The Impacts Of Flexible Working Hours

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Business organisations continuously involve in producing high quality products and services for a sensitive price to match with customers expetations.For that companies need to use the human , financial, physical and other scare resources in an effective and efficient manner managing new ways of working hours.The pressure that companies faced upon in relation with maximizing output of labour and other resources can be achived through flexible working hours. Flexible working shedules escalate labor productivity, employee retention, employee commitment and loyalty while reducing absenteeism. In this research the impacts of flexible working hours on employee retention and performance has been assessed applying the case study of Primark retail company in UK.

1.2 Introduction to the organisation

The Primark has been started their business journey as a penneys store located in Dublin City , Ireland in the year 1969. Since its first Penneys store located in Ireland to the latest flagship store situated in Edinburgh,Primark has started its operations in 257 stores spreading over eight countries.The sustainable success behind the story of Primark is the unique , modern fashion and the efficient lean operations. In any organization human resource represent as a significant resource. Like wise Primark’s employees, staff ,labors have contributed their capabilities, skills at maximum for this success and betterment of the company.

1.3 The research aims and objectives

The main aim of this research study is to assess the relationship between the employee retention and performance in relation with flexible working hours in Primark company.

This aim has been accomplished through the satisfaction of following sub research objectives.

To review the literature on flexible working hours arrangements on employee retention and performance.

To identify the flexible working hour shedules with in the company.

To assess employees attitudes regarding flexible working schedules

To monitor the labour turn over of the company

1.4 Research problem of the study

The research question is the main direction of the research study, which is derived through the foundation of research aims and objectives. Based on the determined research scenario, the main research problem of the study is, "whether there is relationship between the employee retention and performance in relation with flexible working hours?"

1.5 Rationale of the study

The study provides knowledge and ideas for management of Primark and other any type of company operated with in the marketplace about appropriate identification and usage of flexible working hours as a motivator factor of labour performance and labor retention.aspect and its importance of use to improve business performance and to be competitive. Further, different readers as well as the researcher will be able to get a better understand about the impacts of using flexible working arrangements towards the increment of labor performance and labour retention.Therefore, research study will be significant to undertake in order to improve knowledge, business decision making of different parties.

02. Literature review

2.1 Flexible Working Hour Arrangements

Flexible working hour arrangements is a critical thing for maintaining job satisfaction and employee performance . Flexible work arrangements are options to the traditional 8 to 5 workday, the standard work week, in a traditional workplace. Flexibility facilitates employees to make adjustments to changing circumstances. These options help employees in work family balance, personal obligations and retirement planning etc, additionally meeting companies goals and objectives. Furthur human resource supervisors and managers can use flexible working shedules as strategies to stimulate labor productivity to boost job satisfaction and to improve management and leadership skills. These same alternatives ensure attracting new employess for recruitments and retention of valuable employees for longer period. Flexible working options take form of several types.See table .1

Options

Description

Compressed work week

A work schedule that shortens one or more standard workweeks into fewer, longer days.

Flexi time

A work schedule with variable starting and ending times, within limits set by one’s supervisor/manager. Employees still work the same number of scheduled hours as they would under a traditional arrangement.

Job sharing

An arrangement in which two or more part-time ocassionally employees share the responsibilities of one full time job at a pro-rated salary.

Part time work

A work schedule that is less than full time but is at least half of the regularly scheduled full time workweek.

Table:1 Flexible Working Options

Source: MIT Center for Work, Family & Personal Life Guide,2004 p.

