Changing Work Patterns If the workplace of today could be characterized by a single theme, it would most likely focus on the continual presence of change. Dramatic changes in technology, the marketplace and the workforce have compelled organizations to re-evaluate not only the competitiveness of their products, but also the core ways in which work is performed. It is out of this pursuit for continued survival that organizations have been faced with the notion of varying work-schedules beyond the traditional hours of nine to five. This paper will explore the societal and business changes that have led to a proliferation in flexible work patterns. This paper will also address the benefits and disadvantages of flexible work patterns for both employees and employers. Demographic trends affecting the Australian labour pool have resulted in considerable workforce changes. The single most important change is the mass entry of women into the workforce, especially married women with children. Spurred initially by equal opportunity legislation, affirmative action and the women’s movement, the growth in women’s workforce participation has been sustained by increased education, a desire for personal fulfilment, economic necessity, and the high rate of divorce. The percentage of women in the workforce has increased from 50 percent in the 1970’s to 75 percent in 1998. Sixty-two percent of mothers with children under the age of six are employed, while 75 percent of mothers with children between the ages of six and seventeen are employed. Concurrently, new family structures have emerged, as the traditional “nuclear family” (single-earner husband, homemaker wife and children) has declined to minority status. The nuclear family description fit... ... middle of paper ... ..." feeling; there may be feelings of increased isolation and loss of social contact for flexible work pattern employees; hard feelings can develop among employees whose positions or personal circumstances do not allow them to have a flexible schedule. The benefits of flexible work arrangements, however, far outweigh these potential pitfalls. As more organizations begin to perceive these initiatives as strategic management tools, flexibility will move beyond its origin as an accommodation to working mothers. Simply put, companies intent on succeeding in the marketplace will be compelled to implement flexible work patterns. Such organizations will find that their potential for increased profitability is significantly affected by how skilfully they can integrate a variety of work-time and work-site options to create a climate of equitable flexibility for all employees.
Strachan, G., 2013. Still working for the man? Women's employment experiences in Australia since 1950. [Online]
The present structure of the average family in America is changing, mainly due to the growing number of mothers who now work outside the home. The current mark of dual-earner families stands at 64 percent, making it a solid majority today. This alteration of the "traditional" structure of the family is a channel for other changes that may soon occur.
Flextime - a versatile work program - permits individuals to determine on when they work, as long as they place in their total range of hours each week. Counting on the leader could mean complete freedom to style their work schedule, or having the ability to decide on from among many predetermined sets of choices. Two (or a lot of, though not sometimes the case,) workers could share one position, every worker operating some of the specified time. That way, individuals will hold, or still hold, the position they need, and still build time to play with young ones or aging oldsters, carry out of different family
This source explains the relationship between working overtime and the work-family conflict. With this source, they “investigated whether work-family conflict is prospectively related to adjustments in work schedules… in this relation”. (Jansen) They also wanted to prevent work- family conflict. They also know that balancing work and family is a challenge in today’s society for individuals. Consequences associated with work and family “job burnouts, psychological distress, depression, life dissatisfaction, elevated need for recovery from work, prolonged fatigue, and increased sickness absence”. (Jansen) The companies are starting to notices that employees are looking for other jobs that support them balance their work and family. Jansen used questionnaires to figure out the work-family conflict investigation. Each questionnaire was use with different types of working people. For example, the part-time and full-time workers. The results for the work-family conflict, “employees might adjust their working time arrangement to better reconcile work and family life…” (Jansen) They are considering their next research on the adjustments to “result in an improved work-family balance, improved health outcomes, and ultimately whether these adjustments prevent workers from leaving the labor force early.” (Jansen)
Since the 1970s, the percentage of women making up the United States labor force has increased dramatically, peaking in 1999 at 60%. According to the U.S. Bureau of Lab...
The development of the four-day workweek actually began in the 1970s as a theoretical practice to help organizations optimize operations while saving resources and improving worker quality of life (Poor, 2010). Beginning in the 1980s, the use of the four-day workweek began to accelerate and the Department of Labor began keeping records regarding outcomes for companies using this work arrangement (Poor, 2010). Although the Department of Labor continues to track alternative work arrangements, Poor contends that four-hour workweeks have morphed into flexible work arrangements with companies offering workers a wide range of programs to acquire time-off from the traditional 5/40 schedule. Even though efforts to evaluate the impact of the four-day workweek have shifted to a general classification of outcomes for flextime, the four day-workweek remains the principle tool used by organizations to offer ...
Rotating shift work has pervasive effects on the lives and experiences of individuals engaged in that kind of work.
...Sobal, and Bisogni (2003), participants characterized their jobs as including long hours, inflexible schedules, overtime work, and shift work that left them feeling that they did not have the necessary personal resources in the form of time or energy for routine household tasks such as preparing meals that met their own ideals.
Trying to maintain positive employee morale is a constant struggle for many organizations. People struggle with day to day life responsibilities. Many people have different personal and family obligations. Most organizations do not have time and schedule flexibility which becomes overwhelming for some employees. Employees can face setbacks or roadblocks due to lack of flexibility within an organization that can create poor attendance and work performance. These issues create many difficulties for an organization. Flextime benefits have shown to be both beneficial to the employee and organization. The concept of flextime is timely, important, and also controversial within the human management field. Utilizing flextime is a current human resource challenge. Flextime has both positives and negatives which will be further discussed below.
Definite changes in work patterns have been occurring over the past years. The number of Australians in paid employment is rising, for example from 1966 to 1998 the number of Australians in paid employment increased by 77%, from 4.8 million to 8.5 million. Employment rates for women are moving closer to rates for men, with an increase in the female employment rate across all age groups except the very young and the very old (and conc...
A flexible work schedule is the work schedule that allows employee’s discretion in order to accommodate personal concerns. There are dividing by three major types of work schedule flexibility, which are flexible work schedules, flexible work hours, and flexible work locations. A flexible work schedule is dependent on employee availability to cover all aspects of the jobs and all hours of the day during which a business makes the product or service customers. Flexible work schedule also allows an employee’s to work hours that different from the normal company start and stop time. Particularly in an environment for excluded employees, those hours are generally 8:00 am until 5:00 pm or 9:00 am until 6:00 pm and total a 40 hour work week. Flexible work hours is an alternative work schedule that allows a full-time employee’s to elimina...
Previously in this paper it was stated that flextime enables workers to achieve the same or greater productivity levels than standardized schedules. So with other factors being accounted for such as personality, seniority, financial sta...
The concept of flexibility has permeated much of current human resources management thinking, providing justification for recent developments in more flexible and variable working patterns. Its need arises from the following:
The advantage of telecommuting for some employees can be invaluable. One huge advantage an employee has when telecommuting is flexibility. Telecommuting allows for increased flexibility to coordinate work schedules with personal and family priorities. Flexible working arrangements improve quality and work done (Dudman, 2001). Achieving a balance between work and personal duties can help individuals gain more control over their lives.
Employees are increasingly interested in jobs with flexible work schedules. What factors are driving this interest?