Team Analytical Report - Rough Draft
malk60
JackTeam.pdf
Running head: FLEXIBLE WORKING SCHEDULE 1
Flexible Working Schedule
David Tuttle
Zaka Mahmood
Jack Poutney
Regina Wilkinson
Davenport University
ENG 311
Ms. Benedicto
June 13, 2018
FLEXIBLE WORKING SCHEDULE 2
Abstract
This paper explores what flexible working hours are in a career environment. It also gives some
background on the topic and who the audience is intended to be. The scope and methods of
inquiry are important pieces to this paper. Limitations and team qualifications are also explored.
The research dives into some statistics and data. One topic for investigation is comparing the
flexible vacation time to employee satisfaction. Another topic is the percentage of satisfied
employees in a flexible schedule compare to those who are not. The final collected data topic is
how much money does this cost or save the company. The paper also explores some possible
recommendations to flexible work schedules. There are multiple recommendations explored for
this topic. The paper concludes be recapping the main points that were found throughout the
paper. There are also appendixes for graphics if needed. Since this is a rough draft, the abstract
(and other pieces) is not final.
Keywords: flex time, costs.
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Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................................4-9
Definition, Description, Background....................................................................................4-5
Purpose of the Report and Intended Audience.....................................................................5-6
Scope of the Inquiry.................................................................................................................6
Methods of Inquiry...............................................................................................................6-8
Limitations of the Study/Report...............................................................................................8
Team Qualifications.............................................................................................................8-9
Collected Data............................................................................................................................9-16
Company Cost or Savings..................................................................................................9-12
Paid Time Off………………...........................................................................................12-15
Vacation Time and Employee Satisfaction................................................................14
Vacation Time and Employers…..……...............................................................14-15
Percentage of satisfied employees in flexible schedule....................................................15-16
Recommendations....................................................................................................................16-17
[First, Still need to do]...........................................................................................................17
[Second, Still need to do].......................................................................................................17
[Third, Still need to do]..........................................................................................................17
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
References ...............................................................................................................................18-20
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FLEXIBLE WORKING SCHEDULE 5
Flexible Working Schedule
Introduction
Definition, Description, Background
In the last decade or so, a shift has happened in the business world in the way that many
people view their work-life balance. This is a top priority for many when looking for a job, they
want to be able to work remotely if they need to or possibly work a flexible work week. This
generation is very concerned about making sure their time is well balanced, they want to be able
to have time for family, travel, working out, and anything else that may be important to them.
They are not all about their career as many were in generations before them. In research
conducted by Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College, many different reasons exist
for this change in thinking; some of these are better health, by having a flexible work
environment this can reduce stress and stress related health issues. Many workers seemed to have
a better disposition both at work and at home when they felt less pressured to have to choose
between the two. Which often makes them more productive. In all the companies that they
talked to one of the main reasons that they mentioned for implementing these programs is that is
that it kept their employees happy and that enabled them to keep top people in their fields. (Sloan
Center on Aging & Work, ND). This seems to be the way of the future for many business,
especially those in the tech field.
There are many different types of flexible schedules that businesses can implement into
their work environment to benefit their employees. Some of these include remote working,
flexible work weeks, flexible start times, and many other schedules that are based on each
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individual’s needs. In the article by Koster, she goes into some detail about the changes that
Dow Chemical a Michigan based company have done to become more competitive with their
benefits package. They offer flexible work schedules that can vary by employee, some start
earlier or later in the work day or work shorter work weeks, some also work remotely as deemed
feasible for the worker and the job, they feel that this is a needed change so that they can
continue to attract the best talent for their company. (Koster, 2013). Many other companies are
discovering that they also need to offer this type of schedule to entice younger workers and keep
the great talent that they already have.
This was almost an unheard-of type of schedule just ten years ago, some women would
job share so that they could stay home with their kids and still stay active in their careers and just
not work as much. A regular nine to five job is not as common any longer as it used to be in
many types of fields, of course there are still many people that enjoy that schedule and the
structure of working in a regular office, but many others would like the freedom to pick their
own schedule and place to work. Many people take advantage of remote working as a way to
travel while working, this is the ultimate way to have the best of both worlds. You are able to
earn money in a stable way and still travel while you are young. According to Darley, “More
employees are enjoying flexible work environments, with one survey showing 43% of American
workers working remotely at least part of the time as of 2016.” (Darley, 2017). The company is
even able to save money by having some of their workforce remote, by not having to provide a
regular office and possible be able to have a smaller office overall. This just reiterates the way of
the future for the working American.
