Flextime Strategy in Health Tech - Research Paper Example

? FORMAL REPORT MEMO OF TRANSMITTAL June XX, XXXX. Richard Chamberlain, Supervisor XXXX Transmittal of Project Report on Flextime Strategy In response to the request made by you on June XX, 2012, I have completed writing the project report after undergoing a detailed research, both primary and secondary regarding the various factors related to flextime strategy. I am pleased to present you the project report as asked by you. Please find the report attached herewith. The problem statement in this research study was about the various merits and demerits of flextime strategy that is to be implemented in Health Tech. Solutions and its impacts on both the employers and employees of the company. Various factors included in this research study were about the different types of flextime policies implemented by some of the well reputed business firms in the world and its impact on the organization. Primary research was also performed through questionnaires designed to survey the employees of Health Tech. Solutions. Based on the findings and analysis of the research study, it is recommended that Health Tech. Solutions should consider implementing a flextime policy for its employees that includes 4-day work week with 4 out of 10 working hours every day available as flexible time according to the choice of the employees. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions associated with the project report or if you need any kind of additional information. I will try to assist you in every way possible. Enc. Project Report TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 OVERVIEW 7 TYPES OF FLEXTIME 9 IMPACT ON EMPLOYER 11 Advantages 11 Disadvantages 12 IMPACT ON EMPLOYEE 12 Advantages 13 Disadvantages 13 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 14 Secondary Research and Analysis 15 Primary Research and Analysis 17 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 20 CONCLUSION 21 RECOMMENDATIONS 22 REFERENCES 22 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Table – 1: Preference for 4-day or 5-day work week 19 Table – 2: Preference of 8-hour days as working hours 20 Table – 3: Preference of 10-hour days as working hours 20 Figure – 1: Employees favoring work from home 19 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Flextime strategies have received a renewed attention in many of the companies all around the world. Health tech. Solutions is also thinking of implementing a flextime strategy in their company as suggested by many of the employees in the company. This research study deals with the problem statement about the various merits and demerits of a flextime strategy being implemented by an organization and its various impacts on both the employees and employers of an organization. Both secondary and primary research methods have been employed in order to conduct this study successfully. The different types of flextime strategies followed by five of the well reputed companies have been included in this study. Those companies include Pricewaterhouse Coopers, KPMG, Sun Microsystems, etc. Primary research has also been performed which included a questionnaire survey of the employees of Health Tech. Based on the research it has been found that the flextime strategies adopted by most of the companies have proved to be very much advantageous for them. It has resulted in increased performance of the employees and reduction of the employee turnover rates. The information collected from the questionnaire survey suggested that employees had greater interest in having flexible working hours in their work schedule. Hence it is recommended that a flextime strategy should be implemented in Health Tech. Solutions. The flextime policy should include four days 10-hours day per week work schedule and would include 4 hours as flexible working hours for the employees. It is suggested that implementation of flextime strategy in Health Tech. Solutions would prove advantageous for the company since the performance level of the employees would increase and the company would be able to save significant amount of turnover costs. OVERVIEW The concept of flexible timing in work place was first initiated by William Henning. Flexible timing literally means working in variable work schedule in contrast with usual work schedule. In this system of flextime employees are required to work for a core period of time and the rest of the working is done on the basis of flexible timing as chosen by the employee. In this flexible time period employees can choose their working time according to their convenience. However it does not mean that availability of flexi time working will allow an employee to work anytime and anywhere. There is a process for it and which needs to be maintained and can be attained by an employee whenever he/she is in real need for it. Nowadays many companies all over the world have incorporated flextime strategy in their organizations. Companies such as KPMG LLP, Best buy company co. Inc., PNC financial services Group Inc., and Pricewaterhouse Coopers are involved in practicing flexible timing strategies in their organizations. In order to introduce the strategy of flextime in an organization like Health Tech Solutions, it is necessary to have a detailed overview of the pros and cons of flextime strategy to be employed in a company. All such information has been included in this study. The problem of this study is to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the introduction of flexible timing strategy in Health Tech. Solutions and the various impacts it can have on the employees as well as the employers of the organization. This study will try to find the issues related to the working hours of an organization. It will try to find out whether flexible timing helps the employees or not. Moreover the study will also try to find the impact of the