Flexible Work Arrangements 1

HUMAN RESOURCE ADMINISTRATION ASSIGNMENT #2

TOPIC: FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS
SUBMITTED TO: MANDY VIRDY
SUBMITTED BY: AMRITA CHATTERJEE DEY
ZODIE ANN DONALDSON
DATE OF SUBMISSION:02/12/2022
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Benefits of Flexible work arrangements 3

Flexible work schedule types 3

Post Covid-19 and Work from Home 4

Reasons for Growing Acceptance of flexible work schedule 5

Impact of flexible work arrangements on HR functions 6

Legal Considerations for HR 8

Conclusion 9

References 11
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Introduction

Flexible work arrangements are changes to an employee’s usual work conditions and hours of
work in a workplace. Flexible work arrangements allow employees to alter, on a temporary or
permanent basis, their work schedule, the number of hours they work or the location where
they do their work. It gives employees more control over when and where they work.
(Canada, 2022)

Having flexible working hours in a workplace may include allowing employees choose when
they start and end their workdays, it may change from having usual work hours of 9 a.m. to
5.p.m to logging in and out of work as per employee flexibility if they work for 8 hours.
Many organizations have started providing flexible work as part of their human resource
policies and practises. (Conference Board of Canada, 2021)

Flexible Work Arrangements Include

● The location of work, such as working from home or a satellite location

● The scheduling of work hours, such as modified work schedules or split work shifts
● The number of work hours, such as part time, job shares, reduced hours. (Canada,
2022)

Benefits Of Flexible Work Arrangements

● Reduces employee absenteeism percentages

● It has shown to increase employee’s satisfaction towards the work and company
● Help to improve employee retention especially among millennials, more experienced
workers, and workers with family responsibilities
● Having flexible work arrangement policies help employers to attract potential
employees during recruitment
● Helps to ensure a more diverse, inclusive, engaged, and healthy workplace
● It helps to create a workplace that is productive
● It results in lowering office overhead expenses such as electricity bills or rental cost
for offices
● It assists employees with managing their personal responsibilities. (Canada, 2022)

Flexible Work Schedule Types

Flexible work schedules are such arrangements that allow employees to better manage family
life, childcare, elderly care and fulfil personal commitments. Common forms of these
arrangements include:

Flexitime: Working a set number of hours with flexible logging in time and logging out
times agreed upon within specific limits.
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Compressed work weeks: Working for longer periods of time per day or shift over a defined
period in exchange for a day off. (Canada, 2022)

Time swaps: This involves requesting time off for personal reasons and making up for the
work by working longer than usual hours on another day.

Split shifts: Working two or more periods during a defined period (e.g., 12 hours) in a day.

Time off in lieu: Overtime can be compensated by time off with pay at the rate of 1.5 hours
per overtime hour worked. (Canada, 2022)

Work from home: The pandemic years have seen evolution of work from home as a
variation of flexible work arrangement. Even though it was offered by many employees
before pandemic, yet it has become like a new normal for many companies during pandemic
and post pandemic times.

Hybrid work model: This type of arrangement involves a mix of in-office and remote work
practice which offers greater flexibility to the employees.

Post Covid-19 and Work from Home

The COVID-19 pandemic had greatly increased work from home in Canada and in countries
in the rest of the world. During pandemic, work from home, and flexitime were two most
common emerging trends in workplaces as companies were trying to keep business running
while adjusting to the stay-at-home mandate. In January 2021, 32% of Canadian employees
were seen to have worked most of their hours from home, compared with 4% in 2016 (Mehdi
& Morissette, 2021).
Based on research and survey completed it was determined that most employees prefer to
work from home for at least half of their working hours. Most of these employees are
females. An increase in work from home would also have great effects on the future such as
reduced traffic congestion, use of public transport, reduced greenhouse gas emissions,
changing demand for office space in city centres and for housing in suburbs (Mehdi &
Morissette, 2021).

