Chapter I equally prioritizes the demands of one’s career and the

demands of one’s personal life (includes family, friends,

THE PROBLEM

pursuing hobbies etc.). Some of the common reasons

1.1 Introduction
that lead to a poor work life balance include: increased
There is always desire to become successful in
responsibilities at work, working longer hours, increased
terms of the career and family life aspect. After
responsibilities at home and having children.
graduation in college, people are most concern on

Some employers have noted that their employees

looking for the best job that suits them taking in

are having a hard time balancing their work and family

consideration the degree they graduated and the

life. In addressing the issue, they device a program

passion they wanted. Working people give their best,

called Compressed Work Schedule.

dedicating their life, time and effort to their current

jobs. This causes them to have some problems on Compressed Work Schedule is one option when

work life balance. implementing a flexible work policy. It allows employees

to work full time hours (40 hours per week) over fewer
According to Business News Daily, Work life

days. The most common type of compressed work

Balance is the state of equilibrium where a person
schedule is a four-day work week in which employees

work full time for 10 hours in 4 days. Another popular

1.2 Review of Related Literature

model of the compressed work week is the 5-4-9 work

Two most important aspect of being in adult life are

schedule, which is based on the two-week working

work and family. Work life balance is a very

period. An employee works 9 hours per day, but then in

important phenomenon that is of great concern to

the second week takes the Friday off. Basically, in two

various employees in both private and public sector.

work weeks an employee works 9 days for 9 hours.

It goes beyond prioritizing the work role and one’s

(Info@Spica.com)
personal life. It also affects the social, psychological,

There are a lot of models for compressed economical, and mental well-being of the individual.

work week schedules. The researchers focus on people All of these are been reflected in the output of the

working under the 4-day work week schedule. The aim individual, which affects his or her performance in

of this study is to understand whether the compressed the workplace on the long run. Work life balance has

work schedule is beneficial to working professionals or implication on employee attitudes, behaviors,

not.
wellbeing as well as organizational effectiveness Compressed work weeks allow a worker to extend

(Ebay, Casper, et al. 2005). the length of their working day, beyond eight hours,

Individuals want to live meaningful lives both at while completing their work week within three or

home and work without sacrificing either. Work-life four days, while allowing more than the usual two

balance is the equilibrium between the amount of days off (Cohen and Gadon, 1978, Cunningham

time and effort an employee devotes to work and 1989).

personal activities to maintain an overall sense of In a compressed workweek, an employee works

harmony. fewer days, but longer hours each day. For example,

Work-life imbalance has serious consequences for instead of working five days of eight hours each day

employees, organizations, and the society. An for a total of 40 hours, the employee may work four

imbalance affects the quality of life and career days of 10 hours each, or three 12-hour days. In

accomplishments of employees. Poor work-life some cases, the compressed workweek may occur

balance can lead to: Lack of family time, health every other week, or to meet important deadlines.

issues and fatigue. (Tayo Afolabi, PT, pcl) For example, an employee may work five nine-hour

days during one week and four nine-hour days the

second week of the payroll. Regardless, any time There was a time when, if one earned a salary, one

over 40 hours per week is considered overtime at was a ‘professional’, wages were for everyone else.

time-and-a-half by the Fair Labor Standards Act We have progressed now so that there is no longer

(FLSA) (shorturl.at/qtJKS). Employees would be able such a clear distinction between the ‘Professions’

to maximize their time on working in their office just and the rest. On the one hand we have ‘The

like for three to four days only rather the usual five- Professions’ and on the other - equally valuable and

day work in one week schedule. necessary - we have farmers, miners, craftsmen,

A professional job is one where specialized artisans, artists, plus builders, plumbers,

knowledge & craft are applied. The person doing it electricians and carpenters, not to mention the

gets paid for it. The five traditional professions are myriad of service and hospitality positions.

architecture, clergy, engineering, law and medicine. Basically, anyone who receives payment for work