Purpose of the Report and Intended Audience
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This report is being written to explore the benefits of having flexible working hours. This
is a pretty popular topic at the moment, so it is relevant to explore. It is being investigated in
order to bring awareness to companies that have not adopted this plan and are considering it.
This gives reasons why it is a good idea including how it can save the company money among
other data.
The target audience consists of board members of a company that is considering a
flexible working schedule for its employees. This can also include small business owners and
other business owners and people involved. A current or potential employee will also be able to
gain some valuable information from this report.
Scope of the Inquiry [STILL NEED TO ADD SOME THINGS]
Researching the topic of vacation time and satisfaction among employees yielded these
results…(won’t add more until the collected data stuff is done).
Additionally, researching the percentage of satisfied employees in a flexible schedule
compared to those who are not yielded these results…(won’t add more until the collected data
stuff is done).
Finally, researching how much money flexible scheduling saves or costs the company
yielded these results…( won’t add more until the collected data stuff is done).
Methods of Inquiry
The qualitative method is the research approach used for carrying out this study as we
sought after to investigate and capture employee’s individual experiences and viewpoints about
the flexible work schedules. The qualitative method offers investigators with a perceptive of the
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participants’ values, beliefs, and opinions. (Emily, 2017) We referred data from the Sloan
Center on Aging & Work from Boston College for structuring our interview questions
The population for the study consisted of a purposive sample of 10 lower to midlevel
position employees for semi-structured interviews. The study participants were employed at a
US division of a global trading firm and offered information on schedules of flexible work.
There are no implied constraints in qualitative inquiry as regards size of sample; as an
alternative, data are the individual views of the participants of the study (Goguen, 2017).
The generated insights from a purposive sample by means of qualitative inquiry depend a
lot upon the richness of individual experiences information and the investigative capabilities of
the investigator, to a certain extent than on the size of sample. Nevertheless, a smaller size of
sample was preferable when carrying out focused exploratory – interviews. (Given, 2008)
The participants of study selected were all employed in the same organization. To
advance the relevance and quality of the data, pre-selected participants participated in the study
by means of personal networking in the consulting firm.
To safeguard the confidentiality of the participants of research, all private information, as
well as the name of company and names of study participant were omitted deliberately from the
study. At the instance of the interviews, we allocated a participant research code to each one of
them. The employees were allocated research codes ranging from M01-M10.
The study sample was structured of a diverse individuals group with varying ethnicities,
gender, experience, and back grounds. We as team visited the company office on June 8th, 2018.
We have already taken permission from the management of the company for conducting the
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interviews. Participants of study possessed a variety of backgrounds spanning across software
engineering, new product development, and customer support.
Our team decided to use semi structured interviews sources to support data collection.
The semi structured format established to be useful in gathering in -depth information as regards
flexible work schedules.
We explored the subsequent fundamental research question: What is the impact of
flexible work schedules have on their work performance?
Depending on predefined criteria each employees participated in series of personal
interviews. Each of the participants of the study replied to a series of the identical 10 open-ended
questions. Each participant were given the requisite time to completely reply in detail each
interview pre -determined question. Questions probed aided in getting thorough level of replies.
The using of probing questions did provide us with in-depth responses resulting in a plenty of
data. (Given, 2008)
Limitations of the Study/Report
Limitations are prospective inadequacies of the study that are classically out of the
control of researchers (Shagvaliyeva, Yazdanifard, 2014). We did encounter a few limitations
while carrying out the study. Limitations of Study were as follows: (a) smaller size of sample, (b)
limit of maximum hour time for conducting interviews, (c) constraints in time to carry out the
study, and (d) limited expertise in carrying out research.
One prospective limitation of this study was that it exclusively spotlighted on one
company and as a result might just be relevant to that organization as in opposition to the entire
business field.
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Team Qualifications
We all members of the research team are working in the IT profession and few our
companies we are employed with have already have flexible working schedules and others desire
to implement policies relating to it. So carrying out research study on this topic has helped us
individually in our profession and we have also used our knowledge and experience relating to
the topic in the study.
Collected Data
For companies, examining the costs or savings that implementing a flexible work
schedule program entails is a crucial step to its decision on whether it should employ this
practice. This is one of the topics that is investigated. The topic on how this impacts the
employees is also explored.
