Introduction
Flexi-time arrangement refers to a situation whereby employees of a certain organization are given a chance to decide on their working hours. Unlike the traditional 9 am to 5 pm working schedule that has been adopted by many organizations across the world, flexi-time arrangement gives workers an opportunity to work at their most convenient time. Workers in this working arrangement are given an opportunity to plan for their working time and still maintain the standards required by the organization. The organization decides on the number of hours the employees are supposed to work on a daily basis and allows them to attend to their duties at their most appropriate time. Employees under the flexi-time working arrangement work under a predetermined working schedule with the management controlling the number of hours of work done by each employee in a day. In this arrangement, the employees are required to sign in every time they begin their work and sign out when they are not active. This helps the administration to calculate the number of hours spent by each employee (Allen, 2007).
In the United Arabs Emirates (UAE), employees of many organizations are supposed to work from 9 am to 5pm daily on weekdays. In this working arrangement, employees who report working later than 9 am are considered to be late and are thus liable for penalties by the administration. The main disadvantage of this working arrangement is that it is rigid and does not provide employees an opportunity to decide on their best working time. It should be noted that different employees work better at different times of the day. Flexi arrangement on the other side seeks to change this traditional working arrangement by developing various working schedules for workers to choose according to their circumstances. This report will highlight flexi-time arrangements by looking at the possibility of their application to the United Arab Emirates in accordance with the UAE labor law (Appelbaum, 2002).
Analysis of the UAE Labour law
The United Arab Emirates introduced flexi-time arrangements into its labor laws to ensure a steady flow of work by its citizens. However, many companies in the UAE have not embraced this working arrangement fully and are still using the traditional 9 am to 5 pm working schedule. According to the UAE Ministry of labor, a flexi-time arrangement is supposed to give workers an opportunity to work at their most convenient time, still maintaining the standards of their companies. This law was formulated following the humanitarian approach to work that indicates that workers’ performance, unlike that of machines is greatly influenced by the will of the employee. For instance, when workers decide on the time to work, it is most likely that they will draw all their attention into their working activities. The end result of this is that their performance is better compared to a situation whereby they have been forced to work under a set schedule (Bohlander, 2007).
The flexi-time working arrangement is based on the view that workers feel motivated when allowed to make decisions concerning the organizations they are working for. In this case, workers feel belonging when given an opportunity to choose their working hours and will thus be motivated to work better. With this in mind, it is believed that this new working arrangement increases customer satisfaction by more than 70% in the departments. According to Bohlander (2007), the success of any organization depends on the commitment of the administration of the said department to add value to both the employees, customers, and the investors. Flexi-time working arrangement is among the strategic plans aimed at adding value to both employees and customers. It does this by giving employees an opportunity to work at their most convenient hours. The result of this provision is that performance is improved and customers receive high-quality goods and services, thus adding them value (Deutschman, 2001).
Flexi-time working arrangement in the UAE is associated with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler in Dubai who initiated the progress in 2009. As a result of this initiative, working hours in the United Arab Emirates were increased from eight to eleven within the government ministries. Flexi-time working arrangement was introduced as a strategy of enabling workers to plan for their time and still ensure high standards for the organizations. The rationale behind the establishment of flexi-time working arrangements is that workers feel belonging to the organizations they are working for when given an opportunity to choose their working schedules. This sense will boost their working morale and results in improved performance. This working arrangement also gives employees an opportunity to balance their work with domestic and social responsibilities. This balance ensures that workers are not strained unnecessarily, thus reducing stress at the workplace (Graham, 2006).
Types of flexi-time arrangements
Homeworking
This is a strategy that allows workers to conduct company business in their homes. With the invention of the internet, it is quite possible to have workers conducting company duties still at their homes. For instance, employees dealing with posting mails to clients of a company using the computer can sometimes conduct their duties at home. However, this is limited to access to the internet and the nature of duties assigned to individual workers. Here, the employees’ commitment to the company will be measured by the amount of work they do for the company. Supporting home working, Graham (2006) argues that it is not important for an employee to report to a company’s premises when they can still perform their responsibilities for the company still at their homes. His argument is based on the fact that workers perform well when comfortable with the working environment. However, Flexi-place working may be tricky for the management given the fact that it does not provide for supervision. It is sometimes difficult to trust workers to the extent of allowing them to work from their homes (Leveen-Sher, 2006).
