Flexible Work Practices Benefit Companies

Ulster Bank has almost one-fifth of its workforce on a flexible working arrangement, and it’s proved to be a big success, writes Dermot Corrigan

Ulster Bank introduced flexible working initiatives for its 6,380 staff over three years ago, and according to Tom Doyle – its head of policy and employment – the result has been a success.

Doyle said that one in five of all Ulster Bank employees worked flexible hours.

“We reckon we have twenty per cent of our people on some form of non-typical working arrangement, between flexitime, compressed hours, term-time, part-time and job-share,” said Doyle.

“Productivity should be higher, because people are working hours that they have determined to be compatible with other things in their life - that is the theory. Although it is very difficult to measure that on the ground, certainly we are happy with the way it is working.”

Employees are eager to take advantage of flexible working hours, but for those arrangements to work, it is important that there are benefits for the employer as well.

“It has a positive effect on productivity, without any doubt,” said David Laird, Managing Director of Irish IT solutions provider Datapac.

“The happier people are the more productive they will be. We try and accommodate their requirements as best we can within the constraints and the need to run the business.”

A survey carried out last year by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions found that 43 per cent of Irish employers were offering some form of flexible working arrangement to their staff.

It said Irish workplaces were adapting to emerging changes in work organisation, technology and service delivery, as well as changes in the composition, needs and preferences of the workforce.

Doyle said the idea of work-life balance has gained ground in Ireland in recent years.

“People are much more conscious of the whole work-life balance thing,” he said. “They are saying ‘look, I need the time with my kids’, or ‘I am going to travel more’ and they can do both now.”

Perhaps the most pertinent work-life balance issue is the pressure created by lengthy commuting times.

“The introduction of flexi-time would have been due to problems with commuting to and from the office,” said Laird. “If it takes someone half an hour to get to work instead of an hour and a half they are coming in a much better shape to do their day’s work.”

According to Laird, flexi-time can help employers attract and retain staff.

“I have no doubt that, in the areas where we have been able to introduce flexitime, it has contributed to a better retention rate of employees,” he said.

“Also in terms of attracting employees it is an advantage, people even bring it up at interviews.”

If managed properly, the introduction of flexible working hours for staff should not increase labour costs.

“We haven’t seen any extra costs,” said Laird. “In fact because of better staff retention and productivity gains, we have probably seen cost savings as a real benefit to the company.”

Flexi-time options

The most typical flexible working arrangement allows employees to start or finish work outside standard work hours. In total, the hours worked are the same as under the standard working hour arrangement. However, there are other options.

“Flexi-time is part of a whole series of arrangements which we brand ‘Your Time’” said Doyle.

“We also have what we call ‘compressed hours’ so somebody could actually work a full five day week, but it could be worked over four days. People can work term-time, so that they have a lot of holiday time off when their kids are off.”

Depending on their own priorities, individual staff can use flexi-time to meet their own particular objectives.

“People come in early and go home early or come in late and go home late. That seems to suit in terms of avoiding the traffic and also in terms of dropping children to crèches and collecting them or arrangements they might have with relatives who mind their children,” said Laird.

Flexible working arrangements are more suited to some sectors and job types than others.

Both Ulster Bank and Datapac offer flexi-time to some employees only, depending on their individual roles.

“We found that customers expect to find someone there to answer the phone at 9:05 am, so we have to have people there to do that,” said Laird.

“It works better for people who are not customer facing and who are in support roles in the organisation or who are in software development.”

“It is easier to manage where you have a fixed amount of work,” said Doyle.

“In our call centres, or processing centres, where the work is measured and we can allocate people to cover, for instance.”

Practical Issues

For some companies that opt to introduce flexi-time, there are some legal obligations to be aware of.

For the majority of employees in Ireland, the legal maximum average working week cannot exceed 48 hours, as laid down in the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997. As this total is calculated using an average, generally over four or six months, there are typically few problems for employers.

“When you average out the hours that people work we are still within the legal limits,” said Doyle.

As Irish society moves away from the idea of a rigid working week, most businesses, especially customer facing ones, will need flexible working hours themselves to meet customer demand.

“The use of flexible working arrangements is only going to increase,” said Doyle. “We would have some branches open at night to meet customer requirements so we need to have some flexibility to match that.”

Staff who work flexible hours are typically involved in organising their own timetables and working hours with their supervisor or the HR department.

“There is no real extra burden on the HR function in the company. We set it up on a very flexible basis, we have not found a need to over-measure in any way,” said Laird.

HR Software

Many of the latest HR software products facilitate the management of flexible working arrangements. Flexi-time management features can be provided as an extra module in a typical HR system, which looks after other functions such as payroll, training, employee history and health and safety information.

“The working patterns and hours of working are a key aspect of any of these systems. They try to identify exactly where your employees are supposed to be at a point in time and being able to schedule people effectively,” said Noel Dooley, sales director with Softworks. The company provide HR software to Irish businesses.

Dooley said that, over the last five years, flexible working arrangements had been introduced across the Irish labour market.

“A whole flexi-time culture now exists at many levels in many large organisations and in the government sector a large proportion of our business would be driven by the whole flexi-time environment,” said Dooley.