2.2 Literature on flexible working hours arrangements on employee retention and performance.

Latest research studies have revealed that that job flexibility can offer many benefits to both employers and employees. According to Bailyn et al (2001) flexible job arrangements provide benefits such as improvement in job satisfaction, reduction of absenteeism, greater commitment while reduced turnover. As an example, the results of the research done by Boston College Center for Work & Family, surveying major six companies, 70% of managers and 87% of employees specified that working on flexible arrangements had a high positive impact on productivity and 65% of managers and 87% of employees specified flexible work schedules had a very positive impact on the quality of work. Further 76% of managers and 80% of employees indicated that flexible work arrangements had positive effects on employee retention. ( Pruchno et al ,2000, P.3)

2.3 Attraction for flexible working schedules over traditional working patterns

It is very important to identify the reasons why employees like flexible working arrangements and the benefits such as improvement in job satisfaction, reduction of absenteeism, greater commitment while reduced turnover are arising from such working shedules.In 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey reveals that 64% of employees have the choice of working part-time arises up from 46% in 1998.The survey also reported an increase in the homeworking arising from 16% to 28%, job sharing goes up from 31% to 41% and parental leave from 38% to 73%. Some of the reasons for such increments are problems of have family responsibilities and cannot work with in the hours given, Organizations’need for employees fluctuates during the year for seasonal peaks, single parent with children specially the cost of after school care is creating it difficult for employee to cope with, living far away from office and have caring responsibilities for an elderly relative. As solutions for all above reasons the answer would be the flexible working arrangements.

03. Research Methodology

3.1 Research Approach

In the basic way the research approach shows the direction of the research methodology and there are two main research approaches exist in the research context, as deductive and inductive approach. According to the ideas of Saunders et al (2009), the deductive method initiates the research with the derivation of the research problem and then the problem is supported by various theories. Finally the actual observations of the scenario have been assessed accordingly, to trace the behaviour. The theory generalisation of the deductive approach is done through the practical observation, by developing the link between the research problem and the theoretical base. As the observations are traced, often the deductive approach is focused toward the qualitative nature. On the other hand the inductive approach, first rise with the observation and then derive the relevant theory, which is more focused towards the qualitative nature.

The selected research phenomenon, has been moreover assess the relationship between the flexible working hours on employee retention and motivation which should be verified through the deductive approach , by assessing the relationship according to the theories derived. As the attitudes regarding employee performance and retention is attached with the employees’ emotions the rational choice of the employees , the full consideration, should not be relied only upon the quantitative data and to trace the influence created by the flexible working hours on employee retention and performance , the qualitative factors should be assessed as well. Therefore by giving the priority on the deductive approach, the inductive methods should be used to enhance the validity of the research study.

3.2 Research design

The research design specifies the strategy used in the research study, in the event of the data collection. Surveys, experiments, case study are various research strategies used in the research context. For this research study the most suitable research strategy is the survey design, which enables the researcher to assess and observe the ideas of the group or the selected sample, by using several data collection tools. Within this research study number of employees of Primark has to be questioned in order to get a clear picture regarding the impact of their flexible working patterns on labour retention and performance. According to Langdridge and Johnson (2009: p. 121), these behavioural and active interactions can be successfully verified through the survey, by focusing the sample group towards the research objective. Therefore through the survey method commonly this objective can be accomplished.

3.3 Sampling procedures, data collection.

According to the ideas of Curwin and Slater (2007). Data of a research study can be identified in two different aspects as primary data and secondary data. The focus of the primary data is highly attached to the objective of the research study and use these data collected by the researcher for this specific research objective, these data is known as first hand data. The secondary data is the data that already published, which was collected through several books, journals, etc. This research study mainly conducted under the survey method, therefore the main consideration builds up towards the primary data collection, by assessing the perceptions of several employees of Primark in relation to flexible working hours and employee performance and retention.

As the research is conducted in the way of survey, the primary data can be collected by using several data collection tools such as questionnaires, interviews, discussions etc. Among these the questionnaire methods has been used to gather data. Further support the primary data with theoretical base and the actual facts, several industry reports, corporate reports and theories have been assessed under the secondary data scheme.

The sample of the study consist with 50 operational level employees in Primark UK and this 30 group of employees have been selected randomly from 50 retail stores located in UK to represent the overall operational level employees. The data were collected by distributing questionnaires among them.

