PROJECT

Impact Of Workplace Flexibility on Employee and Organisational Performance

Project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements

for the degree of

Human Resource Management/International Human Resource Management*

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(9158)

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 Abstract

Flexible working has become a mainstream concept in Human Resource Management (HRM)
in the 21st century. As a response, both public and private enterprises in the United Kingdom
and other countries have adopted different methods to promote flexibility in the workplace.
Consequently, questions on how workplace flexibility has impacted work, family life, and the
levels of workforce satisfaction have been raised and addressed by various scholars. This
research presents a critical review of existing literature on the topic and seeks to explain how
flexibility at work and work-life balance are linked to different aspects of an employee’s life,
individual and organizational performance. Data was collected using semi-structured
interviews with ten employees at Childs Play Clothing UK. The results of this qualitative
research show that flexible working directly impacts the HRM themes of work-life balance,
employee engagement and retention rates. These findings concur with those of previous
researchers, showing that implementing flexible working arrangements in the contemporary
workplace improves employee and organisational performance.

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 Table of Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................2
1. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................4
1.1. Background..................................................................................................................................4
1.2. Problem Statement.......................................................................................................................4
1.3. Research Objectives.....................................................................................................................5
1.4. Research Questions......................................................................................................................5
1.5. Organisational Context................................................................................................................6
2. LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................................................6
2.1. Relevance in HR Management....................................................................................................6
2.2. Flexible Working and Related Concepts in Human Resource......................................................7
2.3. Factors That Led to The Rise of Flexible Working....................................................................10
2.4. Recruitment...............................................................................................................................11
2.5. Workplace Flexibility and Productivity.....................................................................................12
2.6. Flexibility and Workplace Motivation.......................................................................................13
2.7. Work-Life Balance....................................................................................................................13
2.8 Theoretical Framework..............................................................................................................14
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................................16
3.1. Research Methods......................................................................................................................16
3.2. Research Design........................................................................................................................16
3.3. Research Process.......................................................................................................................17
3.4. Data Collection..........................................................................................................................17
4. FINDINGS........................................................................................................................................18
4.1. Results.......................................................................................................................................18
4.2. Qualitative Data Analysis..........................................................................................................24
5. DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................................................25
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................30
Recommendations.....................................................................................................................................31
Personal Learning Reflection....................................................................................................................32
References.................................................................................................................................................33

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 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background

Companies are continually looking for ways to compete in a dynamic business environment.
Employee turnover is a concern for lots of companies, particularly when investing resources (i.e.,
money, training and time (Debrah and Smith, 2003; Sundaray, 2011; Fatemi, 2016). Studies have
shown that the cost incurred by a company when employees leave can be anywhere between
95% and 250% of the employee's salary. Selden (2009) lists some costs of employee turnover as
decreased productivity, cost of recruitment and training, a decline in quality-of-service clients,
loss of expertise, networking connections, and a negative impact on organizational performance.

As the value of flexible working becomes commonplace in the labour market, scholars note
that implementing different flexible working arrangements has become increasingly important
for companies in the UK (Dineen and Soltis, 2011; Leslie et al., 2012; Hisbani, Soomro and
Rahoo, 2018; Timewise and Working Families, 2018; Kröll and Nüesch, 2019; Austin-Egole,
Iheriohanma and Nwokorie, 2020; Bal and Izak, 2020). Increasing workplace flexibility
makes the environment responsive to the needs of workers, making it key in retaining and
attracting different talents and future-proofing the workplace. Flexibility in the workplace
nurtures productivity, engagement, performance and well-being in company employees
(Anitha, 2014; Albrecht et al., 2015; Austin-Egole, Iheriohanma and Nwokorie, 2020).

1.2. Problem Statement

In 2018, people employed full-time in the UK worked an average of 42 hours a week (TUC,
2019). This is almost two hours more than an average person in the same country. As most
industries attempt to recover from the devastating effects of the Coronavirus pandemic,
people are working increasingly longer hours. The result is poor work-life balance,
increasingly unmotivated and disconnected employees and a reduction in employee
performance (Noon, Blyton and Morrell, 2013; Chung, 2018; Chung et al., 2021). The
country has the highest number of people working long hours a week in Europe with a
continued increase in demand for part-time work. Inflexible conditions in the workplace such
as those in the UK can lead to high levels of stress and conflicts between work and personal

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life if sustained for long periods (Rau and Hyland, 2002; Grawitch, Gottschalk and Munz,
2006; Jang, 2009; Crawford, LePine and Rich, 2010; Van Veldhoven and Peccei, 2014).

Companies are hence increasingly implementing flexible working arrangements among other
initiatives to respond to these concerns and the increasing demand by employees to balance
work and their personal lives (McNall, Masuda and Nicklin, 2009; Hecklau et al., 2016; Kröll
and Nüesch, 2019). With these initiatives, employees can choose where to work and schedule
the hours they put in. Given this choice, employees have high levels of commitment to the
organisation and job satisfaction. They also perform better than they would in a non-flexible
environment. This study synthesises existing literature on the topic and critically analyses the
relationship between employees’ commitment to organisations and flexible working
conditions and how this directly impacts performance.

1.3. Research Objectives

1. To analyse the relationship between workplace flexibility, and employee and

organisational performance.
2. To evaluate different flexible working strategies and how they change how employees
work or what tasks they perform.
3. To critically analyse how workplace flexibility impacts employee engagement,
participation, motivation, job satisfaction and commitment.
1.4. Research Questions

This study seeks to answer how flexible working arrangements affect different Human Resource
Management themes. These are:

1. How do schedule variations by the number of hours and days worked, full-time or
part-time or location worked affect work-life balance?
2. How does flexibility in starting and leaving times, job sharing, shifts, breaks,
overtime, compressed workweeks and leaves of absence (paid or unpaid) affect work-
life balance?
3. How do flexible working arrangements affect employee health, motivation, engagement
and performance?

