Write a critical essay which discusses a key contemporary management issue…..

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TOPIC                                                        PAGE

INTRODUCTION………………………………………3

WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY………………………….3

WORKLIFE BALANCE…………………………………5

CONCLUSION……………………………………………7

REFERENCES……………………………………………..8

INTRODUCTION

There is increased interest by stakeholders in the employment sector to adjust and regulate the conditions that govern their daily operations. This is aimed at maximizing returns to the employer and the employee. These changes have been brought about by the increased knowledge of people about their rights and responsibilities because many employers insist on the job being done regardless of how. This has mainly been facilitated by advancement of technology that allows effective communication mechanisms between the employee and the employer at all times. The world today has also witnessed the emergence of many psychosocial health hazards associated with the work place behavior such as bullying, stress and fatigue and the more flexible the rules are the more these problems will be evaded.

Work place flexibility refers to how, when and where people work. The Fair Work Act 2009 (Kathleen, 2011) provides the legal framework for employers and employees to operate in and ensure workplace flexibility and work life balance.

WORK PLACE FLEXIBILITY

The employer must agree with the employees on when to do the work. This means that there should be flexibility in the setting of time when each employee should perform the assigned duties and responsibilities. These timelines must ensure the production procedures of organizations are not prejudiced(Almeida, 2010). After consultations the employer and the employee can agree on altering the start and stop hours provided the employee meets the total amount of hours he is supposed to work in the week. Some employees can choose to work for more hours in a day thereby reporting to work for a few days in a week while others may choose to spread their working hours through out the week. This will give the employee some freedom to balance between reporting to work and attending to other personal responsibilities that may occur from time to time. This flexibility cultivates a lot of enthusiasm (Claudia, 2005) in the work force because each employee will enjoy being his or her own supervisor. Other employers may offer contracts that permit variable year employment. In this case the employee is usually engaged at the company during peak periods and then discharged when the work load minimizes. This ensures the employee can engage in other gainful activities when the company is operating off peak (Gwin, 2004). Such contracts usually favor learners who are pursuing studies because they can schedule to attend classes when they are not engaged with the company.

There should also be convergence between the employer and employee regarding where the employee will work from. In this era of advanced technology some employees prefer working from home as compared to working from the offices. The preference by employees to work from home is guided by cost related issues (Johnson, 2006). Many prefer working from home to save on costs of commuting from their homes to the workplace. They also prefer working from home due to their ability to invest more time on their work. This is mainly enhanced by the use of the internet to effectively communicate with the colleagues at the office in seeking opinion on issues and also the submission of reports (Ershad, 2002). Others prefer working remotely from other offices. This is mainly in companies where they deal with a lot of people especially the public. Their constant presence interferes with work schedules due to frequent disruptions and demand for attention.

The employer and employee must also agree on how to work. This means they must agree on the modalities that will be in place to ensure work is done in the specified times. Where two people share similar or complementing responsibilities, they can alternate in reporting to work. This may save the company extra expenses through effective and optimal utilization of available capacity. The company can also decide to offer phased retirement to some of its employees (Hill, 2008). This reduces the fulltime engagement of some of the employees and the program may be scheduled for the employee to return only during peak production periods when their resources will be fully utilized. This mainly happens to employees who have special skills required at a particular time. Employers can also annualize the working hours of employees and whoever covers his total hours before the end of the year can proceed on leave.

For an employer to fully implement these guidelines there must be a work place flexibility policy for the company (Shannon,2003). This policy should have a commitment by the employer to workplace flexibility, it should also define what flexibility is, how it will be reviewed and the various entitlements to employees.

