The Difference on Productivity Level of Day and Night Shift Agents in

Convergys Philippines Services Corporation

A Research Proposal presented to

__________________________________

Submitted by:

Achas, Roselyn

Balatinsayo, Ruth

Duat, Marianne Bernadette

Fernando, Yvytte Quionea

Nepomuceno, Jenny Mae

Rambuyon, Arthur

OCTOBER 2014
 CHAPTER I

The Problem and its Background

1.1 Introduction:

Success in global markets requires companies to be flexible and ready to make

rapid changes. For workers, this can mean an increasing amount of shift work or

extended working days. (Salminen, 2010). Extended work and having shift work helps a

company to be flexible in able to have stable state in the industries and in order to be

competent in global market.

In modern societies, many companies and organizations stay open 24 hours a day

requiring people to work in shifts. Shift work in popularly regarded as work in which the

employees shifts are scheduled on some regular basis from daytime to evening or

night time. Many researchers defined shift work as an employment in which two or more

groups of employees work at different times of a 17-hour or 24-hour time span,

including a so-called day shift (Jena and Goswani 2012). Many organizations and

companies required their employees to work in shifts because companies will be more

productive and for all we know, every countries have different time thats why they

implement 24-hour business operation.

Business Processing Outsourcing Companies are the common known companies to

have a day and night shifts of employees. In this situation, it is important to ensure that

your company will not increase the risks of errors, incidents, accidents and will not

decrease the alertness and the productivity level of their employees. Although the

literature supports extended work shifts, it cannot be denied that shifts beyond the
traditional 8 hours have been associated with increased risk of errors, incidents,

accidents (Josten, ng-A-Tham and Thierry, 2003; Lockely et. al., 2007; Richardson et.

al., 2007). These risks may result to unproductive employees, low profit and more

expense of the company. Studies also indicate that extended work hours negatively

affect employee health and well-being (Raidiker et. al., 2006) and result in increased on

fatigue for shift workers and decreased alertness and productivity (Fitzpatrick et. al,.

1999; Keller, 2009). Productivity level of the employees is one of the most important

assets of the company because the higher the productivity levels of the employees, the

lower the risks of bankruptcy of the company.

In the present, it is important to know the difference on productivity level of the

day and night shift agents because it can help the company to find ways to avoid the

reasons on why their employee productivity level decreases, to maintain the high level

of productivity of their employees and be aware on why do these employees have low

productivity level.

The purpose of this research is to know the difference on productivity level of the

day and night shift agents in Convergys Philippines Services Corporation- one of the

known business processing outsourcing company.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This study will be conducted to find out the difference of the productivity level of the

Convergys Philippines Services Corporation agents in day and night shift. The study

answers the following:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of the following:

1.1 Age

1.2 Gender

1.3 Position

1.4 Working Schedule

2. What are the effects of these factors on the productivity level of the agents?

2.1 Attendance

2.2 Work load

2.3 Safety

2.4 Work Morale

3 What is the level of satisfaction of an employee if he/she is day shift?

4. What is the level of satisfaction of an employee if he/she is night shift?

1.3 Significance of the study

The researchers envision that the result and findings of this study will be significant

contribution to the following:

To the company:

This study will serve as a mean for improving the level of productivity of night and day

shift employees most especially on Business Process Outsourcing Industry.

To the managers:

This study will serve as basis of management for coming up with a program of actions

and activities that will improve the productivity level of their employees.

To the employees:

This study will serve as tool to make themselves more productive.

To the students:

This study will serve as a unit of information to students and professors with regards of

the difference between the productivity level of day and night shift employees.

To the future researchers:

This study will serve as a reference in the future study on the aspect of difference on

productivity.
1.4 Scope and Limitation

The research will study the difference of the Productivity Level of the Convergys

Agents in Day Shift and Night Shift. It also includes the factors that affect the

productivity levels of employee such as working schedule. The wage and benefits of the

employees are not included in this study.

1.6 Hypotheses

H1: That the employees have a high level of satisfaction if he/she is day shift.

H2: That the employees have a high level of satisfaction if he/she is night shift.

H3: That factors such as attendance, work load, safety and work morale have effects on

the productivity level of the agents.

1.7 Theoretical Framework

Marginal Productivity Theory

A business firm will be willing to pay a productive agent only what he adds to the

firms well being or utility. Productivity of an employee is an asset to a company because

it define the revenue of the firm. As the theory defined, the employees will be paid

depend on what they contribute to the company if the employee contribute less the

company will pay him less, but if the employee contributes beyond the expectation the

company will be more than willing to a higher wage. If we look at this generation

everything is expensive even the basic need of a person like, clothing, shelter and food.

