Flexibility at workplace refers to an organization taking varying approaches to the traditional way of employees working. Flexible working environment introduction may need the management to redesign job, change the time of work or changes can be in patterns or the location of the work (Cummings and Worley, 2014, p.12). An organization can adopt several flexible working approaches. However, for the case of Blue Rock Craft Beer, there are two working approached that would work for both the employees and workplace demands. The first approach is flexible working hours. The flexible working hours approach enable employees to attend to their workplace duties for an agreed number of hours over a stipulated period. The flexible working hours is agreed off between the employee and the management. Employees working following the agreed flexible hours can manage their personal commitments and work while still ensuring they keep their hours in the workplace (Joyce et al., 2010, p.5). The introduction of flexible working hours in Blue Rock Craft Beer will give the employees enough time to concentrate on their personal businesses hence they will be motivated to work harder to accomplish their work duties hence improving the company productivity.
Another flexible working approach that can be used is the part-time work or job sharing approach. A part-time employee works for fewer hours than their full-time counterparts while the job-sharing approach enables two part-time employees to take up and share one full-time permanent job. The introduction of part-time and job sharing in Blue Rock Craft Beer will be beneficial to the company because it will increase the business productivity (Griffin, Neal, and Parker, 2007, p.329). Part-time employees are usually entitled to payment during public holidays which fall on the days that they usually work. For this reason, the company will have a constant supply of employees during public holidays, and weekend hence there will be continued production of products by the company hence they will be able to increase the income that they gather.
Methods of Employee Flexibility
Several employee flexibilities can be used by an organization which tends to be effective. Most effective organizations in the world have employed the use of varying employee flexibility which have enabled them to be more effective than some of their competitors. Employment decisions and work performance for all employees are highly dependent on the workplace flexibility of the organization (Cummings and Worley, 2014, p.16). As a result, organizations that practice effective work and employee flexibility then to be more efficient and productive.
Shift Work
The first employee flexibility that is used by effective organizations is the shift work pattern. The shift pattern is whereby there is always an employee available to replace another employee in doing the same job within the 24-hour. The shift system regularly changes its hours of operation rotating the crew employees in morning, afternoon and night shift. There are two types of shift system that an effective organization can use to ensure that there is a flow of employees. First, effective organizations use shift system to ensure that there is a continuous flow of employees for the organization. This provides 24-hour cover for the entire week. The second type of shift system is the non-continuous shift whereby the employees provide over in the organization for less than the total hours available in the week (Joyce et al., 2010, p.7).
Shift system ensures that sufficient employees are always available in the organization to ensure that the organization activities do not stop. This employee flexibility can be used at the Blue Rock Craft Beer to improve job performance among the employees. Different shifts give the employees enough time to relax and be rejuvenated for the next day of work (Noe et al., 2006, p.23). As a result, when they report for their shift they will be productivity hence improving the productivity of Blue Rock Craft Beer and make it more efficient.
Compressed Hours
Secondly, the effective organization has adopted the compressed hours system of employee flexibility. The compressed hours is whereby the employees attend to their workplace duties in their usual hours in either fewer or longer blocks of time over the week. The compressed hours enables the employees to create time for themselves by either starting early or finishing late. The effective organization uses this flexibility because it benefits the organization during the recruitment and retention of qualified staff (Noe et al., 2006, p.24).
Blue Rock Craft Beer may apply the compressed hour flexibility system to reduce absenteeism in the company so that there will be no backlog of work that has not been done due to employees being absent. Additionally, Blue Rock Craft Beer may be able to retain and recruitment more qualified staff due to job satisfaction that their employees may be getting due to the ability to have longer weekend as a result of the compressed hours that they spent in the organization (Noe et al., 2006, p.23).
Overtime
Thirdly, overtime is another flexibility strategy that is usually used by most of the effective organizations globally. Overtime refers to the time that the employees work past the usual full-time hours that they are supposed to spend (Joyce et al., 2010, p.8). In many organizations, overtime is usually voluntary, but there are cases where it is compulsory. It is common for employees working overtime to be paid on an hourly basis aside from the salary. Blue Rock Craft Beer can use overtime strategy to ensure that they can meet fluctuation in demand of labor without recruiting extra staff (Joyce et al., 2010, p.9). The organization will, therefore, be able to save on the amount of capital that they would have spent in paying the extra staff that they would have recruited.
