Human resource is fundamental to the success of any entity in the world, commercial or otherwise hence the continued advancement of human resource management (HRM) capabilities. One of the fundamental prerequisites of effective HRM is the understanding of the human nature of this fundamental resource. Humans have lives outside the workplace whose quality will automatically have ramifications on the workplace. A happy, satisfied and balanced human being amounts to a better, more focused and more productive employee with the inverse being just as true. Implementing flexible scheduling also known as job flexibility is one of the approaches that HRM professionals are initiating to handle this predicament with the four day work week being considered where possible (Morgan, 2015). Albeit there may be other benefits emanating from the implementation of flexible scheduling, its key purpose is improving the livelihoods of employees thus making them more effective.
The contemporary place of work involves a regular 9 AM to 5PM, Monday to Friday working day which amounts for a forty hour week. Whereas this arrangement generally seems to work having been in place for generations, its rigidity has been a scheduling problem for many as employee just as its monotony is wearing. A lot of working hours end up getting wasted when an employee has obligations outside the workplace that cannot be handled outside the working hours like an appointment with the dentist or the teacher for the working parent. It is to combat some of these predicaments and also resolve the issue of robot-like tendencies occasioned by fixed working hours that job flexibility was created (Morgan, 2015).
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A perfect example of this working format is Results Only Oriented Environment (ROWE), a budding form of job flexible employment that remunerates workers according to performance rather that the amount of time served. Other examples involve scenarios like when an employee can elect to work longer hours on a Monday and a Wednesday when there is something pressing on the Tuesday that may take some time off work. Another example is a job that allows the elements of work that can be done off-station to be carried out at home or another place of the employee’s choosing subject to supervisory approval.
The availability of online infrastructure and the nature of most government related services has mutated to an extent that it is not mandatory for a worker to be in an office for service provision to be realized. The filing of taxes and most government related enquiries can be handled online with any demand for personalized service being handled through a voice call or interactive internet services like video conferencing. The federal government is therefore specifically qualified to lead the way in the implementation of flexible scheduling with its success acting as an incentive for the business worlds to follow suit.
Among the earliest forms of job flexibility was the implementation of the 4 day work week which has been done experimentally for over half a century in different sectors more so in elementary education institutions where the normal learning day would be extended for four days with the fifth day becoming an extra rest day to save on transport and staff costs. The pilot implementation of a full throttle four day week was implemented by the government of Utah for the employees of its executive branch in 2008 where majority of the workers adopted a four day working week with each day having ten working hours.
The experimental implementation worked with passable success until 2011 when it was curtailed by the state legislature. It is however worthy of notice that any job flexibility that came about from the Utah state government model of the four day week and indeed other models was a consequence, not an objective of the plan. The main objective of the four day week was cutting costs for the employer in amenities like lighting and transport (Loftin, 2011). It can therefore, only be loosely referred to as job flexibility from a very loose definition of the word.
Real job flexibility is a product tailor-made to cater for the job satisfaction and quality of life of employee through terms of service that give the employee a level of choice with regard to working hours as well as a form of supervision that is supporting towards the employees non-work related schedules and plights. A good job flexibility program will enable an employee to fulfill all work related obligations within a reasonable schedule that is capable of adjusting when need be thus making the work environment result oriented as opposed to working schedule oriented.
Sociological studies have shown that over 70% of the American working class has a serious problem with balancing between work and family related obligations which are either relegated to the weekends, early mornings or late evening. The Utah experiment was a great success in terms of availing more time for family and leisure related activity for the over 18,000 state employees who suddenly found themselves with an extra free day after the introduction of the four day working week (Loftin, 2011). Ryan Walker, then a 49 year old information technology director commended the four day week programs as they would give him time to perform family related obligations (that he called honey-dos) that had erstwhile been neglected. Rose Kenworthy, who was then a 58 year old executive secretary at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality also commended the program as it would create what she called a “three day weekend” that would give her ample time for rest, recreation and playing with her grandchildren. The same positive opinion was shared by Sheldon Wood, a 48 year old Utah state tax software designer.
However, the shutting down of most public offices on Fridays in Utah created a problem for those who required government amenities on the particular day yet the four day work would only make financial sense to the government through the complete closure of some offices to save on amenities. The parents in schools that experimented on four day work week complained about having to make fresh arrangements for transport and for nanny’s on Fridays.
Whereas the four day week works exceedingly well for employees, it seems a challenge for the end users of the services do produced and would may also lead to losses if implemented in the business world. Since the merits of a four working day beats the demerits, sensitization of the clientele of any organization seeking to implement it should be undertaken coupled with a gradual implementation that gives the clientele time to adjust including organizing for transport and nanny care for school children. All change comes at a cost and unless everyone opts to sacrifice in one way or the other, change will never be realized.
In conclusion, Victor Marie Hugo, among the greatest of French poets and writers once stated that an idea whose time has come cannot be stopped even by the mightiest of armies. Flexible scheduling is an idea whose time has come and cannot be stopped; it may have been halted in Utah in 2011 by a political organization to the detriment of the workers who had already adjusted to it but since it is necessary and expedient, it will surely come to pass. There are many challenges pertaining to its implementation that will need to be adjusted and organized coupled with a progressive introduction that involves research and fine-tuning measure but if the federal government takes the first step and leads by example, the implementation of job flexibility will eventuality become a reality. A contended employee is a hard and smart working employee thus a system that keeps the employees happy and contented is good for all the parties involved including the employer.
References
Loftin, J. (2011). Utah ends 4-day workweek experiment, but Provo says it still works for them. Deseret News: Associated Press
Morgan , H. ( 2015). 3 benefits of workplace flexibility. Retrieved from <http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2015/10/10/3-benefits-of-workplace-flexibility/>