Law and medicine are traditionally considered to be done is considered professional as opposed to

the most elite of them. Nowadays, science, teaching, amateur. Terms such as ‘white collar workers’ for

politics and dentistry may be added, and of course ‘professionals’ and office staff, and ‘blue collar

we all know what is listed as the oldest profession! workers’ that refers to someone whose profession
requires them to perform a good amount of manual employee. The extent to which this is achieved

labor (shorturl.at/goxP7) though depends on how organizations apply and

Increasing numbers of organizations offer flexible implement it. It is concluded that when flexible

working hours to help employees balance work and working hours are supported by management and fit

personal life. However, studies about the effects of the work culture, they are highly appreciated both

flexible working hours on work–life balance and for private and work-related reasons. Moreover, its

organizational outcomes are ambiguous. A meaning for the private life varies according to life

qualitative research was performed by in-depth stage. Findings are important for policy makers and

interviews with a variant sample of 15 employees human resources managers alike in order to

and thematic analysis of the data. The more family implement and deal with flexible working hours

responsibilities the respondents have, the more they effectively. Consequently, this will help employees

tend to perceive flexible working hours as a strike a proper balance between work and personal

necessity rather than an extra benefit. According to life generating beneficial organizational outcomes.

the interviewees, the system creates a situation (shorturl.at/awIQY)

which is advantageous for both employer and

1.3 Statement of the Problem fewer than five days in one week or 10 days in two

weeks. For example, some employers implement a

Alternative work schedules, such as flextime and
four-day workweek of 10-hour days. Employers get
compressed workweeks, have been adopted by an
the same number of working hours, but employees
increasing number of organizations over the past
have a three-day weekend every week. Another
several decades (Pierce & Dunham, 1992). A recent
approach is the 9/80 schedule, in which employees
report that surveyed 1,035 organizations found that
work 80 hours in nine days and have one day off
66% offered flexible work schedules (up 6% from the
every other week. Among other demographics,
year before) and 21% offered compressed work
employees whose family status involves child care or
schedules (Hewitt Associates
elder care responsibilities may find a compressed
LLC, 1995).
workweek to be of particular value. Employees save

time and commuting expenses by reporting for duty

Compressed workweek is an alternative

on fewer days. (https://bit.ly/3uJpepA)

scheduling method that allows employees to work a

Much of the increased use of alternative work

standard workweek of 40 hours over a period of

schedules is due to societal changes, such as
increasing numbers of women in the workforce, the identification of the advantages and

dual-career households, and work-leisure time disadvantages, the researchers would be able to

expectations (Hochschild, 1997; Pierce, Newstrom, understand and weigh if the said enumeration is

Dunham, & Barber, 1989; Ronen, 1984). These beneficial to the employees. This would make an

changes have increased employee demands for implication as to how compressed work week is

flexibility in their work schedules so that they can either detrimental or beneficial to the respondents.

better adjust to and master life outside the With this, the researchers would be able to suggest

workplace. on how to make a well work-life balance.

However, research results regarding benefits to the

employing organizations that have implemented

these alternative work schedules are far more

ambiguous (Pierce et al., 1989).

The study aims to answer the question what are

the advantages and disadvantages of compressed

work week schedules on working professionals? In

 Chapter 2: RESEARCH MEETHODOLOGY technician of industries) and semi-structured interviews

with key stakeholders (government bodies, ministries,

Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing
and industries) in participating organizations. The other
non-numerical data (e.g., text, video, or audio) to
design used is an interview of employees to know how
understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be
they feel about safety and health of their workplace, and
used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or
field observation at the selected industrial sites was
generate new ideas for research.
undertaken. Hence, this study employs a descriptive

2.1. Research Design and Research Instrument research design to agree on the effects of occupational

The research design is intended to provide an safety and health management system on employee

appropriate framework for a study. A very significant health, safety, and property damage for selected

decision in research design process is the choice to be manufacturing industries. Saunders et al. [2] and Miller

made regarding research approach since it determines [3] say that descriptive research portrays an accurate

how relevant information for a study will be obtained; profile of persons, events, or situations. This design

however, the research design process involves many offers to the researchers a profile of described relevant

interrelated decisions [1]. This study employed a mixed aspects of the phenomena of interest from an individual,

type of methods. The first part of the study consisted of organizational, and industry-oriented perspective.

a series of well-structured questionnaires (for Therefore, this research design enabled the researchers

management, employee’s representatives, and to gather data from a wide range of respondents on the
impact of safety and health on manufacturing industries the company’s HR database which lists the names and

in Ethiopia. And this helped in analyzing the response contact details of every employee. Sample size The

obtained on how it affects the manufacturing industries’ number of individuals you should include in your

workplace safety and health. sample depends on various factors, including the size

and variability of the population and your research

A research instrument is a tool used to collect, measure,
design. There are different sample size calculators and
and analyze data related to your subject. Research
formulas depending on what you want to achieve with
instruments can be tests, surveys, scales,
statistical analysis. Probability sampling methods
questionnaires, or even checklists. To assure the
Probability sampling means that every member of the
strength of your study, it is important to use previously
population has a chance of being selected. It is mainly
validated instruments!
used in quantitative research. If you want to produce
2.2 Sampling Method
results that are representative of the whole population,