introduction of flexible timing strategy on an organization. Hence the primary objective of the study is to unveil how flexible timing helps an employee to fulfill his/her work and how it contributes towards the achievement of organizational goals. The report will also try to gauge how many employees of the organization are aware of this facility. Therefore the project has a large scope. The factors which will be taken into account while undergoing the study are the impacts of flexible timing on the employees of other organization. Employee, employers, organizations practicing flexible timings, and other eminent personalities has been included in this study as respondents to conduct research and formulate the report using the findings and analysis of the data collected. In the context of this study a blend of descriptive technique will be used to for the collection of data. Since the research is about the effect of flexi timing and its impact on the employees and the employers, therefore descriptive method has been chosen. The study will be conducted by using both primary as well as secondary data. In the context of this project secondary sources which will be used are books, journals, articles and other authentic electronic sources. In case of primary sources it will be collected by using questionnaire surveys. The respondents of the survey include a group of employees of Health Tech Solutions who have been chosen using simple random sampling technique. The subsequent analysis of the findings of the study would help in deciding upon the most effective and efficient flexible timing strategy that could be introduced in Health Tech Solutions. TYPES OF FLEXTIME In recent years flexibility in work hours of the employees of an organization have received a renewed attention for both the employees and employers of an organization. Flexible working hours is of particular importance in cases of job negotiations between employees and employers. In addition to this, flexibility in work schedules available in a company may have a direct impact on the perception about the attractiveness of the organization to the insiders as well as the outsiders of the company. Certain flexibility in working hours of a company actually refers to the variability in the working schedules of the company in a more non-traditional way and the attendance requirements are not that rigid in such cases. It helps individuals having family obligations to manage them in a more effective way by being able to maintain a balance between work life and home without taking any types of additional stress. Additionally, job flexibility helps in the reduction of employee turnover in a company and reduction in the level of stress experienced by the workers of the company (Nadler, & et al., 2010, p.865). Flextime can be of different types. Some of them are discussed below: Flexi-tour: The employees select the starting and finishing time, and follow it regularly. The starting time in this type of flextime is flexible in nature but predetermined and the end time corresponds to the starting time fixed previously. Modified Flexi-tour: This is another modified version of the flexi-tour type where the staring time could be altered if there is a requirement for such change and a prior notification is required to be furnished in this regard. Gliding Schedule: In this context employees need to meet the target of 40-48 hours a week. However the entrance and departure from the office can be altered accordingly. Hence the total duration of work is fixed but there is flexibility in the option of changing the starting time everyday and it does not require prior notification for the same. Modified Gliding Schedule: In case of modified gliding schedule, it differs from gliding schedule in a way that it includes certain core working hours which is determined in accordance with the peak customer interaction. Hence the employees are required to work on those core hours with the option of flexibility in the starting time and the corresponding ending time. Variable day: Here the employees need to meet the fundamental criteria of 40-48 hours work per week which is known as the core hours, but the number of hours of work in a day can be modified. Hence the start and end timings are not dependent on each other and the employee have the option of choosing the same at their own discretion (Zinger, 2008). Variable Week: This type of flextime is similar to variable day type with the difference of having a certain quota of goals to be achieved on a weekly basis. Hence it does not require the employees to work for certain fixed weekly hours. Crediting Schedule: This type of flex time offers maximum flexibility to the employees by having no fixed start and end times. It does not have any core hours as well. Moreover, there is a facility of the working hours being credited to subsequent weeks. IMPACT ON EMPLOYER The employer of an organization who takes the decision of implementing a flextime strategy for its employees can be affected in a number of ways because of the flextime policy being implemented by them. It can be both advantageous and disadvantageous for the employer of the company. The various merits and demerits of flextime strategy for the employers of an organization are as discussed below: Advantages Adoption of flextime strategy for the employees can have significant advantages for a company or its employers. Various advantages of flextime for the employers of a company are discussed below: Flexible timing helps to generate greater employee morale and thus creates job satisfaction. It also helps to increase the level of productivity and lessen down the rate of absenteeism (Erickson, 2005). It reduces the stress and fatigues of the employees. Thus increases the level of performance and generates higher efficiency (Clark, 2010). There is no loss of time during the work schedule. Flexi-timing hugely helps in