3.4 Data analysis

The collected data through the above procedures has been analysed by using both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The analysed data has been presented in tables and graphs to clearly present the findings of the study. Further the percentage comparisons and thematic analysis have been used to further elaborate the features of the data. Further the interpretation of the data analysed, has been presented together with the comparisons of the quantitative data gathered through quantitative measures within the research study.

3.5 Time scale of the research project

The following time schedule presents the research plan and procedures that have been undergone during the study.

Task

Code

Task

Start

Date

Duration

End

Date

A

Determine the research topic

04/01/2013

1

04/02/2013

B

Prepare research outline specification

04/03/2013

1

04/04/2013

C

Prepare research project specification

04/05/2013

2

04/07/2013

D

Critical review of key references

04/08/2013

3

04/11/2013

E

Build research design , matching the resources

04/12/2013

2

04/14/2013

F

Collecting data

04/15/2013

4

04/19/2013

G

Data Analysis and discussion

04/20/2013

3

04/23/2013

H

Prepare the report

04/24/2013

2

04/26/2013

I

Determine the appropriate recommendations

04/27/2013

2

04/29/2013

J

End of the report

04/30/2012

1

04/31/2013

Table: 2 Research Plan

04. Findings and Analysis

When analysing initially the impacts on flexible working hour’s arrangements on employee retention and performance with in the Primark the derived results are presented as follows,

In this analysis, 92% of the employees of Primark UK have confirmed that they are satisfy with the current flexible working arrangements with in the company while 8% says average and no. In this aspect the open ended ideas in the questionnaires with the answer of no, states that the for some employees it feels uncomfortable of attending night shifts when consider with work family life balance. All employees said no are females who are married and have children. As they said it is ok for them to work in day time shifts as they can keep their children in daycares.But at night it would be little difficult for them to manage those things.

On the other hand in the assessment of employee retention considering the employment duration within the company reflects following figure

In this assessment 80% of the employees with in the sample of Primark proved that they have been worked in the company for more than 10 years. The one of the reason for such long employee retention is basically the flexible working hours arrangements with in the company. Basically the exciting work pattern rather than boring routine, long, day time work within the company is the reason for that. Also 14% of employees were within the range of 5 to 10 years and 6% of employees still below 5 years. As they have mentioned most probably the chances are high for them to work with in the company for more years. These flexible working arrangements allow them to arrange their work effectively. Absenteeism is also low as the personal requirements can also be fulfilled by changing working shifts with others on mutual consents.

According to the above claims, the next verification of the questionnaire has been extended to assess the work performance of employees. The result of the aspect has been resented in the following figure,

The data collected for the aspects shows that out of 50 managers inquired, 43 of the employees of Primark confirmed directly that they have gained more than 65 % for their employee performance reviews and got rewards accordingly. The reason they pointed out for this percentage is the satisfaction and motivation rose within the them in doing works which lead by the flexible working hour shedules.This high employee performance upgrades the organisational performance in a favourable manner. Through this sample statistic, it is clearly inferred that, the overall situation also can be exist within the Primark Company. All these direct inquiries have presented that the majority of the employees of Primark are fully satisfied with the flexible working schedules and are enjoyed the work they done in an exciting working environment which also supported them in earning high marks for performance finally led the labor productivity for the increment of organisational performances. Also 7 employees out of sample 50 got lower percentage for their performance reviews. Three of employees among them were newly joined who are still learning the work.

The overall results collected from distributed questionnaires are summarized below.

Results

1

Flexible working hour arrangements with in the company

 

 

1

2 shifts per day

45

 

 

11

3 shifts per day

5

 

 

111

4 shifts per day

 

 

 

 

2

Shift change over

 

 

1

on oral instructions

3

 

 

11

on written instructions

5

 

 

111

on both oral and written instructions

42

 

 

 

3

Employment duration

 

 

1

below 5 years

3

 

 

11

5 to 10 years

7

 

 

111

more than 10 years

40

 

 

 

4

Latest employee performance review marks

 

 

1

below 35%

2

 

 

11

35% to 65%

5

 

 

111

More than 65%

43

 

 

 

5

Are you satisfy with the current working schedule arrangement

 

1

No

2

 

 

11

Average

2

 

 

111

Yes

46

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table: 2 Results of Survey

According to the above data gathered the majority of the employees inquired have been confirmed that they are happy with flexible working arrangements. Only 8% constituting 4 employees said no and average. Further 80% of employees were having more than 10 year working history. Employees of 20% lies between years 0 to 10 within the employees including employee who have more than 10 year working experience confirmed that they are expecting to stay within the company further.

