The impact of flexible work arrangements on the outcome of individual performance

Abstract

The regulation of working hours is not a new policy phenomenon of the 21st century. Both the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the European Commission (EC) have set of standards on working hours to protect worker`s health and safety, which in retrospection should lead to higher productivity. By the same token Golden (2011) argues that in firms where flexible work options are granted, there is a tendency towards a positive improvement in individual productivity. Furthermore, Lee and Hong (2011) claim that the fundamental objectives of work-life balance programs, including Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) are to reduce turnover and improve a firm`s performance. This qualitative study conducted nine in-depth semi-structured interviews. The criteria for the participants included managers that have subordinates utilising FWAs or employees that utilise FWA. The participants are employed in various sectors including banking, manufacturing department and clerical industries, both private and parastatal agencies. The data was analysed using a thematic analysis approach as suggested by Braun and Clarke (2006). The main aim of this research is to explore and analyse whether performance of individual employees in an organisation improves and increases with the adoption of family-friendly measures and working-time arrangements benefits. In this study, it is evident that most of the findings indicate that to a certain extent, work-life policies and benefits are conducive to a win-win solution for both employers and employees in general. However, in spite of employee`s satisfaction with the consequence of improved performance and retention, several challenges exist for an organisation to grant FWAs. Furthermore, the outcome of this research could be used as a tool by managers and employee representatives to understand better such benefits which could be utilised to address relevant issues in their circumstances (Riedmann, van Gyes, Roman, Kerkhofs, Bechmann, 2009).