the process of employee satisfaction. Employee retention also becomes smoother. The turnover rate of employees also gets hugely minimized. The cost of recruitment also gets reduced, as outsiders are always in the lookout for a job on that organization. It also draws employees with high skill and expertise. It also measures the attendance of the employees and allows them to pay the employees only on the basis of total log in time. Organizations also provide incentives to the employee to complete the work within that day, thereby restricting employees to stretch the work for next day. Disadvantages The disadvantages of flextime strategy being employed by an organization and the difficulties faced by the employers are discussed below: Monitoring process can be complicated as employees are not accessible physically. They are monitored through their online status. If this issue is not resolved properly, it can hugely impact the output level. Some employees may intentionally refuse to work in the peak hours and thereby affecting the productivity level. Supervision needs to be at the highest level. It can also increase the cost of the company. It may also happen that employees are logged in to their work station but actually not working. Such happening cannot be monitored properly (Kokemuller, n.d.). IMPACT ON EMPLOYEE The flextime strategies adopted by an organization are primarily meant for the needs and satisfaction of the employees of the company. It is the employee of the organization who gets benefited the most because of the existing flextime policy in the company. However it can have a negative impact on the employees as well. All those positive and negative impacts of flextime strategy on the employees of the organization are discussed below: Advantages Employees can be benefited from flextime in a number of ways and has been mentioned below: Personal matters can be sorted out easily without taking a leave from the work. It allows more leisure time for personal and social activities. It is also helpful for those who have dependents and children. It also helps to control the pressure of work. It also helps to balance the personal life and professional work. Thus it allows taking time out for personal life and scheduling the work accordingly to avoid clogging (Peterson, 2010). Employees do not need to face the pressure of peak time and can break the work accordingly. It therefore allows to break the work and stress of continuous work can be reduced (Kane, n.d.). Employees can actually get the maximized opportunity to take care of their children and his/her dependents. If the employee works from home, transportation cost will be saved. There is also no need of facing the traffic rush at the peak hours. Disadvantages Availing flextime opportunity in an organization can prove to be disadvantageous for the employees as well. Some of the demerits of flextime for the employees of an organization have been discussed below: There is a chance of the tasks getting piled up. Employees may feel the pressure to adjust the time during any unwanted happenings such as sickness, funeral etc. Due to sharing of the job among the other colleagues, the dependency on one another is huge. Thus during the course of project if a group member falls sick, the other member may have to work for longer period of time apart from the scheduled work. The coordination of the group members also gets reduced if they are not following the same time schedule of work. For example if one member chooses to work in morning from 9.30 A.M to 12.30 P. M and the other chooses to work from 1.00 P.M to 4.00 P.M, then it will certainly affect the overall coordination. The employee has to personally bear various costs such as lighting charges, internet charges and some other miscellaneous charges. Employees sometime intentionally do not work, if they are provided flexible timings. However they face problem at the end of the month when they are required to cover up the lost time. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS A secondary as well as primary research has been conducted in this study. For secondary research various relevant and authenticated sources have been utilized. It mostly includes peer reviewed journals, articles, newspapers and websites of different well known companies of the world. The companies were chosen for this study to have wide knowledge and research about the flextime strategies that have been already implemented there. The findings and analysis of the secondary research and primary research that have been performed in this study are discussed below: Secondary Research and Analysis In order to find out the characteristics and impacts of flextime strategies employed by different organizations, a detailed study has been conducted on such strategies followed by some of the well reputed companies of the world. Five companies that have been included in this study are: a) Sun Microsystems, Inc., b) KPMG LLP, c) Best Buy Co., Inc., d) PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., and e) Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Sun Microsystems Inc. which has been acquired by Oracle in the year 2010 is engaged in the business of providing software solutions for its clients by creating innovative software for them. Sun has in offer a program named "Open Work" for its employees wherein they are allowed to work off site and flexible hours according their choice. It has been found out that more than 40% of the employees are involved in this program and 80% of those employees have been reported to have given a satisfactory regarding such program. As a result of this flextime strategy being implemented in the company, its productivity has been reported to increase by 34%. Thus it proved to be an effective strategy employed by the company. KPMG LLP is a multinational company which is engaged in the business of providing tax, audit and