This only shows that society needs a lot of money to fulfil the needs of its people. This

gives the employees greater bargaining power and the potential to bargain for even

higher wage, Hence the high-productivity route becomes a virtuous cycle ( Calm

McLaughin, 2007 ).

Human Capital Theory

A good employee performance in necessary for the organisation, since the

organisations success is dependent on employees creativity, innovation and

commitment ( Ramhall, 2008 ). It is generally accepted that an employees performance

is based on individual factors namely : personality, skills, knowledge, experience and

abilities ( Brent Keijzers, 2010 ). This theory is stated that Human Capital is the stock of

knowledge, habits, social and personality attributes, including creativity, embodied in the

ability to perform labour so as to produce economic value. This research study found

relative to Human Capital Theory because the characteristics that was indicated in the
theory is an important factor for an employee to be productive. Knowledge, employees

should have knowledge about the works they perform to maximize the time of

production also to use the resources efficiently. Personality attributes, everything a

person have is nothing without a good personality. Every employee must possess a

good traits, this will stand as the foundation of the employees most especially the

newbie in the chosen industry. Also, having a good personality will lead an employee to

be more productive. Creativity is an edge of an employee to be productive, creativity

includes innovation. When employees are creative they will make an easier way to

perform their work better and productive.

1.8 Conceptual Framework

Agents in Convergys Factors affecting the

Philippines Service productivity levels of day Increase and Decrease
Corporation and night shift agents the level of Productivity
such as:

a. Attendance
b. Work Load
c. Safety
d. Work Morale
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Shift Work in the Society

The term Shift Work means different things to different people. Shift work is

popularly regarded as a work in which the employees shift are scheduled on some

regular basis from daytime to evening or night time. Many researchers defined shift

work as an employment in which two or more group of employees work at different

times of a 17-hour or 24-hour time-span including a so called day shift (Jena and

Goswani, 2012). This statement clarifies the meaning of the term shift work, this term

is being popular to people, working or not, since shift work is being practice by many

organizations this days. The industrialized societies are increasingly requiring shift work.

Shift work is becoming a very important thing in the organization because in todays

society people need more and more services. Societies are getting busier and busier

each day to the point that they keep themselves awake even at late night. This only

proves that industrialization caused the shift work. The best example on an industry that

needed shift workers is the Business Process Outsourcing industry, since BPO rending

a services to other country wherein their daytime is night time in the Philippines they will

be needed an employee who can work at night until morning. According to the

Engonomics Open Journal, shift work considerably increased the risk of occupational

injury in the USA, but not in the other country. Extended working hours was related to

elevated risk of occupational injury. Thus shift work and long work hours did not suit for

all employees. Driving home after night shift increased the risk of fatigue-related traffic
accidents, a systematic review concluded that the risk of crashing doubles after

extended working hours. This means that having an extended work shift can cause

harm to the employees. Fatigue employees due to extended work hours will became

unproductive because they are not in their best condition.

2.2 Productivity and Work Schedule

Productivity is an overall measure of the ability to produce good a good or

service. According to Nouriel Roubini and David Backus Productivity is the cornerstone

of economic growth. We are richer than our grandparents and then the average person

in the third world primarily because we are more productive. Productivity also affects our

competitive position: the more productive we are the better we are able to compete on

world markets. In short, productivity is the source of the high standard of living enjoyed

by the developed economies relative to the third world or to the same economies fifty or

one hundred years ago. In the Business Field, the productivity is very important

because it is one of the main foundations of the company. Having a high productivity

rate will generate a lot of outputs for your company.

A work schedule includes the days of the week and times of the day a particular

employee is scheduled to work at a job. The traditional full-time work week in the United

States involves five eight-hour days. However, many employers offer part-time and

alternative schedules to cover their work needs and attract workers (Kokemuller, 2014).

Like in the United States we also have five eight-hour days of work here in our country,

they are offering part time workers because of employees have other things to do like
studying and going to school or taking care of their child. A flexible work schedule can

help a lot in employees because they can manage their time efficiently. Flextime has

made our work force more efficient and more focused while they are working. It is a step

backwards to go back to rock solid hours. As long as an employee is getting the job

done, they should be treated like an adult (Hernreich, 2008). Using flextime you can

decide what time you want to arrive or leave in work so employees can meet their

personal needs. This topic concludes that having a flexible work schedule and high

productivity is a large contribution to the companies of BPO industry.