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 1.5. Organisational Context

The basis of this study was Childs Play Clothing in the UK. Being a market leader in luxurious
designer wear for children, the company offers some of the most exclusive brands including
Armani, Gucci, and Dolce & Gabbana among others. The company has its roots in Essex where
it started as a boutique in 1990. Since then, it has come to sell over 200 designer creations to
customers all around the world. The company has an online clothing line,
childsplayclothing.co.uk and runs its flagship store in Ilford. Fresh labels are added to the store’s
selection every year, keeping employees at the company on their toes to stay ahead of the fashion
curve. This study used the first-hand accounts of employees in the company to explore
workplace flexibility in the UK. This research sought to understand motivation, engagement and
flexibility strategies used by the company and how these impact employee and organisational
performance.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Flexibility in the workplace is linked to factors such as enhanced ability to retain employees and
attract new ones, better employee work-life balance, increased productivity in an organisation, a
workplace that is future-proofed against changes in the labour market. Focus by most studies
conducted over time has been on how most businesses perform financially. This study focused
on understanding how flexibility in the workplace helps maintain a good work-life balance,
improves employee’s perspective and performance, and how this reflects on the overall success
of an organisation. This section focuses on the findings previously compounded by scholars and
researchers on flexible hours of work, compressed working weeks, part-time work, job sharing,
re-scheduling, shifts and breaks, alternative work locations and remote working during the
COVID-19 global pandemic.

2.1. Relevance in HR Management

As a part of their strategic initiatives, organisations are striving to incorporate flexible work
schedules by managing time, employees and workspaces effectively more so during these
uncertain times of global economic changes (Halpern and Murphy, 2013). Flexibility in the
workplace is adopted to increase the viability of companies by increasing employee commitment

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and productivity. According to some early studies by Ernst Kossek and Ozeki (1998) applying
workplace flexibility to human resource management creates a strong bond between employees
and organisational objectives. Therefore, companies can boost productivity and achieve long
term goals by incorporating flexible work plans (Ernst Kossek and Ozeki, 1998; Leslie et al.,
2012; Jeske et al., 2017; Shoaib and Kohli, 2017).

Due to ever-increasing competition, organisations are seeking to minimize costs, increase

employee productivity, improve their competitiveness and cultivate an organisational culture that
assists employees to gain an effective work-life balance by devising innovative strategies
towards the same (Byrne, 2005). Additionally, employees are on a never-ending strive to
increase their productivity without any sacrifice to their personal lives. This means that
companies have a corporate duty to help their employees gain a near-perfect work-life balance
through developing and implementing cost-effective flexible work plans (Byrne, 2005). Bloom,
Kretschmer and Van Reenen (2011) suggested that companies can help their employees maintain
a balance between work and personal lives by aligning formal organisation policies with their
needs.

2.2. Flexible Working and Related Concepts in Human Resource

Flexible Working

Various components of flexible working have been defined by different scholars and industry
professionals over the years. These components include job sharing practices and policies,
compresses working hours and days to achieve time flexibility, and application of technology
to become more flexible (Frone, Yardley and Markel, 1997). Bloom, Kretschmer and Van
Reenen (2011) stated that workplace flexibility involves the capacity to work beyond
stipulated working hours and locations thus alleviating the limitations which arise from
traditional office settings. (Hill et al., 2008, 2010) noted that workplace flexibility can be
facilitated by both formal and informal policies in work arrangement and thus allow
employees to work in flexible conditions.

Hammer, Bauer and Grandey (2003), Morganson et al. (2010), and Williams and Boushey
(2010) concurred that adopting flexibility in the workplace benefits both the organisation and
its employees. For instance, organisations can enhance their overall performance, production

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efficiency, attract and retain employees with quality talent and at the same time minimize
costs across the board while their workforce reaps benefits from the adequate additional time
by spending it to attend to familial needs. These employee benefits can lead to higher levels of
job satisfaction, higher organisational productivity and less employee turnover (Morganson et
al., 2010).

Workplace flexibility programs enable employees to control and enjoy their work and
personal life (Maruyama and Tietze, 2012). It includes a flexible time that ranges from daily
working hours to weekly work that every employee is expected to fulfil. There are various
options for workplace flexibility strategies that help shift control from the organisation to the
employees and vice versa (Swanberg et al., 2011). Frone, Yardley and Markel (1997) also
defined flexible working as the practice of offering variations in the time allocated for a job
and the location the job is to be conducted. It has also been described as the act of job sharing,
allowing employees to work part-time and the provision of work breaks such as maternity or
paternity leave. Other studies have discussed flexible work schedules in broad categories
falling within flexibility in time allocation, job schedules, and length of tasks and tele-
homeworking which allows workplace flexibility (Golden, Veiga and Simsek, 2006). These
arrangements can be provided either alone or as a combination with other policies. It is
noteworthy that flexibility at work increases convenience without jeopardizing working hours.

Work-Life Balance

The aspect of a balanced work-life has been defined as, the balancing of the association
between responsibilities at work and personal issues like family, childcare and leisure (Frone,
Yardley and Markel, 1997; Payne, Cook and Diaz, 2012; Working Families, 2021). Scholars
have agreed that in a state where work and family are balanced, employees are accorded
mental and emotional support in their work thus improving job satisfaction levels.
Furthermore, Hammer, Bauer and Grandey (2003) showed that a person’s productivity at
work is directly associated with an effective balance between their lives at home and work.
This concludes that an employee that accomplishes the demands of their personal life; will
perform exponentially at work (Secret, 2000; Golden, Veiga and Simsek, 2006; Selden, 2009;
Austin-Egole, Iheriohanma and Nwokorie, 2020).