advisory services for its clients. It has been found that flextime strategy has been implemented for all the employees of the company. On an average 70% of the employees of KPMG are involved in the practice of working in flexible hours. Other type of flextime strategy employed by the company is reduced duration of working hours during summer. The information obtained from the survey conducted on the employees of KPMG revealed that this flextime strategy has resulted in increased satisfaction of the employees of the company and thus was an effective strategy implemented by the company. Best Buy Co., Inc. is a well reputed organization which operates its business in the retail industry and offers various products for its consumers which includes electronic goods, computers, software appliances etc. The company has adopted a flextime strategy for nearly 60% of its employees. It has been named as "Results-Only Work Environment" (ROWE). According to this organizational policy the employees have the flexibility of working anywhere and anytime as long as they are able to achieve the target results which has been set for them. This policy resulted in increased satisfaction of the company and proved to be quite effective for the company. PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is a well diversified organization which provides various financial services for its clients. Nearly 50% of the employees of PNC are involved in various types of flextime strategies implemented by the company management. It includes job sharing, reduced work weeks and telecommuting. It has been found that all these flextime strategies have resulted in significant improvement of the productivity and efficiency of the employees. There was a significant reduction in the employee turnover rates of the company as well. The company managed to save a huge amount of turnover costs as a result of these flextime strategies being implemented in the company. Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) is one of the Big Four audit farms operating its business all over the world. It engages itself in the business of providing advisory and tax services for its clients. It has been reported by the company management that all the employees can avail the opportunity of flextime work arrangements. It has been found that only 6% of the employees in PwC follow the flextime arrangements available to them formally, however more than 40% of the employees follow flextime work hours informally (CareerBuilder.com, 2009). Thus, it is quite evident from all these information obtained from the five companies that different flextime strategies followed by those organizations have proved to be very much advantageous for them. It has resulted in increased satisfaction of the employees, thereby enhancing their productivity and performance. It has been concluded in many research studies that flexibility can be utilized as an important indicator or measurement of the effectiveness of the workforce of an organization. Flextime strategies followed by organizations proves to be cost effective for them as well (IOMA, 2008, p.12). Primary Research and Analysis For conducting primary research on this study a questionnaire was designed and it was meant for the employees of Health Tech. Solutions. A random sampling technique was used to select the employees to be surveyed. It was planned to collect information from 350 employees of the organization. However 291 out of 350 employees agreed to participate in the survey. It implies that the response rate was 83% of the total employees selected to be surveyed. The questions asked were mostly open-ended in nature and hence the respondents did not find it that difficult to reply to those questions asked. The information collected from the questionnaire survey have been analyzed and discussed as given below: One of the questions that were asked for in the questionnaire was regarding the preference of the employees for either a 4-day work week or 5-day work week. The responses obtained from the employees are shown in Table - 1. 201 out of 291 respondents indicated that they preferred a 4-day hour week rather than a 5-day work week even though they would have to work 3 hours more everyday in case of 4-day work week. This implies that employees were ready to work more to get an extra off day in a week. Table – 1: Preference for 4-day or 5-day work week Particulars No of Respondents Percentage Four 10 hour days 201 69% Five 8-hour days 55 19% No Preference 35 12% Total 291 100% The employees were also asked if they preferred work from home or not. The responses of the employees have been indicated through a pie chart given figure – 1. Most of the respondents which constituted around 63% of the total respondents in the survey were interested to work from home. Figure – 1: Employees favoring work from home Another question asked for the employees about how they would prefer working in the company with 8-hour days as working hours. The collected information has been presented in Table – 2. It was found that almost 67% of the total respondents were in favor of working for a fixed working hour period starting from 10 am and ending at 3 pm every day. They wished to have flexible working hours for rest of the four working hours. Table – 2: Preference of 8-hour days as working hours Working Hours No of Respondents Percentage 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. 11 4% 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 47 16% 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. 15 5% 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., flexible hours for other 4 195 67% No Preference 23 8% Total 291 100% Again in another question the respondents were asked for their preferences about their preferences of working hours if they were to work for 10-hour days on each working day. It was found that 192 out of 291 respondents, that is 66% of the respondents showed interest to have 4 hours as flexible work hours and would work for the core working hours during the time period 9 am to 4 pm every day (Table - 3). Table – 3: Preference of 10-hour days as working hours Working Hours No of Respondents Percentage 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. 