Impact of Flexible Working Programs on Employee relations and Work-Life - Case Study Example

Impact of Flexible Working Programmes on Employee relations and Work-Life Name Course Code Course Instructor Date of submission Impact of Flexible Working Programmes on Employee relations and Work-Life Introduction During the recent years, there has been a growth of interest on flexible working arrangements, given the momentous suggestions of positive outcomes for both the employers and employees. Choo et al. (2016) defines workplace flexibility as employees’ ability to make changes on the location of work, the time of work, and the length of time they can engage in work-related activities, whether at own or employers’ discretion. Flexible work programmers have become prevalent in organisations globally, including in the United Kingdom, as a component of the human resource strategy intended to attract a desirable pool of talented employees, motivate already recruited employees, and retain the rights talents. As a result, flexible working programmes continue to be an attractive option as a means to improve employee’s job satisfaction and improve organisational productivity (Grawitch et al. 2009). Flexible work arrangements, such as flexible work hours, are increasingly being used by employers to help employees to balance their family and work life, as well as to reduce work-family conflict and work stress (Noor & Maad 2008). Choo et al. (2016) also considers its continued relevance to modern-day employers because of the changing demography where the society has to contend with single-parent families, dual-earner couples, increased number of women at the workplace and individuals who have geriatric care responsibilities. This seems to be the case of Ernst & Young Global Limited in the UK, which is a major professional services organisation that assists businesses globally to identify and take advantage of business opportunities. Using the theme of work-life balance and employee relations, this paper critically discusses the issue of flexible working programmes at EY, as a relevant case study. Case study summary In the news article "EY offers flexible working to support work-life balance and business performance,” Tynan Barton (2016) explore the motivations for implementation of flexible working programmes at Ernst & Young. In the case study, the managers at EY encourage the adoption of flexible working among its employees while hoping to realise greater employee productivity. They also expect to establish a performance culture and strengthen positive employee relations in its diverse workforce (Barton 2016). Steve Varley, who is the chairman and managing partner at EY UK, is concerned about a potential for conflict in its diverse workforce and argues that this may affect the company’s competitive advantage. With more than 15,000 employees in the UK alone, which ranges from trainees to experienced auditors, the company seeks to establish flexible working as a means to tap the best talents in the job market and to encourage its employees to deliver exceptional service to its clients. As a result, the company has started a flexible working programme (Barton 2016). The company hopes that by starting, its body of employees would not be forced out of their careers because the company cannot be sufficiently flexible to accommodate their diverse situations. A clear guiding philosophy for this is that if the company can get the best out of its employees by putting up with their needs, then it can as well put up with their individual benefits.” Part of the flexible working programme includes parental leave to enable employees to take care of their parental responsibilities (Barton 2016). Central issues in the case study The case study of EY provides sufficient evidence to explore the impacts on employee relations and work-life balance. At this level, an underlying issue of concern in the case study is whether flexible working programme can influence work-life balance and employee relations, and ultimately establish a performance culture and promote employee productivity. Case analysis A need for flexible working hours is seen to be emphasised by the managers at EY as a family-friendly policy. The company seeks to improve work-life balance and employee relations by providing employees flexibility in the workplace. Employee relations In the case study, the EY managers expected the flexible working programme to improve employee relations. It appears to have been concerned about the potential conflict that a diverse workforce portend, because of their ingrained differences in terms of marital status, age, and even gender. However, as Odhong and Omolo (2014) attempted to explain, the issue of employee relations is wide in scope and covers many areas of management, including employee participation and involvement, labour relations, industrial relations, employee-employee relationship, employee-employer relations, and employee communications. According to Abbott (2009), since the management expects that flexible working programmes would improve manager-employer relationship, it expects that the managers and employers would have a shared interest in the survival of their organisations, so that in the event of conflict, they would cooperate to minimise conflict. This perspective is supported by the Unitarism theory, which contends that when conflicts occur, cooperation among employees and the managers would not leave the company exposed to insolvency. It also argues that the rational management has to eliminate sources of potential conflict, including removing stressors and work-life conflict. In the case study, areas of concern include employee participation and involvement, as well as employee communications, employee relationship, and employee-employer relations. In other words, focus can be given to EY managers’ intention to change how the diverse employees interrelate at work to reduce conflicts. According to Odhong and Omolo (2014), employee relations are concerned with the varied aspects of how employees interrelate at the workplace. They described employee relations as the interaction among employees themselves, as well as with the employer. The managers at EY hoped that by introducing flexible working programmes, they would reduce employee-employee conflicts, employee-employer conflict, and work-life conflict. There is large body that supports the idea that lack of work-life balance is a cause of conflicts between workplace responsibilities, life responsibilities and