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Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction relates to the emotions, attitudes, and perceptions of the employees in their
workplaces which result from their experiences while they are at works (Ernst Kossek and
Ozeki, 1998; Byrne, 2005; McNall, Masuda and Nicklin, 2009; Ueda, 2012). It is also the
degree to which an employee likes or dislikes a given task and intrinsic and extrinsic
organisational needs. Job satisfaction acts as a vital indicator of the employee’s feelings on
their responsibilities at work and can be used to predict organisational behaviour such as their
commitment towards organisational goals, absenteeism, and rate of employee retention and
turnover. A major determiner of job satisfaction is the attitude of an individual (Hammer,
Bauer and Grandey, 2003; Kröll and Nüesch, 2019).

Flexible Working Strategies

Workplace flexibility can be defined as flexibility in the place of work, hours of work, or
schedule of work. More specifically, flexibility in the workplace can be defined as special
benefits that are provided to an employee by a company to allow them some control over
where and when they work (Lambert, 1990; McNall, Masuda and Nicklin, 2009). Flexible
working has been categorised as either internal or external by earlier flexibility models. When
an organisation outsources labour from contractors or agencies, this is referred to as external
flexibility. On the other hand, when an organisation can create a range of options and
schedules for hours worked by every employee, while still within the organisation, this is
known as internal flexibility (Jang, 2009; Hill et al., 2010; Cañibano, 2011; Swanberg et al.,
2011).

Distributed and remote work arrangements can be defined as working options in other areas,
for instance at home. There are four common categories of workplace flexibility strategies:
FlexiTime, part-time work, telecommuting and compressed workweeks (Anderson and
Kelliher, 2009; Masuda et al., 2012; Bal and Izak, 2020; Vargas-Llave et al., 2020). In
telecommuting, people work remotely, either from a client’s location or from the road. They
can also work from a virtual office and recently they have been working increasingly from
their homes. The FlexiTime category takes the traditional set of working hours and gives
employees some sought of freedom over when they decide to start and complete the given
hours of work. Telecommuting takes advantage of advanced computer technology and

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communication to make work more flexible (Golden, Veiga and Simsek, 2006; Hill et al.,
2008, 2010).

The compressed workweek, also known as the 4/40 schedule is another popular workplace
flexibility strategy. It is simply a 10-hour working day over a 4-day working week. There are
many other forms of flexible working arrangement; whatever category or term used to
describe the various options of flexibility used by organisations, employee choice of location
and work time are the underlying theme of flexible working (Hill et al., 2008, 2010; Kelliher
and Anderson, 2008).

2.3. Factors That Led to The Rise of Flexible Working

Changing Dynamic of Working Life

There have been changes of the normal way of shifts such as fixed and full-time schedule
among the employees. It has shifted from 40-hours a week to more flexible work where one
chooses when and where to work (Possenriede and Plantenga, 2011; Shagvaliyeva and
Yazdanifard, 2014). There have been different researches conducted to back up this claim as
well as statistics from labour market statistics in the changing world of competition and
varying degrees of flexibility. According to the CBI survey, 50% of the labour force in
Europe was comprised of contingent, part-time, and contract workers in 2011. This was as
well reflected in the US, through the Intuit report indicating that by the year 2020, 40% will
be like the UK (Morgan, 2014; UK Commission for Employment and Skills, 2014).

Demographics

Traditionally, being an employee is characterized by an employee being at the place of work

at the working hours while the children and spouses are at home. This has however changed
with time due to the availability of dual-career couples as well as single-parent families (Irfan,
2015). Considering the UK alone, 60% of the couples comprised dual-career in 1990 as
compared to 40% in the 1970s. However, the average age of workers is increasing with time
(Possenriede and Plantenga, 2011). Comparing the average retirement age between 2004 and
2010, there is a rise from 63.8 to 64.6 for men, and 61.2 to 62.3 for females. With increased
immigration, there is a possibility of an increase in race and ethical diversity. The value of
family and work as viewed by employees change from one culture to the other. This hence is

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a challenge to the most organizations which are adapting to cultural diversity and thus forcing
them to adapt to what some of the cultures see as more important than others, such as family
over work (Debrah and Smith, 2003; Karoly, Panis and Panis, 2004).

Women In the Workforce

Between the years 1948 and 2015, the total workforce involving women rose from 28.6% 5o
46.8% while on the other hand men dropped from 71.4% to 53.2%. In UK retail sector women
represent nearly 60% of the 2.8 million-strong workforce in 2020. This meant that an increase
in women in the workplace called for changes in work regulations, this is because women are
the ones who bear most of the responsibilities when it came to home tasks. This means that
women thus feel more entitled to work flexibility and working from home than men would be
entitled to.

2.4. Recruitment

Most of the companies consider the implementation of flexible work arrangements as

advantageous to them since during recruitment, they attract different persons who are
qualified and demand stretched capacity to be able to manage their personal and family
matters in the working conditions (Kreiner, Hollensbe and Sheep, 2009). Additionally,
companies that have a flexible schedule usually has a higher capacity to retain special and
productive talents as a means of increasing productivity (Secret, 2000). Moreover, flexible
workers usually enjoy since they enjoy a working experience that is alternate to the traditional
work plans since they have the opportunity not only to work but to take care of their families
(Kelliher and Anderson, 2008; Morganson et al., 2010).

In human resource management, workplace flexibility has become a crucial strategy when
hiring and motivating workers (Selden, 2009; Dineen and Soltis, 2011; Timewise and
Working Families, 2018). They thus use this strategy to make sure their workers remain
motivated outside the work environment and thus keeping them up to the task they are
responsible for. It is believed that most of the incumbent employees has already shown their
strength and thus one can determine who can or cannot work in this form of the work
environment. The main concern of the management team is to develop a flexible work
schedule to increase value to the workplace and thus increase production (Martínez‐Sánchez

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et al., 2007). Scholars have confirmed that with a flexible work schedule, an organization can
cut down the operational cost since they can assign the tasks to the most abled employees.
This as a result brings about trust between the employees as well as the employers and thus
increase productivity (Anderson and Kelliher, 2009; Sundaray, 2011; Anitha, 2014; Lavassani
and Movahedi, 2014).