Company Costs or Savings
In an article on Forbes, Rheem (2018) stated that “according to Gallup, 70% of American
employees are disengaged at work, costing their employers a shocking half-a-trillion dollars
every year” (Rheem, 2018). This is a lot of wasted money that needs to be addressed. Rheem
(2018), stated that keeping employees engaged is critical to retaining the employees. He also said
that “Gallup estimates that replacing even a minimum wage employee costs $3,500” (Rheem,
2018). This can be a significant cost for companies, especially smaller ones. Figuring out a way
to reduce these costs is critical to the growing success of a given company. The cost of replacing
an employee can even be seen in the education realm, in an article on the University of
Michigan’s website, the University of Michigan (n.d.) states “the cost of replacing trained,
experienced employees is significant” (University of Michigan, n.d.). Rheem (2018), states that
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engaged employees are more likely to stay with a given company longer. He continues by
declaring “one of the simplest strategies to keep employees engaged is to demonstrate trust by
allowing them to work during the hours…that best serve their…needs” (Rheem, 2018). This is
saying that employing flexible working schedules is a good way to keep employees in a
company, saving the company money in the long run. In an article on the CBS News website,
Tarkan (2011) stated that “flexibility is a chap way for companies to “reward” employees”
(Tarkan, 2011). This is because, according to Tarkan (2011), “Employers were asked to compare
flexibility to other benefits or rewards, flexibility ranked in the top three” (Tarkan, 2011).
Flexibility is a top priority to many people. Tarkan also states that “Employees at Bristol-Myers
Squibb who use flexible work arrangements scored, on average, 30 percent lower in stress…than
those without flexibility” (Tarkan, 2011). Lowering employee stress is always a positive thing to
do. Tarkan says this can lead to flexible working schedules lowering medical costs (Tarkan,
2011).
All of this data makes it seem obvious that a company should employ this strategy. This
is not necessarily the case, smaller companies may struggle with attempting to employ the
flexible working hours concept. An article by Kotey (2017) went over a study of some Australian
companies and how they may handle a flexible working schedule. The author explained that
smaller firms have small HR departments. These small departments were unable to
“accommodate elaborate and flexible arrangements for their employees” (Kotey, 2017). This
leads to the fact that not every firm can afford allowing a flexible work schedule. Working from
home is not practical for some industries. According to Kotey (2017), these industries include
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“agriculture…, manufacturing, wholesale, retail and personal service sectors.” This will include
any industry “where physical presence at the workplace is important” (Kotey, 2017). On the
other hand, industries that have room to allow a flexible work schedule did. Kotey (2017) stated
that “IT and professional service firms tended to provide flexible working hours…at a far higher
proportion than other firms” (Kotey, 2017). There is a different frequency of companies in a
given industry that employs a flexible work schedule policy.
There are some costs and benefits to a flexible work schedule for employees. In an article
on the University of Michigan’s website, the University of Michigan (n.d.) states that employees
are able to meet their personal needs better, when they are on a flexible work schedule
(University of Michigan, n.d.). Tarkan (2011) states that the flexible work schedule can help
reduce stress (Tarkan, 2011). This can lead to a healthier employee. Flexibility may come with
some strings. In an article on the Atlantic website, Rosen (2015) states that employees with this
benefit may end up working extra hours (Rosen, 2015). Rosen (2015) says this is to
“demonstrate their commitment to and passion for their jobs” (Rosen, 2015). This is an
interesting concept, and is talking about the ability to work from home. Rosen (2015) stated that
“flexible workers,” those that work from home and an office, “are a special bunch” (Rosen,
2015). Rosen (2015) explains that “they are highly educated: Of “flexible workers,” 63.3 percent
have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 50.5 percent of those who work solely at
home and 29.7 percent of those who work solely on site” (Rosen, 2015). There is a pretty
significant drop from those who solely work at home to those who solely work on site. Rosen
(2015) explains that they also make more money, “bringing home an average earnings of
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$52,800 a year, compared with $25,500 for those who work at home and $30,000 for those who
work on site” (Rosen, 2015). A graphical representation of the income distribution is available
(see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Chart showing the income distribution of flexible, home, and on-site workers. Adapted
from “The Hidden Cost of a Flexible Job” by Rebecca J. Rosen, 2015, retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/the-hidden-cost-of-a-flexible-job/385170/
Working a flexible job does appear to have its advantages as an employee. According to
the previous source, it can pay more, and typically the employees have a higher average
education level. Working at home has its advantages, but there are also some downsides.
Paid Time Off
Vacation time may seem like a common bonus that every job offers but that is not the
case. “Federal law does not provide for vacation pay. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does
not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick time, or holidays. Therefore,
employees are not legally entitled to paid vacation time off from work” (Doyle, 2018).
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On average, in America, employees get “7.6 paid holidays, 8.1-15.7 days of paid vacation
depending on years of service, and 8-10.9 paid sick days depending on years of service” (Bureau
of Labor Statistics, 2017).
