Managing Flexible Work Force

Managing Flexible Work Force

Tiffanie Jenkins                                                            

Professor Jeffrey J. Valerioti

                                                GRST 500/501 Intro to Graduate Writing

                                                                April 13, 2016

The strategic staffing topic I have chosen to conduct my research about is the flexible workforce and how managing and utilizing the flexible workforce system can be beneficial to company’s when turnover happens. With company’s having the ability to use temporary agencies and recruitment agencies, it allows the company to respond to demands quickly without adding full-time staff, worrying about paying benefits and dealing with training staff before they start working since they are already skilled and trained to perform the duties of the job. By utilizing staffing resources, employers can design a workforce strategy that can benefit the company when staff turnover take place. The working environment is changing rapidly with both workers and employers looking for flexibility which the work is characterized by mobile workers, agents, and virtual teams. There are no geographic barriers that led to employers to adopt employee contribution ways that are more consultative. Because of the advanced technology there are more flexible work arrangements which include part time, fixed term, and temporary jobs which has increased the availability of workers. Regulations protecting the rights of workers have been relaxed to allow organizations to terminate workers more easily. Today flexible workforce has changed the way companies conduct business in the modern world.

Employers are faced with trying to find people that fit with the company culture and values, organizations have a morale and financial impact on the day to day operation due to employee turnover. By rehiring, training, placement, and motivating employees which is a significant problem can be very costly. Creating a flexible workforce strategy can help maintain the organizations staffing levels when faced with voluntary and involuntary turnover. According to Jacobson& Safian (2009) “Traditional reasons concerning the need to accommodate fluctuations in workload or absences in staff are the most commonly cited reasons for using all types of flexible staffing arrangements. Many employers also use agency temporaries and part-time workers to screen candidates for regular positions”.

The problem with flexible workers is finding qualified employees who want to be part of a flexible workforce. According to Martin (2011) “Obtaining flexible workers is challenging because people generally prefer jobs that provide a reliable and predictable income stream. This isn't usually the case with flexible workforce position, as companies can't control demand for their products. Companies sometimes try to overcome this by filling their flexible workforce with young workers and retirees who might not need steady income”. Finding and keeping employees to fill flexible positions is a major challenge since many people don’t like the uncertainty of knowing if they have a job from day to day. Many temporary workers lack commitment to the organization when compared to core workers. According to Eleveld (2011) “ Temporary workers have a higher turnover rate and also may pose a security risk. Second, while some temporary employees have specialized skills. Flexible work arrangements are an important part of today’s employment marketplace. The accommodation has a wide range of practices and lifestyles, which includes temporary work, employee leasing, self-employment, contracting, home based work and part-time work. Nontraditional staffing arrangements are used by many employers to meet the demands of business and workers. The arrangements allow companies to be more efficiently meet the production needs; by helping to become more effectively in this global economy. Flexible work arrangements also help to meet the diversity and changing demographics of the workforce. It allow employers or employees to be part of the workforce regardless of their family and household characteristics. Often, such arrangements allow workers to have flexibility while often receiving more compensation up front. Workplace flexibility, if implemented effectively, creates benefits for businesses and employees being an employer of choice, reducing overheads and increasing productivity.
A significant portion of the flexible workforce prefers such arrangements so that they can attend school or meet other personal obligations. Often, employers must offer nontraditional employment arrangements to attract valuable workers. Employers use flexible workers for a variety of other legitimate reasons. For example, a company may staff to a core level, i.e., hire the number of full-time workers the company knows it will need at all times and then supplement that employee base with flexible workers depending on production demands instead of a continuous cycle of lay-offs and new hiring. A related reason is to obtain the expertise of a particular type of worker when needed. The reality is that America's work force is changing. It's not just employers that are looking for flexibility.

Workforce flexibility refers to an organization's ability to adapt its human resources in a manner appropriate to increasingly changing environmental conditions. To be flexible, an organization has the ability to adapt its workforce to new organizational structures, and workers have the background and ability to learn new skills and adapt to new functions ( Dalton, 1998 ). This means two things; first, that firms can quickly and effectively meet human resource staffing needs with qualified and capable workers; and second, that workers have multiple skills, both technical and interpersonal, with the ability to learn more as new demands require. Moreover, workforce flexibility requires that employees have the ability to adapt with relatively little management supervision, instead relying on self‐managing mechanisms.

Flexible workforce provides organizations with the ability to respond to service and patient requirements in the most effective way. Developing a workforce requires an understanding of the current situation in the organization with regard to workforce and service demand, this in turn should influence the strategic approach to workforce flexibility.

The hours and times people work have always been subject to change but the pace of this change is now more rapid than ever. Effective organizations are able to match their business needs with the work life balance requirements of their employees. Current financial pressures and the quality, innovation, productivity and prevention agenda provide an opportunity for organizations to reflect on how temporary staffing has been managed in the past and what a successful long-term strategy, linked to effective workforce planning, and might look like. ‘Flexible workforce: strategic planning to reduce costs and improve quality’ provides a framework for employers to meet the current challenges by addressing variations in activity levels, covering vacancies and short term staff absences and bringing in specific skills for short periods of time. Leaders understand that talent is the single most important factor in a company’s success. You can have all the basics down, but without the right talent, you’ll just be running in place. And to attract and retain that talent, you have to work with them to customize their jobs. This makes people feel valued, which leads to peak performance. The key is to be flexible and collaborative with hours and location.