Flexibility Essay On The Motivation Of Employees

Question

Task: Workplace flexibility is considered to be a means of increasing employees’ motivation at work and, consequently, their productivity. Organisations often opt for flexible work arrangements to allow employees to have better discretion over how they organise their time and manage their personal and professional lives.

Knowing that there are different forms of flexibility, are all forms effective sources of motivation? Does workplace flexibility blur the lines between work and life? Could it possibly create work-family conflict and stress? Would different genders find it equally beneficial? More broadly addressing the issue; do organisational context and national cultures influence workplace flexibility’s role as a source of motivation?

Scholars have been looking at these questions for the last 20 years, focusing on workplace flexibility as a source of motivation. Research has indeed come a long way from a one-size-fits-all solution.

Essay:
Based on your research into this debate, argue for/ against whether workplace flexibility is a source of motivation for employees.

To answer this question, you should be able to introduce and discuss workplace flexibility, which has been researched since the 70’s in the academic literature. Focus on the benefits and drawbacks of workplace flexibility for employees and their wellbeing.

The topic of workplace flexibility has been discussed in some lectures, which will be helpful in writing your assignment. However, you are expected to research this topic on your own, and your essay will be assessed on the strength of the evidence you provide to support your arguments. Thus, for an essay of this complexity, we would expect an average essay to include 5-6 credible sources being used to support your arguments, with a strong argument most likely drawing on 8-10 credible sources.

Answer

Introduction
Many arguments have been put forward in the present context of flexibility essay to explain the whether workplace flexibility has increased the level of motivation of the employees. While flexibility has been prevailing in the workplace environment since 70s, yet there are scope to identify whether workplace flexibility helps is a source of motivation. It is believed that flexibility does have some level of effect on motivation of the employees, yet the aim of the flexibility essayto identify the negative impact of flexibility and whether the impact is similar in both genders (Jeffrey Hill et al., 2008). The definition of workplace flexibility and motivation of employees will be examined along with the level of relation between the two with some findings of previous research as examples. The forms and arrangement of workplace flexibility that creates motivation and the ones that does not will be discussed. The extent to which flexibility blurs the line between work life balances and creates gender inequality in the workspace will be investigated in the report on flexibility essay.

Thesis Statement- Not all forms and arrangement of workplace flexibility is not a sufficient and effective source of motivation among employees.

Discussion
As per the investigation on flexibility essay, workplace flexibility is referred as a mixture of formal and informal arrangement between the employee and the employer in an organizationthat provide the individual a control over their job based on timing, amount and continuity. It is a system of integrating organizational needs with the personal life needs of the employees (Jeffrey Hill et al., 2008). Workplace flexibility is a rising trend in the global environment due to the consideration that flexibility help giving employees the feeling that their work life needs are met. However, the level of positive effect that rising flexibility has on managing work-life balance is not a true notion, as major problems has taken place with certain forms of flexibility and flexibility policies that has reduced motivation among employees (Van Der Voordt, 2004). Employee motivation is the level of enthusiasm, energy and commitment level that an employee devote to the organization to meet their own life goals as well as the goals of the business.

Many scholars are of the notion that work-family organizational culture has direct impact on developing employee motivation. The flexibility essay examines the words ofBeauregard, Basile&Thompson (2018) that nature of work is changing effectively over time and the need for implementing workplace flexibility for supporting work-life balance of the employee has become critically important. This means that employees should feel that they have given the rights to decide their work schedule and their work and life needs are being supported by the employees. The readings of Van Der Voordt(2004)illustrated in the flexibility essaypointed out that workplace flexibility or supportive work-family culture allow the employees to be more motivated than before because such practices helps in reducing psychological strain and work stress. It is the most effective way to gain societal well-being for the employees and better performance chances for the organization. Workplacethat are flexible helps the companies to adapt to changing nature of the business in the world and make the workforce align with those changes by helping them to be more flexible in work (Peretz, Fried & Levi, 2018). It is one of the most effective systems to integrate work system that employees need to manage their life along with their professional duties. Such factors make the employee feel valued and motivate them to devote more energy and attention towards their duties at work. Cañibano(2019)stated in regards to the case scenario of flexibility essay that workplace flexibility is a paradoxical phenomenon that helps in determining employee experiences. It is one of the deeper psychological contracts that is developed between the employees and the firms and it helps the employees to manage the tensions they face in their professions. The mental benefit that flexible working environment creates for the employees directly motivates them to work even in stressful work conditions. Other researchers have indicated that it is important for the workplace to take advantage of the work-life benefits of the employees through implementing a flexible work arrangement.