WORKLIFE BALANCE

Many organizations normally dedicate all the available resources towards their production processes, human resource not being an exception (Ellen, 2007). Most employees are allocated overtime duties some which run late into the night. This is done with little regard to the debilitating effects these long working hours may have on the health of the workers which may affect their performance in the long run. The psychosocial health effects relating to work like stress, depressions and even violence are mainly attributed to lack of a workable balance between the usual daily work and other off duty responsibilities. It is very important for organizations to review the composition of their work force in relation to issues like gender and age. The elderly who are nearing their retirement age should not be engaged for long hours because this will affect their health both in the short and also in the long run(Thomas,2010). The women in the workforce who have children should also be considered and not be engaged in overtime with the company. The women who are breastfeeding should be allowed time intervals to rush home and check on their young ones. This is mainly because after the usual working times these vulnerable groups cannot fully concentrate on their duties and their performance levels reduce. The company should devise strategies to measure the performance of each employee during the normal working hours and during overtime (Chauhan, 2009). This will help the company to identify those who should not be engaged for extra time. There should be insistence by the employers to their employees that they should always have time for leisure. This will help them to relax and improve their productivity. The International Labor Organization passed its convention 156 which has been ratified by Australia (Sowden, 2000). It mainly emphasizes the need for balancing between work place responsibilities and family obligations. The ratification is therefore a commitment by Australia that they will promote the welfare of those with families in the workplace. Such people should work without any discrimination and their family responsibilities should be considered in the work place. The consideration of these responsibilities means that they will be allocated duties in tandem with their family responsibilities. There is also the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (Smith, 2009)also outlaws any discriminatory acts on women in the workplace. These acts include denial of promotion opportunities to women, low pay, denial of leave and other fringe benefits. Such acts are inhuman and degrading and employers should enter into dialogue with these vulnerable groups to make sure they devise plans to accommodate them. This is also exemplified by the Workplace Relations Act 1996(Paula, 2010) which implores on employers to accept the diversity of their workforces and promote dialogue so as to promote cohesion and team work. This will make these employers be of value to the company because of increased productivity. This will ensure the company achieves the set performance growth because each of the employees will be able to meet their personal obligations.

CONCLUSION

The promotion of work flexibility policies and work life balance initiatives by companies will impact positively to both the company and the employees. There will be reduced cases of ailments that are brought by situational pressures to some sections of the workforce especially women. This will translate to organizations reducing their expenses on these employees and this will translate into higher profits. Organizations should therefore come up with clear policies and statements to show their commitment to implementing these guidelines. All the stakeholders like employers, employees and labor unions should be involved in the formulation of these policies. The policies once formulated should be regularly harmonized to capture any changes in the national and international guidelines. The policies should come up with very clear penalties and fines to those who may violate these guidelines.

References

Almeida, D (2010). Family and Work Balance. Dublin. Ace books Ltd, P.25

Chauhan, C (2009). Corporate Work life Balance. Sunderland. Ace books, P.511

Claudia, G (2005). Cost of Workplace Flexibility. Berlin. Dietz Printers, P.211

Ellen, M (2007). Flexibility and Resilience. Warwick. Day and Sons Ltd,P.47

Ershad, A (2002). Women lifestyles and Work life balance. Cologne. Hamin Press Ltd, P.236

Gwin,B (2004). Improving Flexibility. Bristol. Secular Press, P.71

Hill, J (2008). “Conceptual Workplace Flexibility” (Online) Available from http://www.aow.edu.au/ (Accessed on 4^th May 2012).

Johnson, R (2006). Employee satisfaction. Sydney. Chart Press, P.16

Kathleen,C (2011). Work, Family and Workplace Flexibility. London. Penguin Books, P.5

Paula, B (2010) Work life Balance Methodology. Adelaide.Westren Books Ltd, P.81

Shannon, R (2003). “Myths on Workplace Flexibility” (Online) Available from http://www.aph.gov.au/ (Accessed on 4^th May 2012).

Smith, K (2009). Work life Balance and Results.Perth. Yellow Printers, P.95

Sowden, A (2000). Workplace Ethics. Brisbane.Trinity Publishers, P.38

Thomas, K (2010). Work life Balance and Returns. London. Arrow Press, P.64

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