3 1% 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. 41 14% 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 26 9% All work 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., flexible hours for other 4 192 66% No Preference 29 10% Total 291 100% LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY One of the significant limitations of this research study is the small sample size of 350 employees who have been surveyed through the questionnaire survey. This is a small sample size and conclusions drawn from the information obtained from such questionnaire survey may not represent the interests of general population of all the employees in the company. Another limitation in this study could be the time constrain of completing the report within the short deadline. It is possibility that some of the relevant information researched for to conduct this research study might not have been included in this report. These two limitations suggests that the conclusion drawn from this research study may not be that effective in designing the most efficient flextime policy for Health Tech. Solutions. CONCLUSION Flextime strategies are now being implemented in many of the large corporations worldwide. Before implementing a flextime strategy in a company like Health Tech. Solutions, it is necessary to have a detailed analysis of flextime strategy, its characteristics and its impacts on both the employers and employees. All these factors have been mentioned in this study in details. The problem statement for this study was about the merits and demerits of flextime strategy and its effect on the company. A company can have various types of flextime strategies implemented in their organization like Flexi-tour, Gliding Schedule, Variable Day, Variable Week, etc. Both secondary and primary research has been conducted in this study. This research study suggests that flextime strategies can have significant impacts on both the employees and employers of an organization. It has its own merits and demerits too. However the advantages associated with this strategy are more significant than its demerits. The flextime strategies followed by five of the well reputed companies in the world like PwC, Sun Microsystems, KPMG, etc. have been studied. It has been found that in all these organizations the different types of flextime policies are followed by them. It has proved to be advantageous for the company in many ways like increasing the productivity and performance of the employees, reduction in the costs of turnover for the company, etc. The employees of the company were also involved in a questionnaire survey. The information obtained from such survey indicates that most of the employees of Health Tech. showed interest in having a flexible timing of their work hours. More specifically the employees were in favor of four 10-hours a day working hours for them of which four hours will be available to them as flexible working hours. RECOMMENDATIONS The conclusions drawn from this research study suggests that adoption of flextime strategy in Health Tech. Solutions can prove to be very much advantageous for the company. It is recommended that the company should adopt a flextime strategy which would include a 6 hours core working hours and 4 hours of flexible working hours available to the employees. The core hours timings could be pre-determined by the company management or the starting time could also be made flexible according to the needs and requirements of the employees. This would make the employees of the organization more responsible in their work and the performance of the employees would also increase (Bergen, 2005). Hence it is suggested that Health Tech. Solutions should be implemented in the company which would be advantageous for both the employers and employees of the company. REFERENCES Bergen, L. (2005). Making Flextime Work. Journal of Accountancy. Retrieved from http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2005/Sep/MakingFlextimeWork.htm. CareerBuilder. (2009). 5 Flextime-Friendly Companies. Retrieved from http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-632-Job-Search-Five-Flextime-Friendly-Companies/. Clark, J. (2010). Employees with Flex Time Put in more Hours. Retrieved from http://news.discovery.com/human/telecommuting-productivity-flex-time.html. Erickson, R. (2005). The Pros and Cons of Different Work Schedules. Retrieved from: http://www.googobits.com/articles/p0-2261-the-pros-and-cons-of-different-work-schedules.html. IOMA. (2008). How HHCMC Introduced an Anti-Obesity Program that got Results--for $350. Managing Benefits Plans, Retrieved from: http://business.highbeam.com/1954/article-1G1-191316393/hhcmc-introduced-antiobesity-program-got-results-350. Kane, S. (no date). Flex Time and Alternative Work Schedules. Retrieved from http://legalcareers.about.com/od/careertrends/a/flextime.htm. Kokemuller, N. (no date). The Advantages & Disadvantages of Flexible Scheduling for an Employer. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-flexible-scheduling-employer-21190.html. Nadler, J. T., et al. (2010). Perceptions of organizational attractiveness: The differential relationships of various work schedule flexibility programs. Management Research Review, 33(9), 865-876. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1876624. Peterson, J. (2010). Pros and Cons of Flextime. Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/75899.aspx. Zinger, D. (2008). An Employee Engagement Rx: Flextime. Retrieved from http://www.davidzinger.com/flextime-an-employee-engagement-rx-589/. Read More