employee relationships. As earlier established by Eatough (2010), poor well-being of employees at work is a major contributor to interpersonal conflict at work. He further explained that stressors that result from employee’s work life, such as inflexible conditions at work affect their general physical and psychological health that lead to interpersonal conflict. At this level, it becomes clearer that by implementing flexible working programme, EY could reduce employee stresses and interpersonal conflicts to improve employee relations. To this end, it is also reasonable to argue that EY’s managers were justified in their attempt to improve employee relations of their diverse workforce. Anafarta (2011) also viewed the conflicts in terms of work-family conflict and established that work-life balance potentially alleviated work-family conflict by reducing employee stresses. In a study by Mukhtar (2012), the researcher established that provision of instrumental and emotional support to employees at work had a positive effect in their relationships with other employees at work and people outside work, as it creates emotional satisfaction. The findings were consistent with those from a later study by Arif and Farooq (2014). More studies have also established a positive link between work-life balance and employee performance and relationship with other employees at work (Greenhaus et al. 2003; Beauregard & Henry 2009). As a result, a feeling of accomplishment of life’s responsibilities, such as fulfilment of parental roles, can lead to better employee relations, performance, and productivity. From a different perspective, it appears that the managers at EY hoped that by introducing flexible working programmes, they would reduce work stresses and make the company attractive to desirable talents and retain the right talent. This is clearly the reason EY hoped that by starting flexible working programmes, its body of employees would not be forced out of their careers, as the company would sufficiently accommodate their diverse situations and concerns. The issue of employee relations can, therefore, also be analysed based on the stresses at work, which have been found to contribute to employee conflicts. Evidences from literature suggest that employees with high work-life balance difficulties tend to experience higher levels of stress compared to those who tend to find a balance between work and life responsibilities (Nyangahu & Bula 2015; Nart & Batur 2013).Shagvaliyeva and Yazdanifard (2014) considers stress as occurring from working overtime, pressures at work to meet deadlines, as well as fears of failures. It happens when an individual lacks control over the place, time, and means of doing work. According to Shagvaliyeva and Yazdanifard (2014), instances of high stress levels may lead to physical and mental health problems, including depression, headaches, cancer, and heart attack. The researchers further explained that stresses also contribute to interpersonal conflicts at work, as stress is an antecedent of dissatisfaction among employees and disharmonious relationships that lead to work-life conflict. Apart from a need to reduce interpersonal conflicts and work stresses, it should be reasoned that at the centre of all these was the desire to realise the company’s long-term strategy of improving employees’ performance and organisational objectives. Indeed, with more than 15,000 employees in the UK alone, which ranges from trainees to experienced auditors, the company seeks to establish flexible working as a means to tap the best talents in the job market and to encourage its employees to deliver exceptional service to its clients. From this statement, it is clear that delivery of exceptional service to its clients corresponded to improved employee performance. According to Tansel and Gazioglu (2013), a good management-employee relationship can help create an employee base that is generally satisfied with work relations, as well as lead to improved employee performance. It also encourages employee engagement. Tansel and Gazioglu (2013) view job satisfaction as people’s subjective assessment of divergent dimensions of their job. Therefore, the higher level of job satisfaction may result from improved objective dimensions of job, including through flexible working hours, which downplay dissatisfying aspects. Work-life balance In the case study, the EY managers expected the flexible working programme to improve lead to work-life balance. By seeking to address the potential work-life imbalance due to the diverse workforce, it appears EY’s management was acting in response to the changing demography where the society has to contend with single-parent families, dual-earner couples, increased number of women at the workplace and individuals who have geriatric care responsibilities. According to Shagvaliyeva and Yazdanifard (2014), work flexibility means variation in places and times of work, as well as career breaks like maternity leaves, job-sharing, and part-time work. It is also observed that work flexibility provides convenience in planning rather than reducing the working time as means to motivating employees. In the case study, the managers were aware of this. For instance, Steve Varley is concerned with a potential for conflict in its diverse workforce and argues that this may affect the company’s competitive advantage. Therefore, flexibility in work could be considered to have been partially intended by EY managers to provide employees with a capability to control their working time duration or work location. The fulfilment of employee satisfaction and commitment through work-life balance can be analysed based on the Social exchange theory, which attempts to explain the relationship between work-life balance and commitment. It argues that work life balance policies encourage employee involvement in the organisation to a degree that they feel obligated to offer “extra effort,” hence increasing their levels of performance and organisational productivity (Azeem & Akhter 2014). Scholars like Susi and Jawaharran (2010) are adamant that the issue of flexible working hours for employees in modern-day cannot be overlooked in the human resource practices as a means to facilitate work-life balance and employee commitment. Shagvaliyeva and Yazdanifard (2014) support his claims by arguing that the shifting family patterns have flexible working hours to be favourable for both women and men. The idea that flexible working hours facilitates work-life balance was earlier