Homeworking can help companies in the United Arab Emirates benefit from the services of employees with physical disabilities. This is based on the fact that this category of employees requires a special working environment which may sometimes not be provided for by the companies. Such employees will be given an opportunity to work in the comfort of their homes. With this strategy in place, the employee will not only decongest the workplace place but have the activities of the company done effectively. It should be noted that the home environment is most familiar to an employee and thus will be much comfortable conducting their duties from home compared to the unfamiliar working place (Mackay, 2009).
Employees who work from their homes end up saving a lot in terms of time and money. They are saved from the stress of having to commute from their homes to the workplace which may sometimes be costly. According to Coates (2009), commuting daily from home to the workplace reduces employees’ performance. Travelling makes employees arrive at the workplace already tired or may even delay them. Planning on when to wake up to arrive at the workplace at the required time may also give an employee psychological discomfort (Peak, 2004).
On the part of the company, home working is an excellent strategy of cutting down expenditure. For instance, the company will not have to construct extra parking spaces for its employees. Congestion in the offices will be reduced and expansion of the company’s premises will be minimal. With fewer people working from the company’s premises, it is easier to supervise their work. Companies dealing with information technology may be saved from having to purchase machines such as computers but instead, they may rely on the computers at the employees’ homes (Skyrme, 2004).
Homeworking is a good way of helping mothers balance their domestic duties and company responsibilities. In addition, home working helps mothers with young children take care of their children and still continue providing their services for the company. These mothers will be more comfortable at home for they will not have to think about the whereabouts of their children compared to when they are required to travel to the workplace. There are fewer interruptions when working at home compared to when working on the company’s premises. For instance, socialization among workers in the workplace may sometimes disrupt their operations. Research conducted by Mackay (2009) indicates that employees concentrate on their duties more when offered the chance to decide on where they wish to work from. Homeworking thus provides the management of companies in the UAE to motivate workers by giving them an opportunity to decide their place of work.
With the increase of modern technology, it is quite possible for employees in the United Arab Emirates to operate from their homes. For instance, companies dealing with information technology can provide customized computers to their workers. With these computers, it will be easy to record the amount of work done by each employee. Any activity done on these computers is recorded and employees are paid for the amount of work done. The management will only be required to set standards on the quality of work expected from their employees. Using modern communication techniques such as the use of Skype and e-mail, communication between employees based at their home with their company’s management is made possible (Whittard, 2010).
Overtime working
As the name suggests, overtime working refers to the excess of working hours in a day by employees. According to the UAE labor laws, organizations should define their terms of engagement with their employees before signing a contract. This includes not only salaries and enumerations but also the number of hours the employee is supposed to work on a daily basis. In some cases, employees are forced to extend their working hours due to the pressure of work in the company. In such a case, the UAE labor laws require both the employee and the employer to work out on formulae of compensating for the extra time.
Among the strategies adopted by various companies in compensating for extra working hours includes a large percentage of money and time off in lieu, commonly referred to as toil. It is worth noting that the former is most welcome to workers with lower earnings, while the later is preferred by workers earning large sums of money. In time off in lieu, workers prefer extending their daily working hours in order to get some time off in the future. The money which such an employee was supposed to have been paid for the accumulated extra working hours is compensated during the time he or she is off from duty.