As mentioned in the flexibility essay, types of flexibility also hold importance on the way it impacts the motivational level of the employees in the workplace environment. Kossek& Thompson (2016)argues from the findings that only few flexible arrangements in a workplace have close relations with the extent of motivation companies create within employees. Flexiblearrangements such as flexi time, telework, reduced load and compressed work weeks are some that direct tools that helps in attracting, retaining and motivating the employees. This is because it helps in managing work home responsibilities and improves the contribution of the employee towards the work. The type or forms of workplace flexibility only leads to the motivation of the employees when they help meet both their work-life needs and productivity demand of the employers. This means that not all forms of workplace flexibility is a successful instrument for generating motivation among the employees. There are two types of flexibility discussed in the flexibility essay in a workplace that act positively or negatively for the employees such as good workplace flexibility and bad flexibility. Bad flexibility is negatively related to the motivation of the employees such as unequal distribution of flexibility access (Origo&Pagani, 2008). This is because it creates fairness issues and stigma among the co-workers and makes them lose interest in their responsibilities. The three most effective forms of workplace flexibility that works positively for the employees and motivate them to work are flexibility related to scheduling, place and amount of work. However, flexibility in leaves and career continuity does not necessarily give control to the employees over their day to day control and only significant in developing well-being. Researchers like Smith, Gilmer & Stockdale (2019) has stated that two types of flexibilities at workplace such as quantitative and qualitative flexible have received boost in almost all the OECD countries in the past years. Herein flexibility essay, the quantitative work flexibility is related to number of employees and the other refers to quality of skills. The quantitative flexibility is related to giving flexible working hours and part-time work, while work autonomy, job rotation, multiple skills and involvement of the employee is qualitative flexibility. This shows that flexibility can generate positive impact only when it is implemented effectively according to the needs of the business and the employees for generating motivation.

According to the research on flexibility essay, flexibility personal and professional responsibilities seep into one another and increases work family conflict instead of balancing it. According to Smith, Gilmer & Stockdale (2019) flexibility of working from home is seen as one form of flexibility that does not create positive impact on the employees or motivate them to work for a longer time. This is because is blurs the lines that exists between the work and the life. The employees given the flexibility to work from home is seen to be working for hours without any fixed schedule and this had an intruding effect on their personal life. Flexibility is seen to have differentiated impact on the work-life relationship that increases job and family creep. Job creep takes place when there is high level intrusion of job into personal or home domain of the employee. In such a situation the family prefers a level of separation or a fixed work timing so that there is separate timing for personal life only (Cañibano, 2019). On the other hand, personal creep occurs when personal communication and responsibilities enters into the work space. In such a situation it is seen that the colleagues and employers prefer a level of separation, as the line between personal and professional line decreases. For example, the level of intrusion increases when the person has to lead a more responsible life both in personal as well as professional space. In such a condition such people are seen to be like reactors in which they have to respond equally to work and life and this reduces the line between them (Kossek& Thompson, 2016). In such a condition it is seen in the flexibility essay that such employees face more stress, depression symptoms and low work life fit and this reduces their motivation to work even with flexible schedule.