Figure 2. Chart showing the percentage employee’s who received paid time off based on their
occupation. Adapted from “Bureau of Labor Statistics. 73 Percent of All Civilian Workers Had
Access to Paid Vacations in March 2016.” (2017, June 01). Retrieved from
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/73-percent-of-all-civilian-workers-had-access-to-paid-vacati
ons-in-march-2016.htm
Companies determine how much paid time off they will give employees. Some
companies are very generous and others are not at all. Sick days are paid time off with little
notice to the employer and vacation days are paid time off with an advance notice to the
employer. However, most employers just combine the two and give you a certain amount of paid
days off. It is always courteous to give an advance notice of absence if possible. Some employers
offer accrued vacation time, which basically means that your unused vacation days rollover to
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the next year. For example, if you are given 14 days of paid time off in 2018 but never take a
single day off then those days can be used in 2019 and you will have a total of 28 days of paid
time off.
Vacation Time and Employee Satisfaction
In a recent survey, “63% of employees indicated that paid time off was a very important
contributor to job satisfaction, and 71% of employees were satisfied with this benefit at their
organization.” (Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement, 2016) Vacation time is very
important to most employees. Vacation time can be a determining factor in whether or not a
person chooses to work at a certain company. Employees often turn down higher paying jobs for
jobs that offer better benefits and one of those benefits is vacation time.
It is extremely healthy and important that employees take vacations. A study found that
employees who didn’t skip vacations for 5 years had a “Reduced risk of all-cause mortality and,
more specifically, mortality attributed to coronary heart disease.” (Gump & Matthews, 2000)
People need to be able to relax and take some time away from work. People can get so caught up
in working that they forget to take care of themselves. Overworking and never taking a break can
be detrimental to a person’s health.
Vacations also give employees higher energy levels, a more positive attitude, and a new
perspective. It’s very easy to get caught up in working on a project for hours and hours and then
feeling stuck. Usually, if you take a 15-minute break and then come back you can start working
again and work past whatever made you stuck. That also applies to weeks and months worked.
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You can start feeling burnt out after a few months of working every week but once you get a
week off you come back refreshed, energized, and ready to tackle the next project.
Vacation Time and Employers
Paying employees for days they haven’t worked can be very beneficial for a company.
That sentence doesn’t seem like it is true but it is 100% true. Not taking a vacation can be very
harmful to employee productivity. A survey found that taking off from work can lead to, “Higher
productivity, stronger workplace morale, greater employee retention, and significant health
benefits” (Mohn, 2014). The same study found that “17 percent of managers considered
employees who take all of their leave to be less dedicated.” Ironically, the employees who use all
of their vacation time are usually the ones who are benefitting the company the most.
In America, there is a common stereotype that employees that use all of their vacation
time or want more paid time off are lazy, unproductive, and are not dedicated to the job. This
simply is not true. Humans will eventually burn out if they do not take a break. Many employees
have had mental breakdowns from becoming too stressed from the amount of work they are
doing. It can be very harmful to an employee’s health and the company.
Companies that offer more paid time off and flexible schedules have been shown to have
more loyal and dedicated employees. Allowing them to take time off drastically helps the
employees and the company as a whole. Productivity shoots way up when employees feel
refreshed and energized. Burnt out employees can be harmful to companies by being
unproductive, negative, and disloyal. A good amount of paid time off is beneficial for everyone.
Percentage of satisfied employees in flexible schedule
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This is very important to look at since one of the primary reasons that most companies
are moving to a flexible schedule is to make their employees happy. This seems to be especially
important to the younger generation, they are very interested in making sure they have time for
their children, travel, and extracurricular activities. In a report by Buffer they surveyed over
19,000 remote workers to find out their thoughts on what it’s really like to work remotely. “90%
plan to work remotely the rest of their life, 94% would encourage others to work remotely.” The
benefits according to the survey are flexible schedule, family time, ability to travel, work from
home. Some of the downsides of remote work include, being alone, collaboration, distractions at
home, and staying focused. (Griffis, 2018). It seems that the benefits must outweigh the
downfalls since so many people continue to become and stay remote workers. Another common
flexible schedule that many businesses are moving to is the compressed work week, in the article
by Wadsworth she looks at how the State of Utah implemented the 4-day work week and how
that has worked out for the employees, they conducted their own survey to see how the workers
that were on the compressed schedule liked and if those that weren’t thought they would prefer
it, the findings were rather mixed most that were not on it wanted to be on the compressed
schedule, some that were on the new schedule liked it but did not think it improved their
work-life balance as much as the company had hoped it would.(Wadsworth, 2016). A 4-day
work week is a great fit for many people as the extra day is usually at the beginning or end of the
week and so they end up with a long weekend, which almost feels like a mini-vacation. There are
definitely a few people that seem to prefer an office setting with a regular Monday through
Friday, forty-hour work week but that is not the majority any longer. It would seem that
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overwhelmingly most people that have tried a flexible work schedule like it and would continue
to work in that way if given the chance.
