Impact of Workplace Flexibility on Employee Performance in Kraft Foods Company - Essay Example

?Impact of Workplace Flexibility on Employee Performance in Kraft Foods Company Chapter # 2 - Literature Review It is worthwhile to mention the fact that the globalization (due to technological developments) has led to increment in competition in the external business environment because firms have been focusing on innovation and differentiation to entice maximum customers towards their market offerings. For instance, the cutthroat competition also demands workplace productive efficiency and greater job commitment of employees. Nevertheless, it should be emphasised that employees play their vital role in completion and accomplishment of business tasks and objectives in the short and long run. Hence, workplace efficiency is observed only when employers enjoy smooth and cordial relationships with employees through creation of a discrimination free shared-value and family-based internal atmosphere (Liechty & Anderson, 2007). Quite unequivocally, clever employers minimise the probability of employee – employer and organisation – employee conflicts that actually result from role overloads, unrealistic expectations and targets, and the absence of links between instrumental and terminal values (Mullins, 2007). The researcher would like to critically review the existing literature on Workplace Flexibility to study how it impacts, either positively or negatively, the employee behaviours, attitudes, job satisfaction, need fulfillment, morale, confidence, trust, normative and affective commitment and finally the overall performance. This chapter will first include a discussion on importance of workplace flexibility in today’s unpredictable, unstructured, unclear and uncertain business environment followed by a discussion on various methods and policies that could be used for implementing flexibility across new workplaces (Bauer, 2004). It must be recalled that the core features and characteristics of an old workplace were authoritative leadership style, stability and control, centralisation, individual accountability and adversarial approach (an employee had inclination towards personal achievements only) and task – orientation. The new workplace, in contrast, is more decentralised and focuses on employee empowerment, relationship – orientation and employee – centred behaviour, democratic and leaderless leadership styles, team work and mutual accountability, Management by Objectives (MBO) and Total Quality Management (TQM) principles, delegation, R&D, innovation, change management process, automated assembly lines and induction of information systems etc. This is primarily because 21st century organisations have been operating in unstructured and complex general environment; therefore, they are obliged to attain productive efficiency and cost leadership for maximising financial profits as well as shareholders’ wealth (Mullins, 2007) ; (Daft, 2009). The researcher will then evaluate how workplace flexibility affects employees as well as organisations. 2.1 – Workplace Flexibility Mangel & Konrad (2000) have defined Workplace Flexibility as a blend of procedures, policies and arrangements that allow employees to balance their family and corporate life. Indeed, the flexibility at organisations allow employees to continue making productive contributions to the organisation, since their need fulfillment is ensured that in turn enhance their affective and normative commitment. These arrangements include flexible working hours, job sharing, provision of computers to facilitate communication and phased retirement of older workers with retirement benefits and pension plans. According to Diane (2010), flexibility is measured after analysing answers to following questions: where an individual works, how many hours are spent, what are job responsibilities and assignments, what is the nature of contract (part-time or full-time) and what schedule does an individual have? There are three factors that drive the need to identify and support flexibility. These factors are legislation, unpredictability and nature of work. Employee-employer relationship has created the need for workplace flexibility. Since the late 1970s, fifty pieces of UK legislation have been enacted with aspects pertaining to flexible working hours (Ellis & Stredwick 2005, p8). For instance, there is difference between life at work and life after work of employees. Indeed, the unpredictability is contrary to what potential candidates and workers experience in their normal lives. It is argued by Ellis & Stredwick (2005) that even the employers are faced with these levels of unpredictability because of uncertain nature of external environment. Hence, they have to mentally prepare themselves besides formulation of contingency plans. White-collar professionals are not exempted either as their nine-to-five orthodox 8 – hour job routine has unofficially transformed into 9 to 10 hour job routine because of excessive tasks to be completed at strategic managerial positions (precisely at top and middle level of hierarchy). Eaton (2001) revealed that workplace flexibility largely benefits workers with blue-collar jobs because they are paid low wages / salaries; hence, role overload without additional disbursements reduces their job commitment and morale (Brenner et al, 2001). The notion of Workplace flexibility has been changing in developed European and North American countries because of the organisations today consider information and knowledge as the actual assets. The jobs now require more mental work than physical work Indeed, the use of Information generated from internal sources (records, bookkeeping etc.) and external sources (marketing research) has increased in strategic planning, decision-making and problem solving. For instance, we are living in a digitalised world where mental workload is relatively higher than physical efforts; thereby forcing employees to demand flexibility in their jobs to avert burn out and psychological disorders / issues. According to Ellis & Stredwick (2005, p. 9), “Knowledge work creates jobs that depend less on physical and more on mental ability.” 