2.5. Workplace Flexibility and Productivity

There are both merits and demerits in the implementation of flexible working plans (Halpern
and Murphy, 2013). Studies confirmed that when employees are exposed to flexible working,
it improves their morale to work and thus the development of attitude not only to work but to
others employees (Williams, 2001; Williams and Boushey, 2010). This method helps
employees in identifying the hours that they are most productive and thus utilize them. It is in
their hands to know which hour they are most effective and thus can change them day in day
out as they may wish as long as they don’t interfere with the working schedule of the
organization. The coming of telecommunication technology has been a big boost to this
campaign, for people can now work in a remote area and be managed through their personal
computers (Vargas-Llave et al., 2020). One strategy put in place is known as Tele-home-
schedule, which is believed to minimize organizations’ costs in terms of transport and among
other things (Fonner and Roloff, 2010; Morganson et al., 2010).

Another advantage is allowing workers to share jobs within a team. This is a way of
enhancing cooperation among the workers. This is a move that enables a smooth continuation
of work when some of the team members are off or perhaps on vacation and thus enables
workers to share their progress on a given project and thus disable any form of stalling or
interruption of a member from enjoying their time with their families (Morganson et al.,
2010). Scholars found that when one is exposed to flexed schedule options, they tend to form
independent variables which are directly dependent on dependent variables which include and
are not limited to satisfaction, perspectives of balanced lives, organizational performance, and
balance of work and family (Williams and Boushey, 2010; Swanberg et al., 2011; Payne,
Cook and Diaz, 2012).

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 2.6. Flexibility and Workplace Motivation

Most of the workers in any organization are much interested in job satisfaction and motivation
in the workplace. Job satisfaction is one of the topics that have been widely researched to
come up with the best strategy to motivate employees (McNall, Masuda and Nicklin, 2009;
Possenriede and Plantenga, 2011; Payne, Cook and Diaz, 2012; Kröll and Nüesch, 2019; Bal
and Izak, 2020). Despite the growth in knowledge of job satisfaction, organizations are as
well working on a method to improve the performance of as well as productivity of the same
workers. This, however, has resulted in a big challenge as it has promoted absenteeism,
demotivation, and high rates of turnovers. Job satisfaction comes along with positive emotions
as well as a good attitude towards the job that one is undertaking (Payne, Cook and Diaz,
2012). Different things can motivate job satisfaction among them including the ability to
provide for one’s family as well as meeting personal needs without struggling. Others
perceive that satisfaction is when one can meet all the family needs an as well manage to
satisfy their personal pleasures and the security that comes with the job among other things
(Lambert, 1990).

2.7. Work-Life Balance

Time and overall human resources in the work environment, workplace practices and policies
in management is an area that has attracted many scholars who want to dig into the topic
(Halpern and Murphy, 2013). One of the ways to manage this is through the development of
a flexible work schedule which has been termed as a significant tool in the provision of
balance between work and family life. Through flexible work schedules, the employees can
balance their commitments with their families demands as well as the job responsibilities at a
go. Through flexible work arrangements, space and time increase how tasks are managed and
completed (Greenhaus and Powell, 2006; Chen, Powell and Greenhaus, 2009; Powell and
Greenhaus, 2010).

Once the employers are comfortable with balancing the workers' management in work and
time, then they can create time for their families and thus be able to encourage job satisfaction
(Mesmer-Magnus and Viswesvaran, 2005). This is only achieved when all the players in this
field are satisfied and more importantly when there is mutual satisfaction of both the work and
family lives which finally leads to satisfaction of individuals involved and thus increase in

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production. According to Lambert, 1990, most employees need flexibility in their schedule
which should be rewarded in form of time to enable them to balance their company’s demand
and the roles they play in their families such as childcare.

Work-life balance can only be achieved by implementing strategies that ensure the integration
of social and company demands. Additionally, (Lambert, 1990) stated that work-life balance
is people’s perception attribute based on various domains of persona life and family roles.
These things must be balanced, otherwise, one will suffer, in terms of the production of
feelings (Martínez‐Sánchez et al., 2007; Albrecht, 2010). Secret, 2000 stated that the concept
of balancing work and family is achieved through employee assessment on work-life in
respect of their individual life. William & Beutell, 2010, stressed that if one observes the
social behaviour of personal life of an individual, one can tell their status at work.

2.8 Theoretical Framework

One of the theoretical hierarchies that have been widely and successfully used is Abraham
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The main purpose of this theory is to understand and develop
personal development and motivation strategies for employees. When used its main purpose is
to bring out the responsible employees and providing a workplace environment that helps
them to bring out the best in their potential (Kremer and Hammond, 2013; Bal and Izak,
2020). The most basic and lowest needs in human nature are physiological needs. Among
these needs include drinks, air, food, sleep, shelter, physical and mental wellbeing. Would
these needs not be met, most people will use their time trying to create room for it, the time
they are supposed to use doing the work they are employed to do (Kremer and Hammond,
2013; Hisbani, Soomro and Rahoo, 2018).

The key aspects in a family always range from family spillover and work-life balance (Chen,
Powell and Greenhaus, 2009; Lavassani and Movahedi, 2014). Lavassani and Movahedi
(2014) devised a strategy for measuring the impact of the flexibility of work schedule which
has a connection between work balance and job satisfaction which says that the connection of
an employee to the outcome of a job has a direct impact to their behaviour of the family level
of which has an effect and mostly spill over to the work life and thus affecting the
performance of the individual.

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Frone, Yardley and Markel (1997) described various models of effects of work schedule
arrangements of work-family balance. But it is worth noting that the spillover model has a
function in assessing how flexed work plans have a role in ensuring satisfaction at the family
level. This means that employees’ behaviour at work will always affect the behaviour of the
individual at home and more so, will it spill over the work schedule after its effects on the
family to work (Gerson, 2009). Upon giving the employees some kind of autonomy in the
work schedules, it has a positive effect and comes along with positive emotions and
eventually physical health and eventually wellbeing of their families and thus a spillover
which leads to good job performance and thus increased output at work (Chen, Powell and
Greenhaus, 2009; Selden, 2009; Shoaib and Kohli, 2017).

