Flexible Work Arrangement Design Proposal - Case Study Example

The Air Asia Company: Flexible Work Arrangement Design Proposal Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: The Air Asia Company: Flexible Work Arrangement Design Proposal for Pilots, Flight Attendants and Maintenance Workers Groups Introduction Flexible workplace entails work arrangements that incorporate the varying needs of the employees, as opposed to the traditional 8 hours 5 consecutive days per week work. It generally refers to a situation where the company management and employees join hands in deciding the working arrangements, including working hours, location of work and also the ways in which work is carried out. It entails thinking creatively with regard to how life at work could be planned to in order to conform to individual and business needs. Job flexibility is highly paramount for many employees, and flexible work options can substantially help in maintaining the morale of employees through enabling employees satisfy their individual needs and necessities while at the same time contributing to the value of organization (Hayman, 2009). In addition, offering flexible work options can also help in retaining and recruiting employees. The key objective of the Air Asia Company is to employ the skilled and experienced staff and not to lose any valuable staff, especially on pilots, flight attendants and maintenance worker group category as they are the key to the ultimate organization performance. This is because, replacing a staff could take up resources in respect to time and money, as well as cost related to continuity and business knowledge. If Air Asia Company does not adopt flexible work practices, specifically to pilots, flight attendants and maintenance worker group categories, such would result in lessening the pool of talent to the organization as the potential job candidates and employees would opt to seek jobs from other companies that offer flexible work arrangements, such as working on part time basis, sharing of job or working from home (Industrial Relations Victoria, 2007). Though, flexible work options, are not normally the employee entitlement the organizational managers are responsible of establishing such arrangements in order to satisfy the differing needs of employees thereby enhance the company’s competitive advantage (Mital, 2010). In this regard, the company should assign a strategic position on a flexible alternative or schedule in order to accommodate each employee requirements. The Benefits of Flexible Work Arrangement Flexible work places are highly beneficial to both the company and employees. It can help the company and employees in improving the way the work place operates. The creation of a flexible work place is significant for the Air Asia Company as it has various advantages. These include: It improves the company’s ability in attracting and retaining motivated and skilled employees. It enables the company to be regarded as the employer of choice, which gives the company a competitive edge upon the recruitment process. It helps to increase respect and trust among the employees towards the management. It enhances staff loyalty and higher returns on training investment. It helps reduce stress levels as well as improving morale and commitment It helps reduce employee turn over and absenteeism Increases management skills and identifying creative ways to work It improves productivity It is potential in improving occupational safety and health records Lastly, it assists in compliance with work place laws and antidiscrimination (Zeytinoglu, 2003; Russell, OʼConnell, & McGinnity, 2009). Barriers to Flexible Work Arrangements Nonetheless, there are various barriers that can restrain the company to accomplish the flexible work arrangements and work life balance practices. They include: Inadequate awareness concerning the company’s flexible work arrangements Inability of accessing flexible work arrangements Lack of understanding with regard to the benefits of work life balance (Zeytinoglu, 2003). Characteristics of Flexible Work Arrangement Prior to designing of an effective flexible work plan or arrangement, it is significant to outline the basic characteristics of the arrangement. The three main basic attributes of the arrangement are: i. A fixed core block of time of work on which employees are always at work. ii. A daily work starting time, which can vary within certain range. iii. A daily work end time, which can be adjusted each day depending on the start time of the respective day (Zeytinoglu, 2003). Flexible Work Arrangements Cost-Benefit Analysis Research has indicated that the higher the experience an employee has, the greater the cost of replacing such a person incase they opt to leave (Catalyst, inc., 1990; Russell, OʼConnell, & McGinnity, 2009). Actually, replacing a skilled and experienced employee would cost the organization 1.5 times their salary. These costs are expensed by paying out the entitlements of a departing employee, advertising the vacancy, carrying out process of selection as well as conducting training and development of the newly, recruited employee. Besides, there would be additional costs to