When analysing about the flexible working shifts within the company, 45 employees among 50 samples were working on 2shifts per day working schedule. Five employees among them two cashiers and 3 securities who were working on 3 shift per day basis. Normally two shifts per day arrangements is the most suitable working hour schedule as high employee performance can expect from such schedule. Three shifts per day is not that much successful working schedule and cannot expect high employee productivity from that. Basically it is kind of a complicated working arrangement which increase more cost, and time wasting thing.

When assessing the quality of flexible working hour arrangements it is very much essential to see the way in which the shift changes over. For Employee productivity and unbroken business operations this is highly needed.42 employees among 50 sample said that the shift change over on both written and oral instructions. This is an important evidence for the lean operations of the company. Employees need to tell what has happened during his or her work shift and what need to be done and balance work to be carried out by the next employee when shift change over. Written instructions, working manuals are very helpful for the next employee to work without any difficulty. Three employees do shift change over oral instructions and five do shift change over written instructions. As they have mentioned employees who follow only written instructions and oral instructions have faced lots of difficulties during their working hours and they are lacking the knowledge of applying both written and oral instructions on shift change over.

05. Conclusions and Recommendations

Based on the above analysis, the main conclusion derives is that the both aspects of flexible working hour schedules and employee retention and performance are having a positive relationship, that is the flexible working hour schedules favourably influence the labour performance and labour retention of employees. Accordingly this research reflects that employee’s retention and high performance review marks are totally connected with working pattern of employees. As they have confirmed they are enjoying their working duties and doing them well. Type of flexible hour arrangements specially two hours per shift basis used in Primark is a good strategy which would increase the labour productivity more. Most of employees who surveyed were using both written and verbal instructions on shift change overs .This again guarantee high employee performance and unbroken business operations finally resulted in successful business performance.

Based on these ideas and the conclusions, the following recommendations are lined up to rectify the negative implications identified by emphasising and maximising the positive implications of the relationship.

Reward and provide better carrier prospects especially for employees who have long employment history.

Arrange two hour working shifts per day as the flexible working hour arrangements.

Educate employees regarding the importance of using written and verbal instructions on shift change overs.

Advice and train newly joined ones to learn work duties fast and to show the performance.

Make an arrangement which fairly choose employees for night working shifts. That means this has to ensure that female married employees having children are not discriminated on any grounds.

Arranging day care centres within the company so that employees could work without any difficulties.

Providing unbias training and development opportunities for all employees based on their performance.

Through these implications the existing favourable and positive relationship of the employee performance and labour with flexible working arrangements can be strengthened, while mitigating the negative impacts attached with.

Appendix

Questionnaire

1

Flexible working hour arrangements with in the company

 

 

1

2 shifts per day

 

 

 

11

3 shifts per day

 

 

 

111

4 shifts per day

 

 

 

 

2

Shift change over

 

 

1

on oral instructions

 

 

 

11

on written instructions

 

 

 

111

on both oral and written instructions

 

 

 

 

3

Employment duration

 

 

1

below 5 years

 

 

 

11

5 to 10 years

 

 

 

111

more than 10 years

 

 

 

 

4

Latest employee performance review marks

 

 

1

below 35%

 

 

 

11

35% to 65%

 

 

 

111

More than 65%

 

 

 

 

5

Are you satisfy with the current working schedule arrangement

 

1

No

 

 

 

11

Average

 

 

 

111

Yes