2.2 - Implementing Flexibility The researcher in this chapter will critically assess the five different types of flexible working such as Functional, Numerical, Temporal, Locational and Financial flexible working. The first type is Functional flexible working that allows organisations to apportion labour across functional boundaries to meet the business needs. Indeed, the job rotation also contributes in Functional flexibility because employees are transferred and / or rotated to other jobs that they find more suitable and flexible in nature. In this way, organisations not only fulfill business tasks but also benefit from experience of existing workers. Some examples include: multitasking, task flexibility and cross-functional working. The second type is Numerical flexible working that gives an organisation the liberty to induct the right number of employees so that the resources could be utilised in an efficient and effective manner. For this purpose, the firms tend to outsource as well as could induct agents, seasonal, temporary, casual and fixed-term workers (Russell et al, 2009). Outsourcing, of various functions, not only saves additional costs but also facilitates in employee management / administration. The third type is Temporal flexible working that is concerned with job duration (working hours) on daily or weekly basis. For instance, organisations consider various options such as overtime, shifts, flextime (under which rigid starting and ending times of job are eradicated), voluntary reduced hours, annual hours, zero hour’s arrangements, job sharing (under which two workers shares the same job) and part-time working (Levin-Epstein, 2005). Fourth type is known as Locational flexible working that involves telecommuting (working from home but associated with the respective firm) as well as job from remote places. For example, employees on business tours complete their routine office jobs from their Laptops / PCs and report to their bosses about their progress. The last type is Financial flexible working that links financial benefits and on-the-job disbursements with performance and goal accomplishment. Some major examples are profit-sharing, bonuses, commissions, share ownership, wage cut deals (if survival seems difficult), and variable executive pay schemes (Reilly, 2001, p.28). 2.3 – Importance of Workplace Flexibility to an Organisation As far as the importance of workplace flexibility is concerned, it is justified to argue that the greater the flexibility within a corporate setting, the probability that workers are satisfied / happy tends to increase and the employee turnover rates become low. Eaton (2001) summarised the finding of Martinez (1997) by mentioning the fact that if an employee leaves an organisation due to inflexible work practices, then it might cost “200 – 300% of an employee’s salary” because the HR professionals have to reinitiate recruitment and selection process followed by training and development programmes. As a result, the organisational resources will be wasted during process of finding a right substitute at vacant position. In addition, the efficiency also reduces because the burdens are transferred to other workers for running business operations. Nevertheless, if flexible working arrangements and programmes are formulated and implemented, the need fulfillment and job satisfaction level increases; thereby motivating workers to continue their jobs for personal and organisational interests. For instance, the existing employees could be retained as well as talented candidates could be attracted. The researcher would endorse the aforementioned arguments of Eaton (2001) by highlighting the fact that most of the candidates have inclination for securing jobs in multinationals / supranational corporations because they tend to offer excellent monetary incentives, ensure family-flexibility and provide career counseling for career advancement. Hence, multinationals employee retention rate is much higher in comparison to other firms because employees are valued and provided a family-based environment. Heinen & Harris (2008) also confirmed that the multinationals have been changing their employment practices to fully ensure workplace flexibility, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action laws and principles. For instance, multinational corporations have also initiated auditing programmes for their suppliers so that they could identify if their business partners do not violate international labour laws and regulations regarding child labour, equal employment opportunity, health and safety of workers, fair working schedule, wages and salaries, employee on-the-job fringe benefits (extended medical service, life and health insurance, fair accommodation where needed, pension and retirement schemes, and other social security benefits). 2.4 – Four types of Work Flexibility Practices The researcher would now like to review the four primary types of work flexibility practices that are usually by the employers. Nonetheless, this section will provide a discussion on how these four practices are beneficial for employees as well as employers. It should be noted that organisations have to prudently select and implement these practices by analysing their individual scenarios in order to gain maximum benefits. The first type of flexibility is observed at the workplaces, where employees are stationed to work. This flexibility is derived from work arrangements such as telecommuting (or working from home), flex hours, part-time presence in offices (while remaining work is completed at home) and other options. Employers offer this type of flexibility to meet needs of some workers (who are capable and professional but could not afford full-time job due to certain personal issues) on individual basis to not only retain top quality workforce but also save costs on office premises, on-the-job fringe benefits, utility bills, and other overhead costs (Russo & Waters, 2006). In organisations that exist virtually, costs of actual real estate are minimised. This program may lead to betterment in individual performances of employees as well as may reduce turnover rate of unsatisfied / unhappy workers. However, on the negative side, managing virtual networks is a difficult job because special