2.3 Factors affecting Productivity

According to Dr. Magnum J, there are number of factors that directly affects the

productivity lo labour, thus it is important for any organizations to study and identify

those factors and take an appropriate action for improving the labour productivity. At the

micro level, if we improved productivity, ultimately it reduces or decreases the unit cost

of project and gives overall best performance of project. Each of these factors can affect

the productivity of each employee in a company. The lesser the productivity of the

employees, the lesser the performance that may cause lesser profit to the company

they work. Productivity in an organization can, in principle, be influenced by a wide

range of internal and external variables which categorized as: (1) General factors such

as climate, policies, facilities and adequacy of public utilities (2) Organizational and

technical factors like percentage of capacity, size and stability of production (3) Human

factors which includes labour-management relations, incentives, social and

psychological conditions of work (Taiwo, 2009). The productivity of employees may

greatly affect or not to the company. It depends when they let these internal and

external factors influenced and affects their work.

According to research, conducted by a team at Harvard University the

researchers found that commitment is largely influenced by ones sense of purpose,

feeling of personal impact and overall trust in the organization. Productivity is largely

affected by the quality of human relationships including cooperative, social group moods

and interaction. If employees does not have his/her purpose in the company, and if

he/she does not seen or feel that their goals are achieved, then the productivity of these

employees will definitely loose and they might be resign to the company but, if they

have a strong commitment at strong relationship inside the company, the employees will

have difficulties on resigning to the company and let these strong commitment may be a

reason for them to be atleast productive on their work

2.4 Work Happiness and Good Health Boost Productivity

In Business Industries, the man power is very important because it is the main

foundation of the company, especially employees who love their work. Feeling happy

while working or loving your work can boost the productivity a lot. Little is known by

economists about how emotions affect productivity. To make persuasive progress, some

way has to be found to assign people exogenously to different feelings. We design a

randomized trial. In it, some subjects have their happiness levels increased, while

others in a control group do not. We show that a rise in happiness leads to greater
productivity in a paid piece-rate task. The effect is large; it can be replicated; it is not a

reciprocity effect; and it is found equally among males and females. We discuss the

implications for economics (Oswald, Proto, Sgroi, 2008). This means the result of the

work of an employee is based on how he/she feels while doing the job. It is better that

every employee in a company works with good mood. Employees are more productive if

they love what they are doing, as a result the company productivity rate will

continuously increase. People are also productive when they are in good health

condition, because many employees in BPO industry are in hazardous workplace.

Good health should improve an individuals chances of finding and staying in

work and of enjoying the consequent financial and social advantages. There is also,

however, compelling evidence that work has an inherently beneficial impact on an

individuals state of health (Black, 2008). The company should provide health insurance

for their employees for them to be secured while working. Good health promotes good

work, when an employee is well he/she can do every task given to him/her. Health is an

important form of human capital. It can enhance workers productivity by increasing their

physical capacities, such as strength and endurance, as well as their mental capacities,

such as cognitive functioning and reasoning ability (Bloom and Canning, 2005). Health

is one of the main foundations of employees to work properly, being in bad health

condition, there might be a reason for the company to fall because there are instances

that employees will take sick leave and the work force will be lessened. Having a bad

health condition will tackle down the productivity level of the employees. When people

are unable to work or drop out of workforce because of serious health problems or

disability, they do not generate economic output, pay taxes or earnings, or help raise the
nations economic standard of living (Collins, 2005). This means bad health condition

affects the profit of the company, because if other employees will get sick they cannot

work and generate outputs for the company. This topic concludes that being happy and

having good health condition boost up the productivity level of the employees.

2.5 Importance of Productivity

Failure to provide employees with opportunities to grow within the company

results in employee frustration. Barriers within the company may prevent some

employees from reaching their full potential (Branham, 2005). It is important that there

are no barriers to every employee because it can be reason to make them out of their

focus and make productivity level low. Their productivity is very important for the

company to develop more to achieve their own company goals. Employer must

therefore use combination of financial and non-financial rewards to: improve job

satisfaction, make staff feel valued, involve staff decision making, encourage staff to

provide feedback on performance, and provide a range of new opportunities for staff

(B2B International, 2012; Solomon et al., 2012). It means that employers need to

recognize the works of their employees in any forms of rewards because it will make

them feel that they are being value and needed by the company. The way you

appreciate every works that they are doing, even the small one can help them to be

more productive in work. The rewards also set as their motivation to their job well And to

help them aim into a higher positions. Pay is a huge motivator for many employees
 Happiness in the workplace leads to much higher levels of productivity. It

increases employee morale; therefore employees are willing to work harder to improve

the company and its goals. According to Branham (2005). It says that the emotions of

the employees can have great effects in their job. Being happy while doing their jobs

can improve the way they dwn and finish it. When they work with positive emotions and

attitudes they can set their focus well and can lead to make company goals achieve

easily.