The sampling frame is the actual list of individuals that probability sampling techniques are the most valid

the sample will be drawn from. Ideally, it should include choice. There are four main types of probability sample.

the entire target population (and nobody who is not part  1. Simple random sampling In a simple random

of that population). Example You are doing research on sample, every member of the population has an equal

working conditions at Company X. Your population is all chance of being selected. Your sampling frame should

1000 employees of the company. Your sampling frame is include the whole population. To conduct this type of
sampling, you can use tools like random number pattern in the list that might skew the sample. For

generators or other techniques that are based entirely example, if the HR database groups employees by team,

on chance. Example You want to select a simple random and team members are listed in order of seniority, there

sample of 100 employees of Company X. You assign a is a risk that your interval might skip over people in

number to every employee in the company database junior roles, resulting in a sample that is skewed

from 1 to 1000, and use a random number generator to towards senior employees. 3. Stratified sampling

select 100 numbers. 2. Systematic sampling Systematic Stratified sampling involves dividing the population into

sampling is similar to simple random sampling, but it is subpopulations that may differ in important ways. It

usually slightly easier to conduct. Every member of the allows you draw more precise conclusions by ensuring

population is listed with a number, but instead of that every subgroup is properly represented in the

randomly generating numbers, individuals are chosen at sample. To use this sampling method, you divide the

regular intervals. Example All employees of the company population into subgroups (called strata) based on the

are listed in alphabetical order. From the first 10 relevant characteristic (e.g. gender, age range, income

numbers, you randomly select a starting point: number bracket, job role). Based on the overall proportions of

6. From number 6 onwards, every 10th person on the the population, you calculate how many people should

list is selected (6, 16, 26, 36, and so on), and you end up be sampled from each subgroup. Then you use random

with a sample of 100 people. If you use this technique, it or systematic sampling to select a sample from each

is important to make sure that there is no hidden subgroup. Example The company has 800 female
employees and 200 male employees. You want to ensure
that the sample reflects the gender balance of the
company, so you sort the population into two strata
based on gender. Then you use random sampling on
each group, selecting 80 women and 20 men, which
gives you a representative sample of 100 people. 4.
Cluster sampling Cluster sampling also involves dividing
the population into subgroups, but each subgroup
should have similar characteristics to the whole sample.
Instead of sampling individuals from each subgroup,
you randomly select entire subgroups. If it is practically
possible, you might include every individual from each
sampled cluster. If the clusters themselves are large,
you can also sample individuals from within each
cluster using one of the techniques above. This method
is good for dealing with large and dispersed populations,
but there is more risk of error in the sample, as there
could be substantial differences between clusters. It’s
difficult to guarantee that the sampled clusters are
really representative of the whole population. Example
The company has offices in 10 cities across the country
(all with roughly the same number of employees in
similar roles). You don’t have the capacity to travel to
every office to collect your data, so you use random
sampling to select 3 offices – these are your clusters .
https://www.scribbr.com/author/shona/
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sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.nature.com/
articles/bdj.2008.192%23:~:text%3DThere%2520are
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Methods of data collection in qualitative research:
interviews and focus groups
nature.com
2.3 Participants of the Study
Research participant - Wikipedia
A research participant, also called a human subject or
en.m.wikipedia.org
an experiment, trial, or study participant or subject, is a

person who voluntarily participates in human subject 2.4 Data Gathering Procedures

research after giving informed consent to be the subject What is involved in collecting data – six steps to success

of the research. Step 1: Identify issues and/or opportunities for

collecting data.

https://www.google.com/url? Step 2: Select issue(s) and/or opportunity(ies) and set

sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:// goals.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_participant Step 3: Plan an approach and methods.

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https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.ohrc.on.ca/
en/count-me-collecting-human-rights-based-data/6-
what-involved-collecting-data-%25E2%2580%2593-six-
steps-
success&ved=2ahUKEwiQ5Yeq2_HwAhXRBIgKHQFqDV
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6. What is involved in collecting data – six steps to
success | Ontario Human Rights Commission
ohrc.on.ca
2.5 Data Analysis and Treatment
In Data Analysis: Applying any statistical method — like
regression or calculating a mean — to data. In Factor
Analysis: Any combination of factor levels is called a
treatment. In a Thesis or Experiment: A statistical
treatment is a summary of the procedure, including
statistical methods used
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Statistical Treatment - Statistics How To
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