One thing that employers should never overlook is job satisfaction for their employees. If the
employees are satisfied, they will tend to devote more time and energy since they have less to
think about but the opposite is possible if they are not satisfied with the work they are doing
(Ernst Kossek and Ozeki, 1998). One of the things that make employees uncomfortable in
their working environment is the challenge of thinking about their families at all times when
they are working. But when one can be given a schedule that integrates the two, then they will
devote most of their time to producing than thinking about what they are already satisfied
with (Frone, Yardley and Markel, 1997).

There is a direct relationship between work arrangements, mental status, and stability of
employees in a given position (Anderson and Kelliher, 2009; Meyer and Maltin, 2010). There
is a clear distinction between employees who has a flexible schedule such as being allowed to
work from home and those who have a specified working place. The companies that allow
their workers, for example, to work from home, tend to have employees who have a higher
rate of job satisfaction unlike those who have a fixed working place. This has proved to bring
the turnover rate lower in companies while the intention of employees to stay grow
instantaneously.

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 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research Methods

The method used in this research was the qualitative method. The reason behind the use of
this method is because its main aim is to generate insights on situations and behaviour and
thus help in understanding the relationship between the both (Schmidt, 2004; Ridder and
Hoon, 2009; Teherani et al., 2015). Qualitative research main aim is to study variables in their
natural setting. It is thus the best method in trying to understand an employee’s manager’s
behaviour and a way of interpreting how flexibility in the workplace can bring about
satisfaction and its impact on both work and family life. Additionally, the data in this study
cannot be analysed numerically and thus studied using qualitative methods. This means such
data has a challenge in reducing to small numbers without losing its significance and derive a
conclusion without distorting facts (Ritchie et al., 2013; Leedy and Ormrod, 2015). It is thus
the best way to go since it allows the study of opinions and experiences among employees
through engagement, motivation, and satisfaction concerning performance.

This method was thus used in data collection by use of various work balance variables to
enable synthesizing literature and thus critically analyse the relationship between flexed work
plan and balance in work-family lives as well as satisfaction at work. In the process, semi-
structured interviews in data collection were mostly used in the primary stage from the
selected study samples. The target group in this study was employees from ChildsPlay UK, in
various departments.

3.2. Research Design

The design used to conduct this research was an explanatory research design. The main
advantage of this approach is that it provides a well developed and efficient way of
understanding employee’s perspectives. Additionally, it is the best method of providing
insights and helps in defining the research problem more precisely. This research process is
flexible and its samples are often small since the main aim of it is to understand a new
situation (Ridder and Hoon, 2009). In the data collection, it uses semi-structured interviews
for data collection considering that qualitative information by itself, most of the time is
meaningless if not well checked, it may fail to capture to underlying people feelings and thus
be misunderstood.

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In explanatory research, the focus is on explaining the aim rather than just describing the
research study. It not only explains, but it examines the relationship between variables (Given,
2008; Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009; Maxwell, 2012). It is more about exploring to
create new generalisations, and more concerned about “what rather than the how and why.”
This study is thus focussed on “how and why” flexible work influence employee’s
performance and thus affecting the overall organizational performance. The data gathered will
be used to explain how beneficial it would be to an organization in implementing flexible
working strategies from the employees' viewpoint. The method of interview employed was
semi-structured which I saw as best suited considering it is the best suited for open-ended
questions (Given, 2008).

3.3. Research Process

The first step was to predetermine the key areas and thus the questions to be used upon
identifying the key data to be collected from the target population. The main reason for
choosing a semi-structured approach is because it comes up with more reliable and
comparative data. The setting environment was established to be the respondent’s home,
which was chosen, due to the assumption that it would make the respondent feel safer and
more comfortable answering the questions at home rather than at the workplace. The
respondents' feelings, thoughts, and beliefs were captured based on their own words and
actions. Since the data the method of data collection is qualitative, the data analysis method
will remain the same too.

3.4. Data Collection

Primary data was collected by asking whether flexible working conditions have improved the
respondent’s general engagement at ChildsPlay Clothing UK in terms of flexibility and
motivation and have brought a kind of bond between the employee and the employers. On
critical data, the focus was on the impact of flexibility, motivation, job satisfaction, work-life
balance and productivity. On the secondary data, the main aim was on industry statistics,
concepts, trends, and terminology which majorly consist of previous studies and labour
statistics. The secondary data used in this study was cited from the labour statistics
department UK, which is publicly available for access.

17
The method used in sampling secondary data is known as the convenient sampling technique.
This means that the individuals used who participated in this survey were colleagues, friends,
and others who corresponded willingly and sincerely. The main challenge during the data
collection is physical data collection which was hindered by Coronavirus restrictions but this
handle was managed through the use of videoconferencing where the identity of the
respondent was not disclosed at any point. A total of 10 questions were submitted to the
respondents upon giving a go-ahead where upon answering the data was analysed and deemed
either fit or unfit for analysis based on how they were answered, either partial or full.

The questionnaire was subdivided into six segments where the first segment was used to
capture job satisfaction, the second covered family satisfaction, third involved interaction or
conflict of work and life, covered the conflict between life and job conflict between family
and job, while the fifth section covered the availability of work schedule options at
workplaces, and last part covered the demographic occupation of the respondent.

4. FINDINGS

This section presents the results of the data collected and summarized responses to key
questions.

4.1. Results

Flexible working and its impact on employee engagements, motivation and work-life
balance

Most workers views were that flexible working conditions were the primary features that
workers value and were ready to give much in return for it. A Human Resource manager felt
that workers were more grateful for having the opportunity to work flexibly which improved
their competence and motive towards work while reducing stress. Flexible working conditions
reduced workers burnout caused by overload. However, some employees felt that a flexible
working schedule encouraged laziness and work relaxation and was not sure if it had a
positive or negative impact.