Recommendations
For carrying out further research one recommendation is to take account of more than one
company for increasing potentially the study’s area of external legitimacy. Also the sample
population is restricted specified that the participants source is a sole business area located in the
United States. This restraint is general for the qualitative research. For further study one more
recommendation is to take account of a bigger sample size. For smaller size sample, researchers
may perhaps not be inclined to acknowledge these results and conclusions of the study as
applicable extensively to the labor force based on the limited companies number (one) that took
part in the study.
First Topic for Recommendation
We did not realize what this was going to be. We will finish it by Friday of this week.
This is placeholder text for the time being.
Second Topic for Recommendation
We did not realize what this was going to be. We will finish it by Friday of this week.
This is placeholder text for the time being.
Third Topic for Recommendation
We did not realize what this was going to be. We will finish it by Friday of this week.
This is placeholder text for the time being.
Conclusion
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Flexible work schedules are important. They offer greater flexibility for the employees
and can save money for the employers. It is a great idea for larger companies, but can create
problems for smaller firms.
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References
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017). 73 Percent of All Civilian Workers Had Access to Paid
Vacations in March 2016. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved from
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/73-percent-of-all-civilian-workers-had-access-to-paid
-vacations-in-march-2016.htm
Darley, L. (2017). The Future of Work: Flexible Work Arrangements. Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/09/21/the-future-of-work-flexib
le-work-arrangements/#73712b7bff3f
Emily, R. (2017). Workplace Temporalities: A Time-Based Critique of the Flexible Working
Provisions. Industrial Law Journal, Volume 46, Issue 2, 1 July 2017, Pages 245–267,
https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dww039
Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement. (p. 23, Rep.). (2016). Alexandria, VA: Society for
Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Given, L. M. (2008). The SAGE encyclopedia of qualitative research methods. (Vols. 1-0).
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9781412963909
Goguen, K. (2017)."Flexible and Fit: Examining the Relationship Between Flexible Work
Arrangements and Employee Health" Retrieved from:
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2978&context=all_dissertations
Griffis, H. (2018). Report: What It’s Like to be a Remote Worker in 2018. Retrieved from
https://open.buffer.com/state-remote-work-2018/
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Gump, B. B., & Matthews, K. A. (2000). Are vacations good for your health? The 9-year
mortality experience after the multiple risk factor intervention trial. NCBI. Retrieved
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11020089
Koster, K. (2013). Redefining work-life balance. Retried from
https://www.benefitnews.com/news/redefining-work-life-balance
Kotey, B. A. (2017). Flexible working arrangements and strategic positions in SMEs. Personnel
Review, 46(2), 355-370. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.proxy.davenport.edu/docview/1873686647?accountid=40195
Mohn, T. (2014, March 01). Take A Vacation: It's Good For Productivity And The Economy,
According To A New Study. Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2014/02/28/take-a-vacation-its-good-for-produc
tivity-and-the-economy-according-to-a-new-study/#78c6b2e95a33
Rheem, D. (2018). This One Thing Can Immediately Improve Productivity And Trust In The
Workplace. Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbooksauthors/2018/06/01/this-one-thing-can-immedi
ately-improve-productivity-and-trust-in-the-workplace/#1a29e3df4d5c
Rosen, R. J. (2015). The Hidden Cost of a Flexible Job. The Atlantic. Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/the-hidden-cost-of-a-flexible-job/3
85170/
Shagvaliyeva, S., Yazdanifard, R. (2014). Impact of Flexible Working Hours on Work-Life
Balance. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 20-23.
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Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. (ND). Why Employees Need Workplace
Flexibility. Retrieved from http://workplaceflexibility.bc.edu/need/need_employees
Tarkan, L. (2011). The Benefits of Flextime (to Employers). CBS News. Retrieved from
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-benefits-of-flextime-to-employers/
University of Michigan. (n.d.). Benefits of Workflex. Retrieved from
https://hr.umich.edu/benefits-wellness/work-life/flexible-work-options/benefits-workflex
Wadsworth, L & Facer, R. (2016, December). Work–Family Balance and Alternative Work
Schedules Exploring the Impact of 4-Day Workweeks on State Employees. Sage