be incurred through factors like loss of corporate knowledge and experience, inconsistency in service delivery and customer relationships, as well as the general impact of employee turnover in the work environment. In order to significantly decrease the employee turnover and the cost related to such, introducing and enhancing flexible work arrangements is highly essential. Notably, these arrangements do not need to be complex and prescriptive. There exists a broad range with regard to flexible work arrangement that can be adopted and promoted in the organization, with little cost (Catalyst, inc., 1990). Therefore, the management of Air Asia Company should understand that this program is not that expensive and does not involve much change on the organization’s operations. Essentially, they should understand that the benefits of planning and effectively implementing this arrangement outweigh the cost incurred to actualize it, to a large extent as shown in the figure below. Figure 1. Approximation cost-benefit effectiveness of flexible work arrangements: Value of the arrangement to Air Asia Company Cost of Flexible Work Arrangements Income/benefit gained Expense Amount per employee/annum Benefit Amount per employee/annum Employees needs assessment $13 Low employee turnover: Few frequent recruitment processes $30 Time wasted on leaves $1,800 Low absenteeism $4 Payment on leave $4,600 Retaining experienced & talented employees $10,150 Implementation cost $100 Regulations & unrest risk avoidance $14,600 Monitoring and Evaluation $87 Increased employee performance $25,500 Total $6,600 Total $50,284 Source: Mital, K. M. (2010). Flexible Work Options and Value Creation. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 11(4), 25-34. The Designing of Air Asia Company Flexible Work Arrangement Introducing a flexible work practice may initially seem difficult. However, through designing an effective plan and management having the willingness to try something new, this would be simple. Nevertheless, it requires much planning in order to assess varying employees’ needs, test options, and subsequently, develop implementation and controlling strategies (Industrial Relations Victoria, 2007). The Needs Assessment Flexible work arrangement requires catering for differing employees needs. Paying emphasis to the individual needs of organization employees and focusing on meeting those needs, would result to better work environment to everyone. A flexible workplace can assist the employees who may either be experiencing unpredictable health periods, necessity to attend medical appointment, need to fit in with the schedules of their carer’s, and those with a duty to take care of their children or relatives (Brandth & Kvande, 2001; Industrial Relations Victoria, 2007). The need assessment is to be completed through interviewing the employees individually or through, either holding employee meetings to discuss their needs, using tools like employees survey as well as holding focus groups. In addition, holding exit interviews with the employees who aspire to leave the organization is an essential tool for identifying gaps in the work place. Notably, communication is substantially paramount in designing effective flexible work practices, which would meet the needs of the employees in the organization. The Flexible Working Arrangement for various Workers Groups in the Company In order to accommodate work and personal needs in the Air Asia Company, the following figure provides information that gives an overview of the various arrangement options available. Figure 2. The Air Asia Company flexible working arrangement options for the pilots, flight attendants and maintenance workers groups Flexible Work Arrangements for Pilots Workers Group Career Break Employees would have the option of negotiating a fixed break period to undertake certain of activities while still holding a position with the Air Asia Company. Sharing of Job Some employees can be influenced to volunteer in sharing the responsibilities of on behalf of one full-time employee who maybe emergent leave with each one of them performing full sort of tasks on the part-time basis. Study and Research Assistance Scheme A research assistance scheme would be designed for the Air Asia Company employees who desire to conduct research activities that would improve their knowledge, skills and abilities. Extra Leave The Air Asia Company is to allow employees have between one to five weeks unpaid leave besides the other leave entitlement. Leave for Long Service Every staff member in Air Asia Company would be allowed to access a long service leave with full pay upon completion of a seven years’ continuous service. Maternity Leave Unpaid leave and paid would be made available upon maternity medication of an employee. In this regard, paid leave of three month would be made available for all eligible employees. Recreation Leave All full time employees of Air Asia Company would be entitled to twenty days recreation leave each year. Leave of recreation would be given on a half salary payment arrangement, depending on the service delivery requisites and financial concern. Sick Leave Every full time employee of Air Asia