Human Resources: Executive Summary:Flexible Work Arrangements

Flexibility has become a watchword for both employers and employees in today's demanding and fast-changing business environment. Many companies are looking at contingent work arrangements, outsourcing, and offshoring to give them more flexibility in terms of labor costs and fluctuating staffing needs. Meanwhile, many employees want greater flexibility in terms of where and when they work.

Although the percentage of U.S. firms offering arrangements such as flextime, telecommuting and compressed workweeks has shown little or no growth over the past several years, the demand by employees for such programs is not about to subside. And employers recognize this. Respondents to the 2004-2005 forecast from the Society for Human Resource Management put employee demand for flexible work schedules third on the top-10 list of trends shaping HR and impacting the future workplace. Telecommuting was seventh, and employee demands for customized employment relationships was eighth on that list.

Large proportions of workers - both men and women - would prefer to have more flexibility in their work life, according to the Families and Work Institute. One of its 2002 U.S. studies found, for example, that 58% of women and 49% of men would like the option of part-year work, incorporating full-time work with blocks of time off.

Such work options might fit well with the growing cadre of free agents who are working side by side with employees. The free-agent workforce - which includes temporary contract workers, independent contractors, freelancers and consultants - is over twice the size it was in 1980 and is projected to grow to 36% of the U.S. labor force by 2010, according to Kelly Services. Dan Pink, author of Free Agent Nation, predicts such meshing of freelancers and employees may lead "to the point where it will become difficult to distinguish one from the other."

In other cases, workers won't be side by side. In fact, they may not even be in the same country. As the offshoring of white-collar jobs continues, employers will more often find themselves dealing with the intricacies of a dispersed workforce. In fact, businesses have already had an opportunity to get their feet wet in managing offsite workers as the number of employees teleworking has grown. Between 1997 and 2003, the number of U.S. teleworkers rose from 11.6 million to 23.5 million, according to the International Telework Association & Council. And the 24/7 work culture promises more of the same - both at home and overseas.

Integrating this flexible workforce into a company requires looking at typical HR programs, such as communication and training, through a new lens. One firm doing just that is FedEx Ground, which relies on an independent contractor workforce of 14,300 for pickup, delivery and long hauls. It provides these independent and temporary workers with orientation and training through classes and hands-on instruction in order to familiarize them with the FedEx Ground mission, and it includes them in company communications such as intranet updates, newsletters and roundtable discussions. "We go to great lengths to make sure our people know what is happening with the business on a day-to-day basis," said senior vice president of HR Lee Holly.

As employers contemplate ways to create a culture of flexibility that will enable the attraction and retention of skilled workers, they are also aware that legislation can either complicate or encourage progress toward that goal. Government influence in areas such as immigration, occupational health and safety, intellectual property rights, wages and benefits, and union representation can affect the nontraditional workforce in complex ways. Corporate involvement in crafting sustainable solutions is critical in developing a work landscape that suits the workforce of the future.

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The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp, inc.) improves corporate productivity through a combination of research, community, tools and technology focused on the management of human capital. With more than 100 leading organizations as members, including many of the best-known companies in the world, i4cp draws upon one of the industry’s largest and most-experienced research teams and Executives-in-Residence to produce more than 10,000 pages annually of rapid, reliable and respected research and analysis surrounding all facets of the management of people in organizations. Additionally, i4cp identifies and analyzes the upcoming major issues and future trends that are expected to influence workforce productivity and provides member clients with tools and technology to execute leading-edge strategies and "next" practices on these issues and trends. i4cp is a for-profit company with offices in St. Petersburg, Florida.