Changing work organisation results in mixed effects
Publikováno: 19 August 2007
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC [1]) commissioned the Policy Studies Institute (PSI [2]) and a leading market research organisation GfK NOP [3] to investigate the transformation of work from the perspective of employers. The results of the study were published in a report entitled The future of work: Employers and workplace transformation (805Kb PDF) [4]. Moreover, the research was carried out in two stages, namely:[1] http://www.eoc.org.uk/[2] http://www.psi.org.uk/[3] http://www.gfknop.com/customresearch-uk/index.en.html[4] http://www.eoc.org.uk/PDF/WP56_futureofwork_employers&workplace_transformation.pdf
A recent study by the Equal Opportunities Commission on the transformation of work from the perspective of UK employers reveals mixed developments in terms of work organisation and flexible working arrangements. Although flexible working arrangements are becoming more widely used by employers, efforts to improve work–life balance are jeopardised by pressures to increase work intensification.
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) commissioned the Policy Studies Institute (PSI) and a leading market research organisation GfK NOP to investigate the transformation of work from the perspective of employers. The results of the study were published in a report entitled The future of work: Employers and workplace transformation (805Kb PDF). Moreover, the research was carried out in two stages, namely:
a ‘scoping’ exercise, interviewing employers to ensure that issues covered in the subsequent survey were sufficiently comprehensive of recent and imminent change;
a telephone survey among 915 human resource (HR) directors throughout the UK between May and July 2006.
Issues addressed by the study included work organisation developments, flexible working arrangements and, where appropriate, reasons for retaining more traditional practices.
Flexible working
The report reveals the following findings in relation to flexible forms of work organisation:
some 62% of employers allowed workers to change from full-time to part-time hours, a broadly stable figure since 2002 when a similar survey was conducted. A similar proportion of employers (64%) allowed part-time to full-time transitions, up 19 percentage points since 2002. Transitions were most often permitted in female-dominated workplaces (17% of companies have an 80%–100% female workforce), the public sector and among large companies;
part-time working hours are most popular among young labour market entrants, men and women of pre-retirement age, and women following childbirth. For most employees, however, part-time working is not financially viable. Therefore, other forms of flexibility are often preferred such as flexitime, or compressed weeks or fortnights;
overall, 60% of employers offer flexitime arrangements, 44% allow job sharing, 41% permit term-time working and about one third use compressed hours or annualised hours (see Table). While no clear trend was apparent for flexitime, other arrangements have become increasingly available since 2002 or 2004, particularly among large and public sector employers. Job sharing and school term-time working are most prevalent in female-dominated public sector workplaces and the retail, wholesale and hospitality sector;
| Sector (%) | .All(%) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, mining, utilities | Manufacturing, construction | Retail, wholesale, hospitality | Transport, storage, communication | Finance, other business | Education, health, other public services | ||
| Flexitime | 54 | 61 | 58 | 55 | 58 | 66 | 60 |
| Job sharing | 43 | 35 | 41 | 28 | 37 | 71 | 44 |
| Term-time working | 25 | 27 | 48 | 25 | 36 | 53 | 41 |
| Compressed hours | 26 | 32 | 40 | 29 | 31 | 41 | 36 |
| Annualised hours | 40 | 23 | 40 | 29 | 28 | 41 | 34 |
| Number of companies surveyed | 89 | 157 | 205 | 109 | 147 | 208 | 915 |
Note: Adapted from EOC 2007, Figures 3.1 and 3.2, pp. 19 and 21
where flexibility was unavailable, 15% of employers planned to introduce it in some form in the next year. Where it is already available, 16% planned to extend it to more staff or introduce more flexible work options;
teleworking or homeworking and career breaks were both available in one third of establishments, reflecting little change since 2002;
employers largely approach flexible working arrangements in an ad hoc manner. A total of eight types of policies were examined as part of the research – full-time and part-time transition, flexitime, job sharing, term-time working, annualised hours, career breaks, paid sabbaticals and homeworking – with employers typically using four of these options;
some 41% of employers use flexible working to improve staff morale, recruitment and/or retention of workers, while 37% use it to improve work–life balance. About 20% of employers use flexible options to improve their service to customers while 8% do so to improve productivity;
the main reason for not providing flexitime options was the need for specific hours to be adequately covered, particularly in the retail, transport, public education and health sectors, as well as in small workplaces.
Teamworking and performance pay
In terms of teamwork and performance-related pay, the report highlights the following findings:
teamworking is widespread and becoming more popular. Only 8% of employers claimed not to have any formally designated teams as part of the work organisation. Performance-related pay (PRP) is also increasing and was used by two thirds of employers in 2006;
over the past three years, one third of employers increased their use of teams and nearly one quarter increased their use of PRP. Large employers, unionised workplaces, as well as education and health sector organisations were most likely to have extended teamworking. Large companies with 200 or more workers and transport sector organisations were most likely to have increased the use of PRP;
growth in teamworking and PRP was, however, associated with an increased likelihood of work intensification. Overall, two thirds of employers were placing more demands on their managerial and professional staff and two fifths were pushing other staff to achieve better results in the same timeframe compared with three years previously. Work intensification is particularly acute in the public sector and in female-dominated workplaces;
pressures for change included: competition, profitability and costs; staff recruitment and retention; pressure from clients for improved goods and services; legislation and government regulations.
Commentary
The report concludes that, although the provision of flexible working arrangements is widespread and still growing in some areas, considerable scope remains for UK employers to assess their work arrangements in a more holistic or strategic manner. However, efforts to accommodate worker preferences around work–life balance practices, which are often related to recruitment, retention and employee motivation, are undermined by the pressures for work intensification in the face of increased competition.
Jane Parker, University of Warwick
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2007), Changing work organisation results in mixed effects, article.