Consequently, paid overtime is much cheaper for Blue Rock Craft Beer Company than recruiting and training new staff which may also require the company to acquire extra equipment. Employees working on paid overtime will be motivated to work even harder and ensure that the company can meet its objectives because they will be well compensated (Joyce et al., 2010, p.9).
Employees Work-Life Balance and Employee Welfare
Definition
Work life balance can be defined as the policies and procedure that are created by an organization with the goal of enabling their employees to be more efficient on their jobs while still being able to handle and attend to their personal issues and concerns at their family level (Cummings and Worley, 2014, p.54). Therefore, Work life balance is simple terms can be explained as the relationship and the ability that an employee can balance their work issues and concerns without interfering with their personal life concerns and vice versa. On the other hand, employee welfare refers to the wellbeing of the employee that is guaranteed and catered for by the organization. The welfare of the employee may be in terms of benefits that ensure that the well-being of the employee, their rights and the quality of their lives (Renee Baptiste, 2008, p.284).
Importance to Blue Rock Craft Beer
At Blue Rock Craft Beer there are several reasons why work-life balance is important for both the employees and the company. First, lack of work-life balance results in symptoms of stress and burnout to the employee (Renee Baptiste, 2008, p.285). If an organization insist on the need for the employees to work long hours without getting sufficient time to relax and bond with their families and friends, these employees have a high tendency of being stressed and burnt-out. In this case, if the employee is stressed or shows symptoms of burnout they will be unable to perform to their optimal level hence their productivity will reduce (Renee Baptiste, 2008, p.285). However, if these employees are encouraged to take some time off to spend with their friend doing things that they enjoy, the employees will be refreshed hence they will become better employees and increase their productivity with s beneficial for the company (Renee Baptiste, 2008, p.286). Therefore, at Blue Rock Craft Beer work life balance will make the company to increase its productions and in turn, their revenues will increase.
How Work Life Leads to Employee Welfare
Work life balance is directly related to employee welfare because it influences most of the issues that are in the employee welfare hence it can be said that work-life balance leads to employee welfare (Renee Baptiste, 2008, p.284). As earlier stated employee welfare focusses on the well-being of the employee. Work balance leads to employee welfare by ensuring that the employee takes care of themselves hence ensuring that they are well and healthy both physically and mentally. For instance, overworked employees tend to develop stress which may lead to physical sicknesses such as heart diseases and alcoholism. However, through work life balance an employee can reduce the pressure of work and relax with their friends and family hence promoting the welfare of the employee (Renee Baptiste, 2008, p.285).
Employee Welfare Benefits
Several benefits can be gained from employee welfare that benefits both the employees and the organization. The first benefit is the availability of a motivated workforce. Employee welfare takes care of the needs and benefits of the employee (Renee Baptiste, 2008, p.286). As a result, the employee felt valued and appreciated hence they can be motivated to work even better when they are in their workplace. A motivated employee will be more productive resulting in high productivity from the company. Furthermore, employee welfare enables an organization to recruit and retain qualified staff. Some employees do not look for the final salary that is being offered by an organization, but they tend to consider their welfare and those of the other employees in the organization (Renee Baptiste, 2008, p.288). Therefore, an organization that has a good employee welfare plan can easily acquire and retain experienced and qualified staff hence the quality of their products will be high.
Reference List
Cummings, T.G., and Worley, C.G., 2014. Organization development and change. Cengage learning.
Griffin, M.A., Neal, A. and Parker, S.K., 2007. A new model of work role performance: Positive behavior in uncertain and interdependent contexts. Academy of Management Journal, 50(2), pp.327-347.
Joyce, K., Pabayo, R., Critchley, J.A. and Bambra, C., 2010. Flexible working conditions and their effects on employee health and wellbeing. The Cochrane Library.
Noe, R.A., Hollenbeck, J.R., Gerhart, B. and Wright, P.M., 2006. Human Resource Management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
Renee Baptiste, N., 2008. Tightening the link between employee well-being at work and performance: A new dimension for HRM. Management Decision, 46(2), pp.284-309.
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