Company would be given a sick leave of 10 days each year. This could be used for self or caring basis. Provision of superannuation benefits for prior to retirement Employees would be allowed to access their retirement benefits before their year of retirement Parental Leave Upon producing a certificate from a qualified and approved medical practitioner that indicates the projected birth date of a child, whereby the specific staff has accepted responsibility, the employee would be entitled to a four week paid. Notably, the period of paid leave would not be extended unless the employee chooses to take half-pay leave. Flexible work arrangements for Flight Attendants workers group Age Retirement The Air Asia Company is to set no retirement age, especially to employees who have contributed to the value creation in the company while working in the company for more than 25 years. This is also to embrace anti-discrimination. Employee Assistance Service The company is to offer confidential, basic counseling services to the employees, with no charges in order to assist them in resolving work and personal, related issues. Provision of superannuation benefits for prior to retirement Employees would be allowed to access their retirement benefits before their year of retirement Parental Leave Upon producing a certificate from a qualified and approved medical practitioner that indicates the projected birth date of a child, whereby the specific staff has accepted responsibility, the employee would be entitled to a four week paid. Notably, the period of paid leave would not be extended unless the employee chooses to take half-pay leave. Study and Research Assistance Scheme A research assistance scheme would be designed for the Air Asia Company employees who desire to conduct research activities that would improve their knowledge, skills and abilities. Flexible work arrangements for maintenance workers group Workplace Equity and Harassment Issues Network A network would be established to assist in addressing issues of equity discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Breastfeeding and Work Employees who need to breastfeed their child would be enabled to utilize flexible work, through some specified leave or break arrangements so as to breastfeed their child. Special Leave Special Leave would be given for various reasons, including: • Donations of blood; • Training; • Sporting competition; • Flood, bushfire storm and cyclone; and • Cultural leave; Special leave is to be approved on a personal basis and would not be accrual entitled. The nature of leave requested would determine the leave duration to be approved. Special Leave may either be paid leave or unpaid leave. Part-time work basis Part time arrangement would be made available. A preset roster would be designed to enhance its practicability. Lengths of variable shift Variable shift lengths would be more than four hours but should not exceed 10 hours, unless influenced by a specific industrial instrument Negotiation This entails working with three worker groups’ representatives, including flight attendants, pilots and maintenance workers, in order to inform them of the suitable, selected flexible work arrangement, encourage their discussion and criticism, and ultimately negotiate with them in order to agree of the most suitable and effective flexible work arrangement, which suits both the company and the respective work groups. It is highly paramount to consider employees perspectives and insights as the arrangement directly aimed for them. The issues to be negotiated upon include: a) The key implementation issues like communication, access to training, attending staff meeting, working in varying hours in emergencies. b) The employees views on their perceived barriers and strategies of addressing them. This would involve consulting the coworkers and supervisors of the employees. c) The specific performance measures so as to make sure that both the company and employees can assess whether the flexible arrangement is working. d) Finalizing the flexible work arrangement through setting up a written individual, flexible work arrangements agreement together with the employees (Catalyst inc., 1990). Upon agreeing on the arrangements, flexible work arrangements and effective work place policy would be drafted. This would communicate the responsibilities in respect to flexible work arrangement and the steps of putting them into place. Furthermore, in setting up flexible work arrangements in the company, the management should consider if the industrial resources has the capacity to accomplish this initiative. In some cases, it would be better to negotiate either with an individual employee or a collective agreement with all the organization employees. Such can be achieved through the employees’ trade union or directly with employees. Essentially, formal agreements normally provide a higher scope of work place flexibility (Hayman, 2009). Implementation While adopting and implementing flexible work arrangements, the company should incorporate some various factors. The first one is the trial period in order to test drive how the flexible work arrangements work in practice. The second one is