18
Contribution Of Telecommuting to Liquidity Ratios

Working at home require resources like computers the employer will incur some cost
purchasing due to workers inability to afford them. More salespeople reinforced that
telecommuting led to excluding of innovative and creative workers from collaborative
projects which could benefit the organisation financially. However, some felt that
telecommuting reduced fuel costs and other expenses incurred. Female workers reinforced
that telecommuting enabled them to spend time with their children other than incurring
daycare expenses.

Effects Of Covid-19 Precaution Measures To Working Schedules

19
Covid-19 precaution measures highly affected the marketing process of Childs Play UK and
the commitment of the workers. switching to a different way of marketing was a difficult
concept that required a lot of commitment to align them with market demand. The marketers
had to be very organised to enable coordinated planning, collaboration, communication and
delivery. Considering learning new technological techniques of marketing, the marketers had
to be highly committed to getting ahead of the competitors. Some felt that the measures
affected their commitment as they adjusted to new techniques

Effects Of Flexible Working Conditions on The Relationship Between Employees and

Employers

Most workers considered flexible working conditions as a way of employee isolation. The
employees lose out on the creativity and synergy of working with the rest. This leaves many
employees uninspired and feels isolated from their working group. Other employees attested
that flexible working condition denies the worker a lively working environment which boost
the quality of work. Moreover, some workers work efficiently while under supervision.
Socializing with fellow employees create an environment of support, understanding and trust.
However, some workers believed that flexible working conditions gave them some level of
freedom due to the distance from employers but enhanced laziness at the same time.

20
Measurable Impact from The Decision of The Company to Modify Factors of
Production on Motivation, Engagement and Job Satisfaction

Flexible working conditions brought a positive outcome on workers' satisfaction and impacted
motivation positively. For instance, female employees with household tasks and childcare
responsibilities attested that flexible working helped them have extra hours for themselves,
and lead to improved job performance. The flow of work and project increase as a worker is
free to work when they can deliver the best. However, other HR members considered flexible
working as an easier way to procrastinate which led to additional time of working hence
demotivating the employee.

21
Effects Of Schedule Variations for The Part-Time and Full-Time Workers to Employees
in The Company

The workers felt that flexible working disrupted teams from working collaboratively. Flexible
working hindered the availability of the seniors which affected the junior employees who
were in great need of their support. Other employees believed that schedule variation led to
high productivity since one can work when in their best most. Providing employees with
options to extend operation hours is essential for departments like technical support and
customer care. Some felt that flexible work conditions led to increased efficiency but reduced
teamwork at the same time due to teamwork.

Effects Of Flexible Working Arrangement on Employee Motivation

Most HR professionals reinforced that working in shifts lead to career longevity and fewer
turnovers. Employees working flexible hours were motivated and remained loyal because they
could balance home responsibilities and work. The HR professionals also noted that workers
who have been working for the company for years and have institutional skills and knowledge
are still motivated to work for the company even if they longer want to work in a harsh
environment.

22
Effects Of Flexible Working Conditions on Marketing and Financial Performance

One financial officer considered flexible working conditions as efficient and cost-effective.
Overhead savings when workers commute and less machinery downtime when there are day
and night shifts. Increased productivity due to better employee morale and job satisfaction
improved the financial health of the organisation. Moreover, the flexible working condition
enabled the company to more effectively react to the market condition changes hence
improving competitiveness and profitability.

23
Effects Of Flexible Working on Recruitment and Talent Retention

The organisation's human resource management believed that flexible working conditions add
a competitive advantage: a technique of drawing fresh recruits to their company which
potential applicants would not otherwise prefer. It created an Image as the company of choice
with flexible working schedules. They also considered flexible working as compensation for
downsides like inconvenient location which attracted top talents.

4.2. Qualitative Data Analysis

The method I chose was content analysis, which is a common way to analyse the qualitative
data collected using interviews. The data collected at this stage may be referred to as raw data,
and thus need refining to come up with a bit accurate data. This process would thus be
referred to as standardization (Schmidt, 2004; Kohlbacher, 2006). The whole process is
referred to as qualitative analysis. According to Mayring (2004), the data is reduced and
summarized in the following manner:

1. Paraphrase.
2. Generalize the content to a certain defined level of abstraction.
3. Remove, or reduce any form of repetition of certain paraphrases.

24
 4. From the paraphrased statements, create new different categories.
5. Go through the categories to compare and analyse in comparison with the original
content.

The open-ended questions focussed on the advantages and disadvantages of workplace

flexibility considering the employees perspective. The paraphrased document will be used to
come up with sentences that will be used during the interview. Later in the content analysis
phase, keywords will be produced using categorization to represent and analyse the
advantages and the disadvantages. Further thematic analysis was used to categorize and
analyse qualitative data in a way to help capture the most essential themes of the data. The
main advantage about it is that it is highly inductive (Dawson, 2002) Using this method, the
data they collected and reduced into transcripts were analysed for keywords, and phrases.

5. DISCUSSION

The results from this study concur with the findings and conclusions drawn by Kreiner,
Hollensbe and Sheep (2009), Hill et al. (2010), Halpern and Murphy (2013), and Chung et al.
(2021). Mesmer-Magnus and Viswesvaran (2005) also found that the availability of flexible
work schedules is characterized by the availability of compressed time which is accumulated
in form of hours and then weekly, and the availability of telecommunication devices in the
workplace and finally the willingness of workers to share ideas or anything that would help
accomplish the task at hand.

Work-Life balance

From the analysis of the interview, the theme of work-life balance prominently emerges
across all employees interviewed. Family life is a critical factor for performance regarding
workplace flexibility. It either comes with satisfaction on individual or as a workgroup and if
all is well with all, then comes a collaboration to work in every individual, and the opposite if
anyone is lacking the same. This can as well be formed in the workplace where everyone sees
their workmates as family and thus bringing harmony and collaboration among the members.
However, the most important thing is making sure that people maintain a work and family
balance relationship to make sure that none between the family and work surfers. Among the
things that came along, that helps in maintaining this kind of relationship is companies

25
engaging in the matters of the families and put in place some programs such as childcare and
elderly care for their workers. This makes the workers have a feeling that their employers care
about their family happiness and thus creating a bond between the two and more importantly
maintain a work-family life balance (Jang, 2009; Albrecht, 2010; Shagvaliyeva and
Yazdanifard, 2014; Chung and Van der Lippe, 2018).

