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Flexibility on the workplace: crucial element for companies to consider

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Flexibility on the workplace: crucial element for companies to consider
Flexibility on the workplace: crucial element for companies to consider

In today`s fast changing world, enhancing transformation is crucial for survival of every business. Old practices are being replaced with new methods which change the working environment in terms of relations, competitiveness and benefits. Flexibility on the workplace is a concept that has been widely discussed and implemented in the past few years. The key objective of flexibility on the workplace is to “loosen up” the rigid processes used to determine fixed working conditions and tailor them according to the needs not only of the company, but of the employees as well. In other words, flexible working conditions break “the rule” that each employee should work for exactly given amount of hours, at a precisely given manner and from one given place. Flexibility on the workplace is not only beneficial, but crucial for the satisfaction of employees which leads to better performance and greater competitiveness of the company they work for.
Plenty of research has been done on this topic of flexibility and almost all of them show that in fact this working “method” has proven to have quite positive results (Stewart and Spatz, 1993). Among them, the Australian researchers Stewart and Spatz (1993), state that the significance that flexibility has on the productivity on the work place is not to be neglected and this is proven and accepted both by the employees and by the managers of the companies. Those companies that have implemented flexibility in their corporate structure have noticed the increased productivity immediately, while the other companies have started to consider it, but doesn`t completely believe that the productivity has been increased only due to flexibility (Stewart and Spatz, 1993).
From a psychological point of view, the employees who enjoy more flexibility at their job are more productive due to the lower level of stress and have more encouragement to be engaged in what they do



References: Butler, Adam B et al. (2009) Workplace flexibility, self-reported health, and health care utilization. Work & Stress; 23 (1), p. 45-59 Dastmalchian, Ali and Blyton, Paul (2001) Workplace Flexibility and the Changing Nature of Work: An Introduction. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 18(1), p.1-5 Eaton, Susan C. (2003) If You Can Use Them: Flexibility Policies, Organizational Commitment, and Perceived Performance. Industrial Relations, 42 (2), p.145-167 Grzywacz, Joseph G et al. (2008) Schedule flexibility and stress: Linking formal flexible arrangements and perceived flexibility to employee health. Community, Work & Family, 11(2), p.199-214 Hall. Douglas T. and Parker, Victoria A. (1993) The Role of Workplace Flexibility in Managing Diversity. Organizational Dynamics, 22(1), p. 4-18 McCrate, Elaine1 (2005) Flexible Hours, Workplace Authority, and Compensating Wage Differentials in the US. Feminist Economics , 11 (1), p.11-39 Richman, Amy L et al. (2008). The relationship of perceived flexibility, supportive work-life policies, and use of formal flexible arrangements and occasional flexibility to employee engagement and expected retention. Community, Work & Family, 11(2), p.183-197 Rodgers, Charles S. (1992) The Flexible Workplace: What Have We Learned? Human Resource Management, 31 (3), p.183-199 Stewart, Andrew and Spatz, Leah (1993) Flexibility in the Workplace: Some Preliminary Findings. International Journal of Employment Studies, 1 (1), p.102-114

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