Fixed Versus Flexible Working Hours in Workforce Management

Flexible working hours have been found to lead to a happier workforce, and to far better customer service and share valuations. However, there is a fear that implementing flexible working hours is complicated and that it could lead to a flood of impossible demands from employees.

Before we look at flexible working hours in more detail, let us take a brief look at the standard working hours.

Working Hours for Employees

Working hours for employees have changed dramatically over the last two centuries. Back in the nineteenth century when industrialization started in Europe, workers were compelled to work even 16 hours a day. In twenty-first century France, however, the government had fixed working hours at 35 hours a week.

Most industrialized countries have regulated the workweek by stipulating the maximum number of working hours per week, minimum daily rest periods, annual holidays and sickness pay. The standard is around 40 working hours per workweek, typically Monday through Friday. Paid vacations range from three to five weeks a year.

Long working hours can lead to stress-related health problems, less time for busy parents to attend to child-rearing, and less leisure to enjoy consumer products and services. Henry Ford introduced low working hours so that his employees would have the leisure to buy and enjoy the cars he produced.

Flexible Working Hours and its Impact

One major problem with fixed working hours is that employees find it difficult to balance the demands of their personal lives and work lives. Flexible working hours can lead to better work/life balance and result in a happier workforce.

Flexible working hours can come in different forms such as:

Part-time working that enables an employee to be free during business hours to attend to personal matters. For employers, it could mean engaging employees during peak workload hours, and reducing overall payroll costs
Flexi-time working where employees work extra time when needed by employers and bank the extra hours/days off for arranging their personal commitments
Annualized hours is an arrangement where times worked and times off are balanced across the year as a whole. Extra hours are worked during peak business seasons and less during lean seasons. Employers can retain experienced employees instead of hiring inexperienced casual or contract staff
Customized flexible working hours during special events to enable employees watch, say, world cup matches and yet meet their work time requirements


Studies have indicated that flexible working hours produce tangible benefits to employers in the forms of:

Reduced absenteeism and employee turnover
Lower recruitment costs as they can retain their existing staff
Higher staff morale leading to better work performance, customer service and even company stock performance


A survey even revealed that employees preferred flexible working hours to substantial additional pay.

Implementing Flexible Working Hours

Employers must know when they have peak workloads, needing more employees. This is not too difficult to assess with today's technologies like EPOS and computerized systems that can record transaction times.

Once the requirements are identified, flexible rostering software can generate rosters to fit the workload. This software would then help to optimize the rosters to meet:

Work contract requirements
Sociability factors, and
Employee work preferences to the extent possible

Where employee preferences cannot be met in full, the software would show the employees why this happened. This creates greater trust in the employees that their needs are being genuinely attended to.

Conclusion

The standard practice so far has been fixed working hours arranged in different shifts. This can lead of difficulties in balancing employees' personal and work life demands. Flexible working hours help better work/life balance and lead to a happier workforce. A happier workforce results in less absenteeism, better customer service and higher stock performance.

Advantages Of Time Management

The advantages of time management include reducing stress, gaining time, reducing avoidance, while promoting reviews and eliminating cramming. Another advantage is that managing time helps us to stay motivated while we avoid procrastination.

The trick to successful time management is setting up goals that work, while having an awareness of those goals and prioritizing your list of goals. When you set up an effective time management plan, you are growing and upholding a personal commitment to yourself, with the ability to be more flexible.

When you have a great time management plan, you are giving yourself an individual chance to, to generate a timetable that works to suit your busy caseload. When you create a good plan, you will soon find time to do all the things that matter most to you in life. In addition, when you have a good time management plan, you are saving your health.

Plans have a schedule timed, which includes all the activities you are responsible to handle. Your Master Timetable should include all the most important activities you are responsible to handle. It is important that you modify this schedule according to your time changes. When you set up a Master Timetable, you will need to list the priorities first, and work your way down to the least important tasks.

It is important that you follow as you write the tasks first listed. In other words, if you state on your Master Timetable that you need to write up some documents for your business, then do this task first and proceed to the next task. Try to avoid handling multitasking at once, unless it is your job and you are sufficient, and have laid out a time management plan.

You will also need to include meals, sleep, family, friends, yourself, and other tasks if you they are a part of your time management. By setting up a Master Timetable, you can work out your time scheme by working through the list on the time chart. Try to avoid skipping a scheduled task, or procrastinating, since this will only delay your plan.

It is important to keep in mind, that time is essential. When we waste time, we are wasting money. After you have laid out a suitable Schedule Timetable, you will soon learn that your motivation has increased, while your progress is moving ahead. In addition, you will soon find that your stress level is at a normal state. When you are not focused, or do not have a time management plan, you are only hurting yourself in the long run.

Most people without a time management plan often suffer with poor health, insomnia, and other discomforting issues. Some people even find themselves in court waiting for the judge to say “You are now divorced.” So you can see that time management is important since it affects everyone around you, but most of all, it affects you.

A final tip: Exercise and eating right plays an essential role to time management, since when you feel good, you work well under a management plan.