Most of the workers from the data collected in the organizations surveyed indicate that most
workers are happy with the current state of the current flexible work schedules put in place by
their employers. However, there are different strategies put in place by the companies to make
sure that the workers remain motivated in their work. Among these things, the main one that
came up was a flexible work schedule. They have a direct impact on the enhancement of
workers morale as well as loyalty to firms.

A direct connection between work life and family balance and the implementation of the work
schedule and balancing the balancing of the same is clear. Results show that a flexible work
schedule is positively connected with effective family and work lives balance while the
opposite is true. This thus must be taken care of to make sure that the employees are satisfied
in their jobs. It thus indicates that there is a need for the organizations to integrate the
employees needs both at home as well as at work and the most method that has proved work
is childcare. Most of the individuals who are employed have families to take care of and more
importantly the education as well as the needs of their children. It thus will be a high
motivation if they would find an employer who cares about the wellbeing of their children and
family as large (Payne, Cook and Diaz, 2012). One thing that affects most of the workers is
the lack of time to be with their loved ones due to the fixed schedule as well as meanness of
their employers which doesn’t permit workers to enjoy life with their families. But with a
flexible work schedule, they will be more motivated and focussed on what they do at work
when they are there and thus more productive (Jang, 2009; Hill et al., 2010; Swanberg et al.,
2011).

Recruitment and Retention

In regards to retention rates and reducing turnover costs, the company is focused on the
personal happiness of its workers. If the skill of an individual is so special that he may be
needed by other companies, then the company is implementing attractive flexible work

26
arrangements that focus on the comfort of the individual. The most evident theme is that
companies are employing workplace flexibility to make sure they remain on top of the
competition with the best talent. The main recurring theme among all employees is job
satisfaction and comfort. It appeared severally in the responses of most employees, stating a
positive impact of flexible working in ensuring work satisfaction. It concurs with the finding
of early studies by Lambert (1990), which concluded that work schedules that integrate
employee support while at work in their personal lives lead to the production of positive
effects based on the capacity of the company concerning the goal of the company.

Flexible Working Strategies

One thing that is commendable at Childs Play Clothing UK, is the adoption of different
methods of bringing forward flexibility in workplaces. Among the main things they have
employed in making this possible is the use of telecommunication technologies, work time
flexibility, sharing of responsibilities, and innovativeness in compressing work to increase
satisfaction among employees. This is an indication that the company has already known the
importance of work flexibility for the benefit of its goals. The flexible work schedules are not
only applicable to the married but to also the single, all the way to the elderly and the
divorced. This has thus made sure that everyone is on board with their plans and thus
increasing the adaptability of the firm in the daily changing environment and thus
championing workers towards positive contribution.

One of the most effective ways they have worked for them is by enabling their employees to
spend time with their loved ones. They offer a critical need that would generate happiness
among the workers. Workplace flexibility is hence a big boost in assisting workers in
balancing responsibilities both at work and at home and thus eliminating or at least
minimizing conflicts of these responsibilities and thus increasing productivity (Hill et al.,
2010). Employing falling into the caregiver group at home especially benefit by spending time
with the loved ones, they felt that caring for the family members is more of responsibility than
anything one has to do on the available time. Most of the participants who fall into the group
indicated high levels of emotions when the issue of caring for the sick, handicapped, the
elderly, loved ones, as well as children, came up. This thus indicated that this was so
important to the employees to the extent that if this was taken away from them, then it would

27
affect their work performance and thus perhaps shift their attention from work to constantly
think about that what they seem to care about (Anitha, 2014).

In summary, most of the employees interviewed frequently used the words and phrases “work
better”, “work faster” and “more focussed” and among other keywords that indicated that
employees see these attributes as directly responsible for their work performance. Overall,
there is clear was direct evidence that flexible working had a hand in enabling productivity.
From this study, it is evident that general managers and well as human resource managers
should consider incorporating flexible work practices in the work environment to make sure
they bring forward work satisfaction. One thing that they should keep in mind is that
flexibility in the workplace is a motivation to most of them and thus improve their experience
in their working environment.

Significance During The COVID-19 Pandemic

The main focus of this study is trying to show how flexible working can be linked to the
achievement of a balanced work and family life and the overall satisfaction of the workers in the
workers’ place. This study literature and analysis thus, the main aim is to assist organizational
managers in coming up with organizational strategies that would improve the mood and the
comfort of their workers in the workplace. The findings show that flexible working strategies
and policies can be implemented in the long-term plan to make sure that the employees remain
satisfied in the workplace. In addition, the study reinforces the importance of workplace
flexibility to human resource management during the uncertain and uncharted time of COVID-
19. It provides supporting literature and a guideline of how to go about implementing flexible
working strategies and how both the employees and their employers can achieve satisfaction
from it especially during Coronavirus restrictions.

This study, conducted during the pandemic, shows that employees had a form of satisfaction and
comfort from the fact that they had the chance to work from home (Chung et al., 2021; Mackie,
2021). The factors that they brought forward as the main favourable to them being: less stress
from workmates, less tired, and more importantly reduced travel time. The current technological
advancements in remote working tools played a crucial role in ensuring that work did not halt or
significantly change during the pandemic. Employees were able to share information in real-time
as well as share responsibilities with ease without the need to travel or have physical

28
commitment. This plays a crucial role in ensuring that people can handle their tasks at home.
Since employees can handle their tasks with ease and the presence of their families, they are thus
able to handle other important matters in their lives and thus promoting satisfaction in what they
are doing. The pandemic with relation to this study affirms that technology is essential for future-
proofing companies. Upon implementation of the suggestions in this study thus will help
managers in the elimination of deeds such as absenteeism and laziness.

