Unveiling the impact of flexible working time on productivity

By: Afua Kyemenu CAIQUO & Prof. Elijah YENDAW

Adwoa Asempa lives in Abokobi and works in the central business district of Accra. She ends up spending long periods or hours commuting to work every day owing to traffic congestions and arriving an  hour or two late.

Furthermore, Adwoa takes off earlier than the stipulated closing time in the hope of beating the traffic chaotic situation.

This confirms the assertion made by columnist Albert Douglas Quayson, on the 24^th February 2018 in his column, titled “Recent traffic jam and productivity in Ghana” where he asserts that workers within Accra and its environs tend to spend almost three (3) hours to get to their workplace in the morning and again spend the same number of hours, if not more to get home after a hard day’s work.

Adwoa has to battle commuting stress each and every day owing to costs of excessive fuel consumption, fatigue, honking noise, commercial drivers’ indiscipline and aggression on the road etc. Adwoa’s productivity is affected negatively. Adwoa is fatigued upon arriving at the office and is unable to put in more efforts to achieve more output, hence low productivity.

Adwoa made a clarion call to management of her organisation to institute the flexible working time system as this will eliminate her long hours of commutes with its’ associated stress. Is Adwoa’s call justified? Is flexible working time the answer to productivity improvement in these recent times? What does it take to institute it into an organisational system?

Linking flexible working hours to productivity

The Covid-19 pandemic had significant effects on workplaces in Ghana, as it abruptly upturned normal work practices, thereby, introducing   innovative working time arrangements. Flexible working time/practice is gradually turning out to be the new norm of employees, which is likely to continue in the years to come.

The flexible working time/practice is a schedule which allows employees to deviate from the traditional working system and thereby choose the start and end time for their workday.

The flexible working schedule enables employees to customise their workdays to fit their specific needs. Studies have shown significant improvements in productivity and morale when employees are given the option to work according to their own schedule.

A likely reason for this is that people are productive at different times throughout the day. So by scheduling their work around the hours they’re most productive, employees can execute tasks more effectively and produce higher quality work.

Productivity measures how efficiently inputs or resources (labour, capital, time, etc.) are being used in an economy to produce a given level of output. Productivity may also be viewed as how consistently and efficiently an individual completes tasks or accomplishes goals. Being productive, requires less time, effort and mental demand to achieve what one wants, thereby creating  a higher quality finished good or service.

Effective working is not so much about the location or even the time people work, it is more about what is achieved and how efficiently work is done. Therefore, productivity does not necessarily mean making people work harder and longer within a confined location, but smarter.

Flexible working time or practices follows a smart way of getting work done effectively, it includes the following outlined below:

• Job Sharing – Involves splitting the hours between two employees required to do one job. It could take the 50/50 split form, an employee could also work more hours than the other and employees can share a day or split the week into half.
• Home Working – The employee could work from home for part of the week and then work in the office for the rest of the week. They could also decide to work from home for the entire time, and check in with the office on a regular basis. One of the key challenge with home working is that personal discipline is required as one works close to a bed, television and other distractions which can be very tempting. An employee can increase productivity by keeping a daily to-do schedule, switch off data or mute the social media platforms, set clear boundaries for oneself and take breaks as a means of managing stress.
• Part Time Hours – Involves any number of hours, but will always be less than the full time hours for that organisation. It could take the form of working every day and less hours, or it can be by working less days overall. There are many different ways to arrange this type of flexible working arrangement.
• Compressed Hours – When working compressed hours, an employee will still work their full time hours, but they will cover them in less days with a day or more to rest during the week. Breaks need to be taken during these long hour days, to ensure good health and wellbeing of the employee.
• Flexitime Hours – Involves working flexible hours throughout the day. Within this scheme, there are core hours where the employee has to be in the office, but still has the option to choose when to start and finish. The employee should ensure that their set number of hours for the week is achieved. A lot of monitoring is required with flexitime, and also a large amount of trust.
• Staggered Hours – With this aspect of the flexible working practice, every employee has different times to start and finish work, to ensure the business is always covered. For instance, an employee may decide to start work at 8am, with another starting at 9am, and then finish at 4pm and 5pm respectively. These hours might also swap and change on a rotational basis.
• Annualised Hours – This is a very flexible working pattern which involves a lot of choices in terms of when to work. In this case, the employee would be given a set number of hours that they need to complete across the twelve (12) months of the year, but there is a certain amount of choice, when they are done. There may be core hours which fall within each week or each month, depending upon the needs of the business, and there may be times when the business stipulates they have to attend, e.g. when there is a large demand at work due to staff taking annual leave or the urgent call for an important meeting to take place.

