Flexible working time and work life balance

Flexible giveing while and conk liveness balanceThe male breadwinner model, which puts an emphasis on the household as the womans line of business and the die swan as the mans sphere, no prolonged defines how most(prenominal) families divide drive among men and women (Crompton 2006). The alternate magnitude lay outicipation of women in the labor market, along with technological change and globalization, postulate dramatic every last(predicate)y changed the structure of the labor market, and redeem most likely changed how workers balance their life between work and family. (copy)Good as salutary up compromising works practices brought upon by an increasing affect for work-life balance which have been largely if non exclusively due to external forces that be beyond the control of organisations. However, all organisations operate and seek to subscribe in the environments that are continuously subjected to change. These changes lavatory have a marked effect on a n organisation, its performance, even its survival. Meanwhile, time after time, organisations react to the drivers of change by taking short-term or knee jerk decisions that predictably have an effect on the way work is organised.What is work life balance? cogitation life balance is employment ground on emergent overbold values, which doesnt discriminate against those with pity or otherwise non- work responsibilities, and which stomachs an opportunity for people to have their full electric potential in work and non work domains. Lewis (19961)harmonize to a recent study by Georgetown University, employee stress from trying to find time for their children correlates with decreased productiveness and increased absenteeism. The study found that unplanned absence seizures were costing about businesses nearly $1 million a year.Thus, HR specialists are trying in m whatsoever attempts to abet employees reach work-life balance by introducing invigorated works strategies. One of the se strategies is elastic running(a) time. Flexible scheduling allows employees to adjust the time or place their work as completed. It can mean compressing 40 hours into four days, nonplusing and ending workdays at variant times, or doing virtually of your work at theater. The reason whitethorn be as unreserved as wanting to better manage a long commute. Some parents choose to arrive at work later so they can mesh their children to school. Some companies whitethorn offer these options to retain effeminate person employees who might consider leaving their personal line of credits after having children. But is it really that waxy time always helps to come across work-life balance? Does employee prefer to manage his/her time or like to be committed to a under dribble timing because he/she may non be able to manage time, which leads to a more spile and imbalance? And which of these dickens options will increase the productivity?This research brings together material from diverse sources to provide an overview of recent research, current thinking and future debates on the key work-life policy issues, especially those which affect organizations in Bahrain.To build an informed policy debate on work-life balance issues in Bahrain, more Bahraini establish research is essential.Chapter Two Literature review2.1 Work-life balanceThe (phrase) Work- vivification parallelism was originated as a consequence of the Family pally Policies that were introduced in the 1970s and 1980s in UK, primarily as a retention tool for women, and since hence it has become a widespread concept. With this, they were for women and about women. To avoid the pitfall of being viewed as discriminatory and the need to bring a more, all-inclusive significance into these policies, they were renamed as work-life balance policies. Since the 1970s, the UK political science has introduced several governmental changes to beef up and to protect the castigates of workers. In response to these changes, demands from employees as also from customers who want a larger business window a large number of organizations in the UK, have today introduced varied and innovative Work-life balance policies. The brass continues to play a key manipulation in ensuring that (WLB) continues to gain momentum through legislation, financial incentives and support and promotion of best practices (Milburn, 2003).** DTI (2003) Work and Parents engagement and Choice Department of Trade and Industry, London.2.2 What is Work life Balance?Meanwhile, the definition of Work-life balance is about people having a peak of control over when, where and how they work (DTI, 2003). This is achieved when an undivideds serious to a fulfilled life inside and outside nonrecreational work is accepted and respected as the norm, to the mutual put on of the individual, business and society.work life balance emphasizes on the adjustment of working patterns, and it focuses on the need for every wholeness , regardless of age, race or gender, to find a pace (that suits them) to help them combine work with other responsibilities or aspirations. Work-Life Balance has an important underlying implication that Work-Life Balance is for everyone, not just for mothers or families and is critical in not just maturateing policies unless also in reviewing them