Critique Of Existing Theory and Practice

Despite the advantages that come with this method, several disadvantages critique this theory.
Among the main advantages that come with this theory we have stated earlier, include more
personal time, the ability for employees to further their education, less travel to and from
work and more importantly more time to do personal work. The major disadvantage of this
theory is a slow internet connection, computer illiteracy issues, supervising workers who are
working remotely, and lack of association among the workers thus less workers harmony and
culture.

The theories and concepts this study is based on did not explain what it is there for the
management and what they would have to do to make sure that more time is not wasted in the
run to impress their workers. And what is there to make sure that workers do not take so much
time caring about their benefits rather than equally caring about the wellbeing of the company
as the company does to them. There is thus a need to come up with a method to come up with
a way of eliminating this. If technology is applied for enabling people who can work from
home, what is it there for those whose physical presence is required, wouldn’t it hurt their
performance, considering they may feel that they are being mistreated while others are
enjoying working from home, and thus affecting the overall performance of the whole
company? There is thus a need for studies to mitigate these challenges regarding the
workplace flexibility theoretical approach.

Organisational commitment is a psychological state that explains an employee's relationship

with the company and their “decision to continue membership in the organisation”(Choo,
Desa and Asaari, 2016). The higher the commitment, the lower the turnover (Das, Nandialath
and Mohan, 2013). Fast internet, communications advancements and online collaboration
platforms enable employees to work remotely (Kelliher and Anderson, 2008; Vargas-Llave et

29
al., 2020). However, if the technology is inappropriate, faulty or unfamiliar to the user, the
effectiveness of flexible working strategy maybe be severely limited. Beauregard, Basile and
Canonico (2013) found that employees of a UK government organisation working from home
had frequent technology and communications issues. Although most issues were relatively
minor, some were significantly disruptive.

Flexible work arrangements may also lead to the isolation of some groups of workers,
communication issues, and the adoption of lean production techniques. Maruyama and Tietze
(2012) stated that flexible workplaces and time make it difficult for the managers and
supervisors to monitor their workers while also increasing the management costs through the
development of new strategies and programs to control working environments. In most cases,
it is difficult for the management to track the employees at a different location other than the
normal office setting (Maruyama and Tietze, 2012).

Conclusion

Upon careful and vast study of the topic, it is correct to say that workplace flexibility is a
practically important concept in making sure that companies keep their workers focussed as
well as the company remaining put to their goal. The findings of this study show that women
need flexible working more for they are the ones who are more affected by home works than
men. Family is a crucial aspect of every employee’s social life. Flexible working ensures
balance and eliminates any form of family-work conflict that may occur, and the conclusion is
that both genders have a role to play and equal opportunities should be offered unless the need
is for a special occasion.

The research found that flexible working is directly proportional to job satisfaction and work-
life. A good application of this allows workers to manage their time well and thus have time
to attend to their urgent needs in the family and overall come up with a cost-effective method
that does not only affect the employees positively but the company as well. It has been
established that flexible working enhances emotional and mental health and thus reducing
stress associated with working with the limitations that come with the traditional office setting
(Kelliher and Anderson, 2008; Morganson et al., 2010).

30
Workplace flexibility allows employees to minimize the work time used and maximize not
only on its output but also increase the time spend with their loved one at home. On the
company side, it reduces some costs such as supervision and office space, while they
maximize their production through the integration of current technological advancements.
This makes the workers have a feeling of being appreciated for what they do and thus become
committed to the company goals and thus increase its production. In summary, flexible
working has a direct positive effect on the balance of work-life and home life across all
sectors. This is generally supported by data from this study that found that flexibility in work
practices and policy improves employee and organisational performance.

Recommendations

There is a need to address the gaps that have been found in the theory despite the advantages
that come with it. The main gap that needs urgent research is the neglect of the role that other
variables such as life satisfaction, and gender parity in the workplace as a result of flexible
work schedules. This study would play an important role in offering an understanding of how
individual characteristics such as personality, gender and how other variables at work and
family should be addressed. Despite the available research, there is still a wide gap that needs
to be addressed to come up with more elaborated variables that would put this matter to a
more practical point.

Another gap that needs to be addressed is how life at home settings is related to work
performance with a gender-specific focus. This should thus focus on how workers live their
lives at home and how it affects the person’s performance when it comes to working. Does a
poor lifestyle affect performance negatively? And what can be done to mitigate this?
Additionally, how does the family member fair when one of theirs is now available at their
disposal, is it positive or negative to their lives?

Finally, there is an urgent need for measures to be put in place to establish the effectiveness of
using online samples with proximity samples and what impacts they have on this study. This
is based on the samples corrected which was a representation of 53 participants which
amounted to 94.6% which amounts to 56 in a pool. Despite it being a good sample size, there
is still a need to make it a 100 or near to that. Finally, more time is needed for the few months

31
allocated to this study is limited thus the data gathered was shallow. Thus, more time is
needed to make the analysis quality and depth.

Personal Learning Reflection

Thorough literature research provided a foundation for the study. At first, it was difficult to
find the required relevant sources of information related to the topic. However, with
persistence, a solid foundation was built to satisfy the research objectives and questions. I
now understand that qualitative research requires a huge knowledge base of the value and
application of a thorough and critical literature review. This was essential in pursuing other
research sections with confidence. Flexible working, work-life balance is a serious
contemporary issue in human resource management. Finding the balance between employees’
work and family is a difficult issue. What emerged is a need for trade-offs. However, this
gives and take sometimes reduces performance, the quality, significance or value work in
favour of individual wellbeing. By examining the data collected and interacting with retail
employees, their descriptive responses and the strong emotional contexts show that on a
personal level, organizations gain more through flexile working strategies compared to trade-
offs made.

32
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