These flexible working practice types however depends on the service needs, type of business and what is best for the employees.

Flexible working time/practice in Ghana seem to be more of a hybrid system nature, which comprises a combination of the physical (in- person at office) and remote working. Probably owing to the fact that some sectors of the economy especially manufacturing, agriculture and hospitality may face challenges performing regular work activities from home.

Unlocking the gains of flexible working in Ghana’s workforce

• Flexible working time or practice ensures a balance between managing work life and personal life: Flexible working time enables one to take care of their home responsibilities such as taking care of dependents etc. whiles managing work concurrently. This flexibility encourage breaks from work to prioritize personal life, so that upon returning back to work, the individual is then refreshed and energized which can lead to better focus and productivity.

Amongst companies that have chalked success from this Flexible Working Time or Practice System is Unilever. It encourages freedom to complete work by employees at any time that is suitable to them. It supports it’s workers or employees with adaptable work programmes  i.e., whether they want to work from home, a flexible office space, or a completely different country together with access to the technology required to ensure high work standards.

Furthermore, by giving employees more flexibility and time to deal with responsibilities in their personal lives, they’ll likely be more dedicated and productive in their professional lives as they spend more time doing things they enjoy, which leads to happiness.

Many studies have indicated a direct correlation between happiness and productivity at the work place. For instance, several economist from the University of Warwick conducted a number of experiments to test the idea that happy employees work harder, resulting in enhanced productivity.

These comprehensive investigations of a number of scholars by the University of Warwick, Department of Economics in England revealed that being happy at work increased productivity by 12%. During the experiments, some participants were either entertained with a comedy movie clip or treated to free chocolate, drinks and fruit, which showed that spending a small amount of money per person on chocolates and fruits caused productivity to increase by 20% for a short period of time.

Other participants were subjected to questions about recent family tragedies, such as bereavements to assess whether lower levels of happiness were later associated with lower levels of productivity.

Therefore, flexible working practice encourages breaks for workers especially working remotely to rest, watch a movie or indulge in other things they love to do whiles performing their tasks, which eventually makes them happy and productivity.

• Additionally, flexible working time/practice reduces pressure at work and improves the health and general wellbeing of employees, as workers engaged in remote working are relieved of stress from chaotic traffic situations as well as the ability to take on frequent breaks for rest and exercise. Eventually, the employee becomes more productive owing to a healthy mind and body.

A discourse with staff of some public institutions during a training session, revealed some benefits associated with the use of the flexible working time or practice. Amongst the benefits highlighted during the discussion include reduced stress, refreshed body and mind from the one week break at home, which eventually geared workers toward productivity for the following week’s in-person office working period.

• Flexible working arrangements tends to attract skilled talents, because today’s workers want a greater balance between work and their other commitments. These skilled or talented workforce contribute immensely to productivity. In addition, if you refuse to consider the option of flexible working time or practices, you also run the risk of pushing your current employees out, perhaps to an employer who is more likely to offer them the types of hours they want.
• Flexible working practice encourages adoption of digital tools that streamline communication and workflow. The adoption of digital tools promotes innovation in work processes. A survey was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic period, when most of the organizations in the Civil Service of Ghana had instituted flexible working hours. During the height of the crisis, 50% of respondents belonged to teams that regularly interacted virtually. In the Office of the Head of Civil Service, 70% of managers were able to engage virtually with their teams. The most commonly used technologies during home-based work or remote working were zoom or google meet, telephone, email and group messaging systems. Collaborative tools such as Google Doc or Drop Box were not widely used in the Civil Service. A significant majority of survey respondents believed they were able to undertake their work effectively away from the regular office during the COVID-19 crisis.

Productivity tends to be a key outcome of flexible working practices as it runs through all the other benefits associated with flexible working time/practice. A survey by Airtasker found that flexible workers on average work 1.4 more days every month than traditional office workers.

That’s, 16.8 more days per year. A likely reason for this is that people are productive at different times throughout the day. So by scheduling their work around the hours they’re most productive, employees can execute tasks more effectively and produce higher quality work.

Also, without the pressure to be in the office within the stipulated period, employees can better deal with their mental and physical health—reducing stress. Research shows that companies with moderate to severe employee stress experienced a decrease of 22% in work output.