and their bear upon on employees (Alexandra, 2003), thats why the idea that employers should enhance flexibility has been promoted recently.Within the UK, The rush Minister Tony Blair launched the Work-Life Balance conjure, in b arrangement 2000. The aim of the campaign was in two-fold. First, to convince employers of the economic benefits of work-life balance (this was do by the employment of real-life example studies). Secondly, to convince employers of the need for change (DTI, 2003).Work-life concerns are simply added to an organizations bundle of practices that are designed to benefit agonistical strategy to aid attraction a nd retention in tight labor markets, reduce high levels of absenteeism, and ca-ca long-term relationships with employees based on commitment and productivity.2.3 The need for a work-life balanceAs individuals, are all expected to play multiple habits, i.e. employee, boss, spouse, parent, child, sibling, friend, and community member. In turn, each of these roles imposes demands on us that necessitate time, energy and commitment to fulfill. The fighting of work-family or work-life happens when the cumulative demands of these many work and non-work life roles are miss-assorted in some respect so that participation in one role is make more difficult by participation in the other role (Duxbry and Higgins, 2001). Duxbry and Higgins conceptualize work-life conflict to include areas such as, role constipate (RO) (having too much to do and too little time to do it in) as well as role interference (when in harmonious demands adopt it difficult, if not impossible, for employees to perfor m all their roles well).Additionally, role interference can be divided into two factors family to work interference (FTW) and work to family interference (WTF). With the kickoff aspect, interference occurs when the roles and responsibilities of the family abash the work related responsibilities (i.e., a family illness prevents at scatance at work conflict at home makes concentration at work difficult). With the latter case (WTF) interference occurs when work demands make it harder for an employee to fulfill their family responsibilities.2.4 backcloth to Flexible Working RightsIn April 2003 employees in the UK were first given the right to request flexible working. In the modern work environment, the introduction of these new rights helped to point up that traditional working patterns could no longer be sustained by employers and that there was a need to address the work/life balance. Organizations already facing skills shortages would find recruitment and indeed retention made harder if a more flexible advent to working patterns was not adopted.Suite of RightsThe flexible working rights which were established were significant in themselves, however, they formed part of a new set of rights which sought to create a more family friendly work environment. Until April 2003, individual parental rights were primarily limited to gestation period abjure for a new mother giving her the right for a chip in, the right for parents to take emergency time off for dependants (not just limited to children) and to take up to 13 weeks parental retire from, which had been introduced in December 1999.In April 2003, however, the following new rights were introducedThe right to maternity withdraw from was extended considerably so that, for the first time, all employees (regardless of their length of service) were entitled to 26 weeks maternity take leave and those with more than a years service acquired the right to 52 weeks maternity leave.Fathers also gained rights, a lbeit limited to 2 weeks paternity leave, on the birth of their child.Extraordinary new rights were given to those seeking to adopt, with statutory adoption leave and statutory paternity leave, giving rights reflecting maternity and paternity leave, for adopting parents.It is significant (and perhaps indicates the extent to which this Government is astute to support working parents) that the next item on the flexible working agenda, announced in 2004, is the chess opening of allowing flexible maternity leave between parents instead of only a mother having the right to take up to 52 weeks maternity leave, there is the vision of some limited swapping of the right to maternity absence as between the mother and father of the child.Before these revolutionary new rights in 2003, the ability of any employee to work flexibly or indeed part-time was very much limited to circumstances where an employer agree through good will or good practice to such an arrangement. Critics of the flexible working rights ask that the new provisions have not moved this position forward because all they provide is a right to request and to have that request considered seriously. Before they existed, however, there were only two circumstances where flexible working patterns of any sort could be enforcedFirstly, where an individual was a disabled employee and could demonstrate that some form of adjustment to their working hours or duties and working arrangements amounted to a reasonable adjustment which their employer was grateful to make in accordance with the disability discrimination.Secondly, and only as a way of challenging a refusal, female employees could argue that in respect of part-time working, a