explored by Susi and Jawaharran (2010). They found that work-life balance led to greater employee engagement. Therefore, the case study of EY attempts to show that today, flexible working hours have become significant for the workplaces. The company provides flexible working hours to employees because of the advantages anticipated from flexibility of the employees, as well as to the company. To the company, the anticipated benefits include greater employee productivity and profitability. To the employees, the anticipated benefits include work-life balance, reduced levels of stress, and improve employee wellbeing. Lazar et al. (2010) views work-life balance as consisting of practices that are purposeful organisational changes in organisational cultures or work programs to decrease work-life conflict and encourage employees to increase their effectiveness at work. In the case study, the decision to implement work-life balance seems to have been motivated by its relevance and significance to all employees, in spite of the number of children they have, their marital status of size or family. The managers at EY appear to acknowledge the idea that the expectations of the workforce at the workplace is changing dramatically because of the changing demographics. This is the reason managing the company’s diverse workforce is at the centre of the company’s flexible working programme strategy. The company acknowledge that men and women are today sharing parental responsibilities at work, and therefore, seek to ensure that men too can be provided with a 39-day parental leave like their female counterparts. Grandi (2012) seems to share the same ideas, as he argues that the increasing number of female workers in today’s workforce, as well as that of workers who could be considered part of a dual-earning couple has changed the expectations of the general workforce. In reaction to such shifts, organisations have begun to implement new practices into their human resource management, including seeking a balance of the work demands and the non-work-related activities, including “work-life balance” policies. Grandi (2012), therefore, provides a valid argument to rationalise one of the reasons EY was motivated to introduce work-life balance practices. Evidence from the case study shows that EY has a large workforce of more than 15,000 employees in the UK alone, which is highly diverse and ranges from trainees to experienced auditors with diverse expectations that must be implemented as a means to tap into the best talents in the job market and to encourage its employees to deliver exceptional service to its clients (Barton 2016). Therefore, part of the flexible working programme includes parental leave to enable EY employees in UK to take care of their parental responsibilities. Clearly, the company expected that by starting to follow the path of flexible working programme, it would help its diverse workforce to contend with the numerous demands on their time and advance the company’s attempt to recruit the right talent, and motivate and retain the large employee base. Existence of stress is, therefore, also linked to the well-being of employees. Shagvaliyeva and Yazdanifard (2014) view employees’ wellbeing to be linked to health and wellness as a result of absence of stress. They argued that it is the responsibility of the employer to create a working environment that encourages employee wellbeing, including by providing flexible working programmes to encourage work-life balance. From the case study, it is clear that EY’s managers intended to boost the physiological and mental wellbeing of their employees by bringing about work-life balance. Indeed, as explained by Steve Varley, who is the chairman and managing partner at EY UK, the managers believed that once they improved the physiological and mental wellbeing of the employees, including by providing them with motivation and a sense of satisfaction through the flexible working programmes, the employees would improve on their work performance and the organisation would realise improve productivity. For these reasons, EY introduced flexible working programme as a benefit for parent/caring employees while hoping to assist them fulfil their work and family responsibilities and achieve work-life balance. The relationship between flexible working programmes and work-life balance is supported by scholarly literature. In a study by Shagvaliyeva and Yazdanifard (2014), the researchers established that the flexible working practices had a potential to improve employees’ morale, which also has a positive impact on work-life balance. Additionally, when employees perceive that their employer is capable of and is willing to assist them to balance their work and life responsibilities, they are likely to experience high level of job satisfaction. Therefore, the case study of EY shows that flexible working programme is generally considered by employers as a means to increasing employee wellbeing, given that it assists employees to contend with work and life responsibilities. Conclusion As established, an underlying issue of concern in the EY case study is whether flexible working programme can influence work-life balance and employee relations, and ultimately establish a performance culture and promote employee productivity. A need for flexible working hours is seen to be emphasised by the managers at EY as a family-friendly policy. The company seeks to incorporate a culture of trust by providing employees flexibility in the workplace. A need for flexible working hours is seen to be emphasised by the managers at EY as a family-friendly policy. The company seeks to improve work-life balance and employee relations by providing employees flexibility in the workplace. The EY managers expected the flexible working programme to improve employee relations. It appears to have been concerned about the potential conflict that a diverse workforce portend, because of their ingrained differences in terms of marital status, age, and even gender. Additionally, the EY managers also expected the flexible working programme to improve lead to work-life balance. By seeking to address the potential work-life imbalance due to the diverse workforce, it appears EY’s management was acting in response to the changing demography where the society has to contend with single-parent families, dual-earner couples, increased number of women at the workplace and individuals who have geriatric care responsibilities. 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