2.6 Synthesis of the study

One of our review of related literature, Factors affecting Productivity of an

employee. These are General factors such as climate, policies, facilities and adequacy

of public utilities, Organizational and technical factors like percentage of capacity, size

and stability of production, Human factors which includes labour management relations,

incentives, social and psychological conditions of work. Employees work more

productively if they feel that they belong to the company, if they see that their works

have worth and their goals are being achieved. Commitment is largely influenced by

one's sense of purpose, feeling personal impact and overall trust in the organization. If

the employees think that they are attached to the company they are working with, they

would have a hard time resigning to their jobs. It is important to make necessary actions

about these productivity factors because the lesser the productivity of the employees,

the lesser the performance that may cause lesser profit to the company they work.
 Employees that are happy with their work are more productive. If employees love

their job, as a result the company productivity rate will continuously increase. People

are also productive when they are in good health condition, because many employees

in BPO industry are in hazardous workplace. It can enhance productivity by increasing

their physical capacities such as strength and endurance, as well as their mental

capacities. Employees that are happy and in good health are being more productive

with their work.

Both studies are saying that these are several factors affecting employees

productivity. Those factors need compulsory actions in order to increase employees'

productivity for company's higher profit. Henceforth the study, factors affecting

productivity states that those factors have huge impact to the employees only if they

those factors affect them.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 This chapter includes the discussion of the research method that will be used,

the sampling design and respondents of the study, the instrumentation and the

statistical treatment method that will be used.

Method of Research

Comparative method is the method the researchers will use in this study in order

to know the difference of the productivity level of day and night shift agents of

Convergys Philippines Services Corporation. This method can help the researchers to

know the preferences of the respondents between day and night shift work. It will also

help us to collect much different and reliable information in low cost as compared to

observation and experimental method.

Research Setting, Population Sample and Sampling Design

The respondents of this study will come from day and night agents of Convergys

Philippines Services Corporation in UPTechnoHub Diliman, Commonwealth Ave.

Quezon City. The Convergys in UPTechnoHub Diliman consists of approximately 1500

agents.

The researchers used the Slovins formula to determine the appropriate sample

size.

The Slovins Formula:

N
n 2
1+Ne
Where:

n Number of samples

N Population

e Margin of error

Computation:

1500

n 1+1500 (0.05)2

1500

n 4.75

n 315. 78 = 316

Using the Slovins formula, the researchers will determine the exact number of

respondents to be chosen to answer the given questionnaires.

The researchers will use convenience sampling method in selecting the sample.

A convenience sampling method is the statistical of drawing representative data

selecting people because of the case of their volunteering or selecting units because of

their availability or easy access.

Instrumentation:
 The researchers will use self-developed questionnaire to collect data for this

study. The questionnaire will contain a list of questions to gather necessary data. The

questionnaire consists of checklists that the respondents will go to choose their answer

through the choices given.

First, the researchers intend to know the profile of the respondents. Then

researchers will use checklist in the further questions. In using the checklist the

respondents will answer through checking their choices. The researchers aim to know

the respondents point of view regards to their personal data when it comes to

productivity on their shift work.

Procedure of Gathering Data

Subsequent to the approval and validation of this questionnaire, a survey will be

conducted to a total of 316 respondents. The questionnaires will be personally

distributed to the respondents and an ample amount of time will be allotted for them to

answer the self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaires will be immediately

retrieved upon the completion of the respondents.

Statistical Treatment of Data

Chi-Square Technique

In this study, the (Chi-Square Technique) rest will be used in order to determine the

average score to the survey. The outcome will be measured based on the number of

answer which their score fall in. they are divided into not satisfactory, satisfactory and

very satisfactory. These brackets are based on the passing rates being utilized in this
research. Chi-Square Technique value will be used to find the statistical significance of

the Data gathered.

The formula for computing the chi-square values is presented below.

Chi-Square Technique

where x2 means chi-square value

- means summation symbol

fo- means observed frequency

fe - means expected frequency

The observed frequency (fo) is found on the frequency and percentage distribution

table: the actual number of the respondents who favoured on an item. On the other

hand, the expected frequency (fe) is determined by the following computations.

Name: (Optional) Gender: Male Female

Age:
Working Schedule: Day Night

1. Number of working hours:

2. Expected call the whole day: 0-3 4-8 6-8 others, pls. specify _______

3. Average number of absences per month: 0-3 4-6 6-8 others, pls.

specify ______

4. Preferred work shift: Day Night

5.

6. Which of these factors affect your Work Morale: (Choose one or more)

Belongingness
Recognition
Health Benefits
Salary
Working Environment
Incentives

7. What is the level of your work morale

Below average
Average
Above average

Note: If you are nightshift please skip number 8 then proceed to number 9.
8. If you are dayshift what is the level of your satisfaction?

Not satisfied
Satisfied
Very satisfied

9. If you are nightshift what is the level of your satisfaction

Not satisfied
Satisfied
Very satisfied