attention has to be paid on developing a sense of accountability (also check and balance) among workers to ensure consistency in individual performances and organisational efficiency simultaneously. The second type of flexibility is observed at workplaces where employers offer work arrangements such as flexible scheduling for enhancing workers’ productivity and job commitment level. Indeed, flexible scheduling benefits the organisation because the employees could adjust their work schedule and choose the time period during which they could showcase their optimal performance. Employees accessing this type of flexibility have greater control on life at work and life after work, since they could create a balance in their life. Employers who provide this type of flexibility tend to gain more productive employees. For instance, the workers remain dynamic as they face fewer health related issues, which in turn maximises their efficiency. A past study also confirmed that flextime leads to higher employee productivity and lower absenteeism, thereby benefiting organisations as a whole (Barber et al, 2009). Wilthagen & Tros (2004) pointed out the importance of third type of workplace flexibility, which is actually about compressed workweek programme. For instance, the number of days and hours that every employee has to complete are managed after mutual consent between the employer and employee. Either, the numbers of working hours / days or both are negotiated and consented for mutual interests and gains. For example, if employers have formulated and implemented a rule that every worker has to complete 40 hours (at any cost for getting the promised pay and benefits) in a 5-day week than an employee may negotiate to work 10 hours per day for four days to fully comply with corporate practices (Crimmann et al, 2010). Hence, in this way, employees who wish to remain associated with a particular organisation (but could not comply with traditional 8-hour 5 day policy) retain their jobs and showcase their optimal performance because of need fulfillment and high job satisfaction . Employees, therefore, could complete other life demands as well as enjoy additional leisure. Overall, the proponents of aforementioned flexibility claimed that employee performance level either improves or, at least, remain same but not reduces because the probability that work – life conflicts may occur is minimised (Bauer, 2003). The fourth type of workplace flexibility is observed when employers permit job-sharing and part-time work. Employees utilising this type of flexibility have access to jobs in an organisation without any mandatory demand about spending specific number of hours per week (Crimmann et al, 2010). This type of programme enhances productivity in a way that an employee works, although for a limited number of hours, at its optimum level and concentrates jobs at hand. For instance, this type of flexibility also provides an alternative to downsizing during economic recession when need for full-time workers reduces due to expected negative growth in business (Heinen & Harris, 2008). This allows employers / recruiters to draw the line among employees and to maintain talented workers who could easily adjust themselves in an enterprise and assimilate business pressure during challenging times. In short, employers encounter low costs associated with this type of flexibility. In a nut shell, the researcher would like to point out the fact that flexible working conditions are actually related with emotional side of employees, since they impact need fulfillment and job satisfaction level. In other words, if an employee receives safe, secure and healthy working environment with flexible schedule then they could easily ensure balance in corporate and personal / family life. Consequently, the probability of work – family conflicts reduces, thereby resulting in high job satisfaction level, motivation, normative and affective commitment, morale and trust on employers and organisation (Levin-Epstein, 2005). Therefore, a satisfied, motivated and happy worker because of negligible work – family conflict will opt to contribute his knowledge, skills, attributes and glib expertise towards accomplishment of assigned jobs and targets. Indeed, he or she will showcase and deliver his optimal performance because a satisfied worker feels pride in identifying and relating oneself with one’s respective business firm. For example, a worker employed in Procter & Gamble will always feel pride in introducing himself as being a part of a top FMCG company because he / she is being valued in all respects (Wilthagen & Tros, 2004). References / Bibliography Barber, L. K., Grawitch, M. J. & Maloney, P. (2009) Work flexibility comes in many forms, Good Company, http://www.phwa.org/resources/goodcompany/newsletter/article/145 (Accessed: 21 October 2010). Bauer, Thomas (2004). High Performance Workplace Practices and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from Europe. IZA Discussion Paper No. 1265 Bauer, Thomas (2003). Flexible Workplace Practices and Labor Productivity. IZA Bonn and CEPR Discussion Paper No. 700 Boston Center Report (2006) Company Profile. Boston Center for Work & Family [Online]. Available at http://www.bc.edu/centers/cwf/global/meta-elements/pdf/profile_kraft.pdf (Accessed: 21 October 2010). Brenner, Mark, David Fairris and John Ruser (2001). "Flexible" Work Practices and Occupational Safety and Health: Exploring the Relationship between Cumulative Trauma Disorders and Workplace Transformation. Political Economy Research Institute, Paper No. 30 Crimmann, Andreas, Frank Wie?ner and Lutz Bellmann (2010). The German work-sharing scheme scheme: An instrument for the crisis. International Labour Office, Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 2 Daft, Richard (2009) "Principles of Management" South-Western College Publishers 9th edition Diane (2010). Work-life balance and the economics of workplace flexibility. Diane Publishing. Eaton, Susan (2001). IF You Can Use Them: Flexibility Policies, Organizational Commitment and Perceived Performance. Harvard University Ellis, S. & Stredwick, J. (2005) Flexible working. London: CIPD Publishing. 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