Human Resource Management Introduction

Flexible Work Arrangements: the “New Normal” or Does Face Time Still Reign?
More and more employees are free to work outside of the office, usually facilitated by
virtual communication tools such as teleconferences, videoconferences and intranets with
remote log-in. Telework and flexible work schedules are the most commonly known and
applied workplace flexibility practices. Statistics from the American Community Survey (US
Census Bureau) data show nearly 50% of the US workforce holds a job that is compatible
with at least partial telework and approximately 20-25% of the workforce teleworks at some
frequency. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2011) estimates one in every 12 workers
(764,700) did more hours at home than any other single location in their main or second job.
Flexible work schedules are widely adopted phenomena that have been studied quite
extensively for their effects on individual and organizations. However, the research does not
lead to a simple one way is right and the other is wrong answer. Rather, it clearly establishes
that under certain conditions, remote working is in fact preferable, while it simply is not in
others. In other words, it all depends!
In fact, some organisations have taken a step away from such workplace flexibility practices.
For example, back in 2013, the then new CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, sent out an internal
memo that employees would no longer be permitted to work remotely. The memo was
leaded to the press as an indication of the disquiet felt by many Yahoo workers, as well as by
those supporting flexible work arrangements. This memo has sparked a debate on whether
remote working leads to greater productivity and job satisfaction or kills creativity and is just
a chance to slack off. Several companies decided to follow Yahoo’s move, for example, Best
Buy terminated its ground-breaking flexible work program Results Only Work Environment
(ROWE). These companies claim that while work from home was good for some workers, in
the macro scheme of consideration, such work arrangement slows down overall
productivity. Do you agree or disagree these companies’ change in terms of their flexible
working arrangement?
Please Write a 2,000 word essay (you are allowed to go over or under by 200 words >10% of
the overall word count)
1. Specify whether you are agree or disagree with the movement to cut back on flexible
working arrangement. In doing so:
1) Explain three positive and three negative effects of flexible work arrangement
(i.e. remote working) on employees and organisations.
2) Describe three challenges presented by embracing flexible work arrangement for
employees and organisations?
2. If companies do not offer employees flexible working arrangements for fear of
reduced collaboration and innovation, are there creative solutions that would allow
companies to offer some kind of flexibility to reduce this potential negative impact?
Please provide at least two recommendations.