refusal to agree to part-time work was contrary to the charge up discrimination. This is on the basis that it can be shown that a practice within an organization prohibiting part-time working (or indeed a practice allowing only full-time working) operates to the greater disadvantage of women than men and thus go within the concept of indirect sex discrimination.Why was it Implemented?The history that reflects the flexible working laws introduced in 2003 goes back a number of years. In June 2001, the UK Government established a Task Force whose role was to consider specifically the issues which working parents face in particular the Task Force was to consider how to embolden parents in meeting their desire for flexible working patterns, whilst at the same time remaining compatible with the need for business efficiency and requirements.The establishment of the Task Force was against the background of a unpaid campaign and Government funding to encourage employers and businesses to address work/life balance issues. In March 2000, the Prime Minister launched a campaign known as the Work/Life Balance Campaign with a view to persuading organizations to improve the lot of working parents in such a way as to up to now continue achieving business and customer requir ements. The original campaign was not in fact focused upon parents, but looked at all employees regardless of whether they had caring responsibilities or not. It was significant, however, in recognizing that the attitude, culture and philosophy of workers had moved on considerably from the ambitious society of the 1980s and 1990s.According to information from the Department of Trade and Industry, the Work/Life Balance Campaign was accompanied by a test fund which, in the run up to the introduction of legislative requirements and legal obligations, encouraged employers to introduce and develop innovative working arrangements. By share to fund consultancy support, projects were undertaken with work/life balance in mind, including the introduction of new working patterns as well as specific recruitment projects. Over the three years from 2000 to 2003, the Work/Life Balance repugn fund benefited employers to the sum of 10.5 million.In its identify on 19 November 2001, the Government Task Force made nine recommendations to the Government, many of which were translated to form the basis of the new legislation.In addition to the campaign and the recommendations of the Task Force, the Government had also informed itself of the views of the working population, through the issue of a green paper Work and Parents Competitiveness and Choice. This consultation paper was issued in December 2000. The responses to the consultation paper made clear that whilst improving maternity and indeed paternity rights (such as parental leave) would be of benefit to working parents, by far the most popular and indeed significant benefit was improved flexibility to meet child consider and work responsibilities. build up with these responses and the Task Force report About Flexible Working, the Government tabled parts of the Employment Act 2002 which resulted in implementation of significant new flexible working rights, implemented through an amendment to the Employment Rights Act 1996 and two sets of regulations.Demographic ChangesDemographic changes have played a significant role in impressing the need for organizations to develop more varied and non-traditional working patternsWith the ageing population, many more people are finding that they have caring responsibilities such as looking after elderly or disabled relatives.As we are all living longer, more individuals are becoming disabled, according to the Employers Forum on Disability in UK.With the move away from extended families and as people become more mobile, so they are not living close to relatives and parents, those with children are less able to rely on grandparents or other relatives to help with child care responsibilities.The percentage of women who have taken up employment has increased.The trend for life expectancy, although different for men and women, has increased by roughly cinque years.The Business CaseSo much for the demographic changes, but there are also business benefits for organizati ons which offer new or more flexible working arrangements, peculiarly given the high skills shortage in the UK and more older people who themselves are keen to work but may prefer or indeed require more flexibility.Employers may be surprised to know that for some individuals the ability to work flexibly is more important than the make up or benefits that a particular job may provide. In an online poll carried out by reed Recruitment in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry in UK as part of its Work/Life Balance Campaign 2002, a third of those polled (out of 4,000 people) expressed a preference for having the opportunity to work flexibly, rather than having a 1,000 pay rise (Reed.co.uk). Over 43% of the men who responded to the poll selected flexible working as the benefit they would most look for in a new job, compared to 13% who would look for a company car, and 7% who considered gym membership to be the priority.Adopting family friendly and flexible working poli cies has the following advantages for employers safekeeping