Many firms or companies making use of flexible working time/practice are of the belief that it increases productivity, owing to its’ flexible nature, reduced commuting time, and increased connectivity.

Key steps for introducing a flexible working time/ practice

• Create a Flexible Working Time policy, document the flexible working terms and communicate to employees;Guide and train employees on it; and
• Institute a system to monitor and track employees’ performance: An efficient and effective monitoring or tracking system tends to allay the fears of enterprises that may be unwilling to introduce this system owing to assumption of lack of a standard mechanism to measure the performance of remote employees as the biggest challenge of flexible working scales down to control. For instance, if a member of staff is working from home, how can one verify whether they are actually working and not watching movies or doing their housework? In addition, if their home internet connection isn’t functioning well, how will the organisation communicate with the staff member? Technology provides tools for monitoring and tracking performance of employees working remotely.

Tasks could be assigned and periodically checked with the use of applications such as Click Up, Hive etc. Work done can be tracked or monitored online through the use of applications such as Google Drive, Google Docs, Drop Box etc.

Conclusions

In unveiling the impact of flexible working time on productivity in Ghana, it becomes clear that flexibility is no longer a luxury but a strategic necessity. Evidence shows that when employees are allowed to manage their schedules responsibility, they experience improved well-being, happiness, reduced stress and greater job satisfaction which translates into higher levels of productivity.

The Ghanaian worker spends about three to four hours commuting to and from work owing to unbearable traffic congestions and its associated stress, eventually affecting productivity negatively. Adwoa Asempa’s request for a flexible working time/ practice is valid provided it incurs no costs to the company, there is a possibility of fairly dividing work amongst staff with no effect on quality of work or productivity.

Adwoa believes that the flexible working time/practice will mitigate commuting stress, enhance her morale within the office and thereby ensure the achievement of a positive home and work life balance as people tend to be productive at different times during the day. She can be effective when work is scheduled during her most energetic period of the day. High morale impacts on productivity positively as it improves employee’s satisfaction and ensures happiness. A happy worker is committed and productive as confirmed in the study by University Of Warwick, Department Of Economics in England.

Therefore, the management of Adwoa Asempa’s company should try and look at how to accommodate the flexible working time request, rather than looking upon it negatively as it introduces some effective technological and collaborative tools such as Google Doc, Hive etc. as a means to manage and track performance.

This flexible working time strategy, if adopted with proper planning of formality and degree will reduce stress, improve the well  being of employee’s life, decrease overtime cost of the organization and ultimately ensure productivity.

Based on studies conducted and some reviewed literature, one can conclude that flexibility brings about improvement in job quality in terms of control and work-life balance when implemented in a company. Therefore, it is safe to say that flexible working practices/time are beneficial to both employers and employees.

Companies that are yet to adopt workplace flexibility policies can start gradually – for instance, by adopting a hybrid system whereby employees work from home and the office concurrently and then gradually shift to hundred percent home-working. However, the success of the flexible working practice depends on organizational readiness, supportive technology and a cultural shift toward valuing results over rigid hours.

REFERENCES

• D. Quayson, “Recent traffic jam and productivity in Ghana”, (Column), 24^th February 2018.
• Airtasker Blog, “The benefits of working from home, Comparing the Productivity, Spending and Health of Remote vs. In-office employees”, updated 31^st March, 2020.
• J. Oswald, E. Proto and D. Sgroi, “Happiness & Productivity”, Journal of Labor Economics, University of Warwick, 2015.
• A. Wellington (Columnist) “Anatomizing workplace flexibility” Opinions of Saturday, 1^st May 2021.

Afua Kyemenu Caiquo ( Ms.) is the Ag. Director of Business Development. She has about fourteen (14l) years working experience in management consulting and training with Management Development and Productivity Institute ( MDPI). She holds an M.Phil. Economics and B.A. Social Sciences in Economics and Law. She is a certified ILO-SCORE ( Sustaining, Competitive and Responsible Enterprises) Programme- Productivity Related Trainer.
Contact: [email protected] OR [email protected] .

 Prof. Elijah Yendaw, the Ag. Director General of Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI). Contact him on [email protected]. MDPI is the country’s leading institution for productivity enhancement, management training, research, and consultancy services. For more information about MDPI’s programs and services, visit www.mdpi.gov.gh or contact: 1st Freetown Link, East Legon, GPS-379-5705. Tel: 0302252323.

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