with less input.It is a proven fact that the high performing employees are the backbone of the organizations and helps the company to scale new heights. However, it should be kept in mind that there is a very thin line between the extended aim and work burnout in case of talented employees. There are advantages as well as disadvantages but with proper leadership it could lead to a robust and productive workforce where there is a sustainable balance in professional and personal lives.

Maintaining Work-Life Balance in Economic Downturns

There are a various implications of excessive working hours on the performance of the employees and managers. Various workers have to do their jobs in various ways to complete their tasks assigned by the company. Depending on various requirements, working excessively for long hours is divided into different categories like extension of hours every day apart from the normal working hours, working overtime, extension of commute timings and extension or overtime of hours. Frankly speaking, there is no positive impact on the performance of the employees as well as their families, the employer and also the communities (Greenhaus et al., 2012). According to many researches, working for long hours lead to many risk factors which includes job satisfaction, mindset of the employees, performance of the workers, different responsibilities not related to work, fatigue and breaking up of relationships in the social life (Booth, 2015).  Workers tend to sleep less and afford less passing time for their family and other responsibilities related to personal lives. These various aspects have negative influenced human emotions like harsh behavior, fatigue, burnout, turbulence and sick, which leads to average performance at the work place (Wheatley, 2012). Poor performance affects the employer in a negative way which leads to increase in production cost. The community gets affected from the workers who have a negative mindset through their poor thinking, the people living around him and also the environment gets affected by occurrence of stupid errors unintentionally, vehicle accidents and industrial accidents. Extension of the work hours for those employees who work for continuously bound to be less attentive at times (Fenech, 2014). While sitting at the work place constantly for long hours and high usage of cell phones lead to stress and the nerves of the neck gets stretched. These types of factors lead to downfall of the business and then employee’s performance gets degraded. Employees can feel de-motivated if they are not provided any extra facilities. So it’s the duty of the top management to assess the situations and help the employees to have a deeper understanding about their job roles and their importance to the company.  The organization must hear the problems and the suggestions provided by the employees where there should be a proper plan for efficient work and maintain an ethical work culture or else the employees may not get motivated to do the work which will hamper their work performance (Kossek et al., 2014). The employees should also understand that in situations like imbalance in the economy and when there is less revenue, production, etc which are bound to happen in certain situations, they need to have a greater sense of responsibility to achieve the mission and make the company successful in terms of higher performance (Blyton, 2014).

Now from manager’s part they also need to take some initiatives to encourage the employees for working long hours. The top management should motivate the workers and lead from the front so that they can able to meet the deadlines and complete the task successfully. Training based on managing time should be imparted to the workers. Prioritize of the important tasks should be done so that the work gets completed in time (Lewis, 2014). Open and effective communication should be encouraged both horizontally as well as vertically in an enterprise. The top management should have a clear and precise vision with achievable objectives that should be aligned with the interest of the employees. The employees should be empowered and needs to be motivated so that they can achieve the goals. In this way, the employees would feel a sense of satisfaction (Demerouti et al., 2014). The managers should not entertain any type of biasness while providing important tasks to their teams otherwise there will be a conflict among the employees. The employees must be rewarded for their performance and the managers should express their satisfaction for their best performers which will motivate the employees to work harder. The workers should be encouraged to take leaves to reduce stress (Jones et al., 2013).

The Principles of Human Resource Management

There are multiple ways by which employers could facilitate work life balance during the phase of economic depression. In the current scenario, the benefits of work life balance tend to prioritized towards health and wellness centers from the monetary or other facilities provided by employers. After layoffs, managing the remaining number of employees is vital which could be achieved through psychological benefits as well as insurance and retirement plans (Hofacker & Konig, 2013).To make the employees enthusiastic about their work, the management should describe the benefits of the flexibility of the working hours.  The employees must understand that during economic downturn they need to work harder in an efficient and effective way and when there is balance in the economy they will to work for less number of hours again and will also be provided perks and other benefits they used to get before. This will help the workers to work with a sense of satisfaction in the organization (Gregory et al., 2013). In times of economic crisis, every single resource which includes capital, space, people or time should be allocated and utilized properly. The employees must complete the tasks by meeting the deadlines and by providing a structure for time there will work efficiency by meeting the deadlines. To follow the time structure the employees need to be trained in time management techniques (Booth, 2015).The tasks should be prioritized as which tasks should be completed first and the less important tasks should be completed later. This would help to prioritize significant tasks and more resources will be applied to finish tasks that are to be recognized as a vital one. (Lyonette et al. 2013).

Due to higher work pressure, grievances and discomfort are bound to occur. So there should be a transparent and effective communication across both the horizontal as well as vertical levels in the organization. This will help to foster unity among all the employees and there is proper coordination among the team members so that in situations like downturn, optimum output could be achieved and the level of motivation should be infused among all the employees (Schaubroeck et al., 2012). The employers should avoid any form of biasness while assigning the tasks to any teams otherwise there will be a conflict among various teams. Effective decision making is essential for utilizing the various contributions related to work (Mowday et al., 2013). 

Conclusion

The current trend in various firms is the flexibility in the working hours to meet various requirements like expectations of the customers. These are for available of the goods and services in various timings, the demand of the timings by the employees where they could manage home as well as office and client meetings in different times so that the business could run successfully. As a coin has two sides, same is with work flexibility. It has also pros and cons. There should be proper regulation of the hr policies so that there are no negative consequences. The goals of the company should be fulfilled in such a way that every employee can have a smooth work-life balance. If there is a proper work-life balance then it would be considered   favorable from the perspective of employee and employers both. Proper utilization and allocation of the resources during economic crisis will help the organizations to achieve their goals. 

References 

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