Is Flexible Working Beneficial? An Investigation Into The Application Of Flexible Working Within Organisations (2007)

The working environment has undergone many radical changes over the last decade and will continue to do so as a result of technological advancement, social change and legal statutes. The expansion and normalisation of flexible working has continued unabated as more and more organisations adopt flexible working patterns to meet the needs of workers. Flexible working has become more commonplace to retain talent, which would otherwise have been lost, to remain competitive. Take up of flexible working had been quite inconsistent. Many public sector organisations have readily accepted flexible working, while many private sectors companies lag behind.

Two such organisations which have employed flexible working are the National Health Service (NHS) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Both organisations utilise flexible working within their respective IT functions. As a method of investigation into flexible working, employees of both organisations were asked for their views, preconceptions and experiences of flexible working through a series of quantitative and qualitative measures. The results suggest an inconsistent attitude towards flexible working; flexible working is viewed with suspicion when undertaken by others, while individuals feel as though they are more valuable to their organisations when working flexibly. There is definitely a margin of difference between the attitudes and methods of flexible working used in the different organisations, and this is reflected in the responses received.

The overriding response of the sample population is that while flexible working is welcomed into any organisation, there are some issues which need to be resolved before it can be fully accepted and integrated. Therefore, one can resolve that flexible working needs to be fully supported, explained and trusted before it can replace conventional fixed-hour, office-based working.