Flexibility in workplace is not equally received by different genders and there is occurrence of fairness trap in the organizational space. From the findings of Kossek, Thompson&Lautsch, (2015) considered in the flexibility essay it is seen that workplace flexibility is always attacked by a fairness trap in which there is inequality and uneven level of flexibility that is distributed among different genders. Many organizations are seen to support time and place flexibility for women employees more than male employees and create layers of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’to restrict the access to the kind of flexibility they can use in the organization. In such situations the non-users will be affected by the level of non-access to the flexibility benefit and lose interest to work for the organization. Various organizations are of the notion that female employees need more flexibility compared to male employees due their family and children responsibilities (Jeffrey Hill et al., 2008). This creates the fairness issues with different level of flexibility benefit given to both the genders. This is because individual workings in a flexible manner tend to alter the work condition and workload on the ones who are not getting the benefits. This makes workplace flexibility a negative instrument for generating motivation among the employees. Schultz (2009) pointed out that the differences of workplace flexibility across genders are also seen among sexual minorities such as transgender, lesbian and gay. Transgender are eliminated from various flexibility benefits such as leave flexibility. This is because their leave for medical reasons is not approved because gender transition is not considered as a serious reason for taking a sick leave. This is yet another way in which inequalities are seen in flexibility that reduces motivation among the employees.

Conclusion
Therefore from the above analysis on flexibility essay it is clear that in order to make their employees motivated and provide them with the work-family culture it is important that the organization implement workplace flexibility in a well-structured manner. It is accepted that workplace flexibility does not necessarily create motivation among the employees. There are certain forms of flexibilities that need to be implemented flexibly to help create a motivated environment. Organizations need to consider gender equality and forms of flexibility to be implemented in the workplace to combat the negative impact of flexibilities. This perhaps, clarifies the need for flexibility in the organization in a careful and planned manner. Flexibility in workplace is the need for the situation for helping the employees balance their work and personal life effectively, however, several factors impacts the effectiveness of flexibility in a negative way. Organizations implementing flexibility in their environment is not enough if other factors such as manager’s behavior, gender equality, work pressure and others are not considered in time. This study prepared within the flexibility essay shows that flexibility is not an effective and sufficient source of motivation for the employees. ?

References
Beauregard, T. A., Basile, K. A., & Thompson, C. A. (2018).Flexibility essay Organizational culture in the context of national culture, 1-24.

Cañibano, A. (2019). Workplace flexibility as a paradoxical phenomenon: Exploring employee experiences. Human Relations, 72(2), 444-470.

Jeffrey Hill, E., Grzywacz, J. G., Allen, S., Blanchard, V. L., Matz-Costa, C., Shulkin, S., & Pitt-Catsouphes, M. (2008). Defining and conceptualizing workplace flexibility. Community, Work and Family, 11(2), 149-163.

Kossek, E. E., & Thompson, R. J. (2016). Workplace flexibility: Integrating employer and employee perspectives to close the research-practice implementation gap. The Oxford handbook of work and family, 255.

Kossek, E. E., Thompson, R. J., &Lautsch, B. A. (2015). Balanced workplace flexibility: Avoiding the traps. California Management Review, 57(4), 5-25.

Origo, F., &Pagani, L. (2008). Workplace flexibility and job satisfaction: some evidence from Europe. Flexibility essayInternational Journal of Manpower.

Peretz, H., Fried, Y., & Levi, A. (2018). Flexible work arrangements, national culture, organisational characteristics, and organisational outcomes: A study across 21 countries. Human Resource Management Journal, 28(1), 182-200.

Schultz, V. (2009).Feminism and workplace flexibility. CONN. l. rEv., 42, 1203.

Smith, E. F., Gilmer, D. O., & Stockdale, M. S. (2019). Culture and support for workplace flexibility matter: An ecological framework for understanding flexibility support structures, 3-29 Van Der Voordt, T. J. (2004). Productivity and employee satisfaction in flexible workplaces. Flexibility essayJournal of Corporate Real Estate, 6(2), 133-148.