The United Arab Emirate labour law requires employers to have a written agreement with the employee on the number of accumulated hours the employee can earn each year and the times of the year in which time off in lieu can be taken. In this case, the companies get an opportunity to plan for its operations in advance to avoid a situation whereby activities of the company are paralysed due to lack of enough personnel. Whichever the approach, time off in lieu as a flexi-time arrangement is possible in the United Arab Emirates. When properly implemented, time off in lieu will act as a motivation to the employees with the end results being value addition not only to the employees but also to the customers and investors. Time off in lieu helps workers plan for their social and domestic activities. Workers get ban opportunity to regain their energy and this promotes their performance in the work place (Whittard, 2010).
Shared jobs
Jobs in most companies are shared responsibilities between the employees. In this case, the employees work either as partners or subordinates. The United Arab Emirates requires employees working together to have the freedom of managing their responsibilities without the interference of the employer. In this case, employees get an opportunity of deciding their working hours. For instance, they may decide to work in shifts. This type of flexi-time arrangement promotes unity and cooperation among the employees. However, the management should set performance standards and get information about any arrangement by the employees on their working patens. This will help in holding each employee responsible and reducing conflicts among the workers (Appelbaum, 2002). It is worth noting that employees sharing duties should be given a chance to control the rates at which these duties are conducted. The management of a company should not interfere with the local arrangements of workers concerning the accomplishment of their duties. However, it should ensure that the tasks are conducted in accordance with the company’s requirements and should intervene should any disagreement occur among the workers.
Compressed hours
In this type of flexi-time arrangement, an employee aims at completing his or her daily working hours earlier. This is achieved by either reporting to the workplace early or working during the resting hours. The employee makes an arrangement with the administration to either leave the workplace earlier than the required time or accumulate hours and have a free day of the week. It should be noted that in this arrangement, the employee deliberately decides o pressurise himself or herself in order to finish his or her daily responsibilities early. However, this is limited to organizations where the employees work independently. The UAE requires employees to honor employees’ requests for this will bring order in the workplace (Whittard, 2010).
Part-time working
In this flexi-time arrangement, an employee is required to work fewer hours than full time employees. Part-time working usually applies to employees working in more than one company. This flexi-time arrangement gives companies an opportunity to benefit from the expertise of workers from other companies. It helps workers gain experience from working in different organizations and it is a cheaper way on the part of the companies compared to the full-time arrangement. In this arrangement, the employee is contracted to work for a company at his or her most appropriate time. It also helps companies benefit from the services of their former employees after their retirement (Allen, 2007).
Staggered hours
This is a flexi-time arrangement where workers report and leave the work place at different intervals. Although the working hours for each employee are the same, the time of commencement differs. The management designs different working schedules and allows the workers to decide on the time they feel most appropriate to be reporting to the workplace. The advantage of this type of arrangement is that it reduces congestion at the workplace and makes supervision easy. It also gives employees an opportunity to balance domestic and social responsibilities with working time (Coates, 2009). This type of flexi-time working arrangement is most applicable to companies that deal with extensive production of goods. With this type of arrangement, the company is guaranteed continues flow of activities day and night. For companies that have requires employees to work at night, the United Arab Emirates labour law provides that the company management should change the working schedule of its workers. In this respect, no employee is permanent in any given working schedule and will at times be required to work at night. In most companies, incentives are given to employees working during unfriendly hours of the day such as at night. These monetary and other forms of incentives are supposed to compensate the challenges associated with working at these hours.
Conclusion
Flexi-time arrangement gives employees an opportunity to decide on their working time. When applied to the United Arab Emirates, flexi-time arrangements will act as a motivation to workers by making them feel belonging to the overall running of the organizations. The United Arab Emirates labor laws require the employers and employees to come into a written agreement on how to conduct flexi-time arrangement. Modern technology has made flexi-time arrangement possible in the UAE. Companies in the United Arab Emirates should therefore take the advantage of modern technology and the labor laws to embrace flexi-time arrangements. These strategies will not only help companies in the United Arab Emirates to cut reduce costs but also improve employee performance through motivation. When effectively adapted in the United Arab Emirates, flexi-time working arrangements will add value to the parties involved in the management and running of any business organization. The aim of flexi-time arrangement is to ensure that employees work at their most appropriate time and this will influence their production positively.
References
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