of stave is the key to the stability and knowledge of the organization. Knowledge is lost when somebody leaves and networks are broken. This can be critical in a small business where major customers can go elsewhere when an employee, who understands their involve and whom they trust, moves on to a competitor.The typical recruitment be of replacing an individual have been estimated at an sightly 3,500, ranging from 1,000 for an unskilled manual worker to over 5,000 for a professional employee. These costs do not take account of the investment made in training (both formal and informal training) which is lost if skilled employees leave the workplace, as well as lost time and pass. Consequently, it makes commercial sense to try and retain staff rather than recruit new staff Labor Turnover, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, October 2000.Savings in absenteeism. Absenteeism costs approximately 500 per employee a year. A quarter of employers rank home and family responsibilities as one of the five main causes of sickness absence.Employers that help their employees to balance their work with their family lives see improvements in business performance (Cheibl, L. and Dex.S, 1998). It enables businesses to benefit from a greater contribution from the workforce and maximizes the contributions that working parents are able to make to their employers.A strengthened track record in work/life balance can be a exchange point to potential employees who consider that such a balance is important.Many employers sees benefits from flexible working and leave arrangements includingimproved employee propitiation and motivationimproved retention rates and recruitment benefitsincreased employee productivity decrease labor turnoverimproved reputationReduced absenteeism.All of which provide improved business results. later on having introduced the new rights for parents in 2003, a conform to was conducted and analysis of how successful the new rights have been within the UK (Employment dealing Occasional Papers Results of the First Flexible Working Employee Survey, Tom Palmer, Department of Trade and Industry). The outcome of that report demonstrated that one million parents had made requests for flexible working. That is only a quarter of those who are eligible, significance that three million who could have made such a request have not done so. Perhaps significantly, it seems that employers when faced with such requests do not have any major difficulty acceding them. 80% of those employees requesting flexible working had their request agreed. The shortfall of those pursuing their new rights and the three million who have not, may be explained by the surveys statistics which demonstrate that 52% of parents who are eligible are unaware in the first place that they have the right to request flexible working.The Government has declared an intention to extend these new rights beyond parents with children under six. However, the success and significance of new rights such as these can only be measured when individuals become fully aware of their abilities. The fact that 10% of employees without dependent children were reported in the survey to have requested flexible working, suggests that there is a need on the part of individuals without children to gain this benefit. In organizations where requests were made, despite that individuals did not always have the statutory right, the reasons for the change warrant examination13% quoted work life balance11% cited family responsibilities11% simply because they wanted more free time (i.e. voluntary and not driven by childcare or family pressures)7% because of travel arrangements7% to meet the caring needs of relatives or friends6% due to health problems.As these statistics demonstrate therefore, an organizations ability to offer flexible working arrangements provides a significant benefit to an extremely wide pool of actual or potential employees.This may, however, just be the tip of the iceberg. What the survey does not analyze is how many individuals simply do not pursue a request. In the Equal Opportunity Commissions Annual Report for 2003-2004 (available at www.eoc.org.uk) four in ten mothers, one in ten fathers and one in five carers have left an organisation or refused a job because of caring responsibilities. This suggests that there are many who do not have confidence in their organizations willingness to accommodate them.What Can be Requested?The statutory request for flexible working, which essential be in writing and must be dated (Regulation 4), can request a variety to the individuals contract in one of the following waysa change to the hours of worka change to the time when the work is required (for example, the same eight hour day but an early start and early finish)a change to the place of work as between home and place of business.The statutory provisions do not go beyond thes e fairly focused and limited flexible arrangements. postal code within any of the provisions appear to prevent the employee seeking a change to more than one of the above, for example to reduce hours and work from home.What other scholars saidGiven the competing demands of work and life, it is unsurprising that many employees experience conflict between the two domains. Work-life conflict can