the regular discussion of the emerging issues together with the employees and coworkers. The third one entails reviewing the flexible work arrangements in order to assess whether it is successful. This should be done in the first week, and later once in a month consistently (Reilly, 2001). Monitoring and Evaluation It is highly significant for the Air Asia Company to enhance on monitoring and evaluation of the flexible work arrangements execution and success. Monitoring and evaluation entails tracking the progress of the flexible work arrangements program and subsequently making changes accordingly. The plan of evaluation of the flexible work arrangements practices should be done on a regular basis. This should involve some activities. Firstly, setting up a feedback process for employees and coworkers, which is confidential, in order to evaluate the flexible work arrangements and the supervisor’s ability to manage it. Secondly, assess specific, flexible work arrangements training needs for all the organization’s employees. Thirdly, Survey the organization stakeholders in order to determine and identify their perception in regard to the impact of flexible work arrangement. Lastly, check the individual and team work performance measures as well as objectives that have been achieved (Mital, 2010). Through the use of the information received from the evaluation program, the management should focus on the entire weaknesses and strengths of the flexible work arrangements practices, and consequently formulate strategies in response. An effective strategy would be to enhance more training or provision of resources to the supervisors, employees or coworkers so as to better facilitate the success of the flexible work arrangement. The Conclusion Flexible work arrangement and plans could initially be complex to administer. Therefore, it is highly essential that such arrangement be adequately documented and understood by managers and employees who fall under flight attendants, pilots and maintenance workers work groups in the Air Asia Company. Other work arrangements can be developed in order to fit the unusual and unique work requirements. Notably, there lie many benefits to both the company and employees upon a successful designing and implementation of flexible work arrangement. The arrangement is highly potential in enabling the company gain a competitive edge as a result of highly motivated and retained employees. Therefore, the Air Asia Company management should look forward to implementing this flexible work arrangement design proposal. Failure to this, would put the company under risk of high employee turnover, low employee motivation in the workplace, and ultimately, declining overall organizational productivity and performance. The current employees might decide to depart an organization that does not seem to institute flexible work policy. For instance, some may opt to leave for other organizations that offer flexible work arrangements while some may focus on self employment. Essentially, people with disability issues would basically require job redesigning, in order to allow a higher flexibility of work loads and time. Also, they should be allowed to work from home and be enabled to access flexible leave arrangements. The management should also take into account the minimum entitlements of the employees pay as stipulated by government regulations and policies while designing the organization’s flexible work arrangements. References Brandth, B., & Kvande, E. (2001). Flexible Work and Flexible Fathers. Work Employment Society, 15(2), 251-267 Catalyst, inc. (1990). Flexible work arrangements: Establishing options for managers and professionals. New York, NY: Catalyst. Greenberg, D., & Landry, E. M. (2011). Negotiating a flexible work arrangement: How women navigate the influence of power and organizational context y. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 1188(January), 1163-1188. Hayman, J. R. (2009). Flexible work arrangements: exploring the linkages between perceived usability of flexible work schedules and work/life balance. Community Work Family, 12(3), 327-338. Industrial Relations Victoria. (2007). Work and family Balance Manual: Better Practices for Better Business. Accessed on November 2, 2012. From: http://ways2work.business.vic.gov.au/data/assets/pdf_file/0015/153204/Work-and- Family-Balance-Manual.pdf Mital, K. M. (2010). Flexible Work Options and Value Creation. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 11(4), 25-34. Reilly, P. A. (2001). Flexibility at work: Balancing the interests of employer and employee. Aldershotd: Gower. Russell, H., OʼConnell, P. J., & McGinnity, F. (2009). The Impact of Flexible Working Arrangements on Work – life Conflict and Work Pressure in Ireland. Gender Work Organization, 16(1), 73-97. ESRI. Shockley, K. M., & Allen, T. D. (2010). Investigating the missing link in flexible work arrangement utilization: An individual difference perspective. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76(1), 131-142. Elsevier Inc. Zeytinoglu, I. U. (2003). Flexible work arrangements: Conceptualizations and international experiences. The Hague: Kluwer Law International. Read More