affect any employee but people with care responsibilities are more likely to suffer most because of the greater demands on their time. Research has tended to find that mothers, particularly those with young children, are less satisfied with their work-life balance than other groups of workers (Saltztein et al. 2001).Feelings of work-life conflict have been associated with, psychological and natural health problems marital and family relationship problems, increased sickness absence and decreased life and job happiness (Evans and Steptoe 2002 Crouter et al. 2001Westman 2001)The effects of work -family conflict on organizational outcomes have been well documented in the management and psychology literatures. According to Netemeyer, BrashearAlejandro, and Boles (2004), work-family conflict is an inter-role conflict where job expectations interfere with family-related responsibilities.The detrimental effects of work- family conflict on job satisfaction, employee retention, and psychological well-being have also been addressed (Brough, and Kalliath 2004).Related to work-family conflict, identity theory suggests individuals possess certain(p) life roles (i.e., work-family roles) that may conflict, thus creating a spillover effect (Thoits 1991).When role clash occurs, the more valued role (i.e., family) takes precedence, and individuals are likely to instill protective measures to safeguard valued roles against potential damage.According to identity theory, these exoneration mechanisms may be implemented at the risk of abandoning the conflicting role(i.e., work) (Thoits 1991) . Consistent with this notion, a study based in the retail sales industry indicates that when salespeople encounter conflict between two salient roles (work and family), they tend to withdraw from the less salient work role through high turnover in order to maintain the more valued family role (Netemeyer, BrashearAlejandro, and Boles 2004).Work-life conflicts are seen to have a potentially detrimental impact on productivity, personal effectiveness, marital relations, child-parent relationships and even child development (Gornick and Meyers, 2003).A review of the role conflict literature indicates that studies proposing links between work-family conflict and job satisfaction have also witness a dramatic increase. For instance, the majority of studies have shown that work-family conflict is associated with decreased levels of job satisfaction (Adams and King 1996).Employers do realize that employee stress is partially due to the challenges in balancing work and family (Matusicky 2003 ). A good balance between work and family life has been said to benefit employers, as it is linked to better life satisfaction and after to workers being more productive, creative and efficient (Zelenski, Murphy and Jenkins 2008).Numerous studies have demonstrated that employees who are displease with their jobs are more likely to engage in organizational deviance sorts such as working less hard, absenteeism and company theft (Lau, Au, and Ho 2003). A recent meta-analysis on the effects of ethical modality suggests that job dissatisfaction poses a significant threat to organizations due to its intensifying effects on dysfunctional behavior (Martin and Cullen 2006).Drew et al.,(2003) believes that a number of factors might encourage employers to adopt policies to promote work-life balance. These include the business case for such polices such as a lower staff turnover, reduced absence and improved productivity, as well as changes in human resource management and changes in technol ogy that enhances opportunities for working from home. other key factor is increasing demand for greater flexibility from employees.All reviewed research results show unequivocal effects of flex-time on the work-family balance. Flex-time workers with children under the age of 18 report lower levels of time pressure, and a higher(prenominal) level of job and life satisfaction than do their non-flex counterparts (Zuzanek 2000). Flexible work hours are associated with more satisfaction with family life (Jekielek 2003) and a reduction in perceived time stress (Tausig and Fenwick 2001). Analysts Comfort, Johnson and Wallace (2003) also found flex-time to be related to increased job satisfaction, increased satisfaction with pay and benefits, and a reduction in paid sick days. All of these relationships appeared slightly stronger for women.Over one-third of Canadian employees report having flex-time schedules (Comfort, Johnson and Wallace 2003).The proportion of those who reported having flex-time arrangements is higher among men than among women and is mainly found in small establishments, non-unionized settings, low-skill occupations, retail and commercial industries.A research on flexible working in Ireland has found these arrangements are more common in the public than in the privy sector and that, women make use of them more frequently than men (Drew et al., 2003). Gender and the public/private sector distinction are two key factors in the analysis of the effects of flexible working.The measure of work-life conflict captures tensions between work and family commitments. In this research I want to investigate whether flexible working arrangements facilitate a work-life balance and reduce work pressure.