Global research conducted by Lenovo shows that 74% of the respondents from India
agreed that they are more willing to work from home post pandemic than they were
before it. They are more connected and more understanding of their work devices. 91% have
increased the usage of laptops, 95% agreed that the have become their own IT person, and
43% believe that companies should invest more in technology training to further enhance
work from home opportunities (Bhatia & Mote, 2021).

Many organisations have designed their work from home models. Many employees and
individuals enjoy work from home due to the many benefits it presents. Many employees feel
they are more productive than they had been previously. Numerous employees were freed
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from long commutes and have found or developed more beneficial ways to invest their time
and energy. Employees believe that work from home has created more flexibility in
maintaining work-life balance and concluded that they prefer working from home instead of
commuting to the workplace. On the other hand, companies have realised that they can easily
access to a new talent pool with less locational issues such as their address, foster innovative
processes to support profitability, and improve business culture. Talent can be more easily
reached and recruited for companies irrespective of their location when companies choose to
adopt work from home arrangement. Companies can also save on expenses such as land or
building costs along with other utility costs (Bhatia & Mote, 2021).

Employees who worked from home throughout the pandemic have benefited from flexibility
that includes how, where, and when they work. These employees have expressed that they
wish to continue working from home even when return to office is possible. Many
organisations are offering hybrid work and even remote work post covid (Conference Board
of Canada, 2021). Post pandemic years, companies are witnessing another trend emerging
and that is a hybrid office or hybrid work model- where employees still retain the flexibility
to work from home for a certain number of days in a week or month, while they must come to
the work location to work on selective days.

Reasons for Growing Acceptance of Flexible Work Arrangements

Pandemic and post pandemic years have witnessed a growing popularity of flexible work
arrangements for various types of workplaces especially where telecommuting or flexible
work hours is easier to implement in the work design. Certain factors which have supported it
increased application, especially during post-pandemic years include:

● Acceleration of technology: The pandemic served as a catalyst for stronger use of

technology and digitization of many work-related processes. Organisations see these
digital transformations as an opportunity to move more services online which resulted
in enhanced service quality, increased accessibility and provide more flexibility to
their customer focused strategies. (Conference board Canada, 2022)
● Workers want flexibility: as per the workplace survey conducted by KPMG on over
2000 Canadian employees it was found that over 77% of employees wanted flexibility
to work either in hybrid mode or from home. Moreover, approximately 71% of these
Canadians believed that a hybrid approach to working should be the norm for their
organisation moving forward. Also, most employees who are working remotely agree
that they will change job if current employer does not continue to offer remote work
option on long term basis. (Cabel & Melnick, 2021).
● Based on the research and survey done by Conference Board of Canada on employee
engagement, it was found that employees are more engaged when they have greater
say and freedom over how they can do their job. One way of giving employees more
control over their work is to offer flexible working arrangements and employees have
been seen to offer greater productivity, have higher motivation to work due to
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increased flexibility. It has also resulted in reduced employee turnover. (Conference

Board of Canada, 2018)
● With an ageing workforce in Canada, the availability of different types of flexible
work arrangements offers work life balance for those approaching retirement and find
commuting difficult and have family care to prioritise. It has enabled organisations to
attract, retain and motivate experienced employees. (Conference board Canada, 2022)
● Availability of different types of video conferencing tools and platform which enables
bringing together the co-workers of a team and enhance collaboration amongst team
members.
● It has increasingly helped employees manage their responsibilities outside of work,
consequently more employees are preferring these work arrangement alternatives. For
those with additional responsibilities it has helped in bringing work life balance due to
reduced commute and additional flexibility it brings about.
● Organisations are witnessing reduced absenteeism and greater presenteeism: primarily
due to elimination of commute time.

Impact of Flexible Work Arrangements and Hybrid Work Model on HR

Practices and Functions

The increasing popularity and acceptance of remote working and hybrid work models is one
of the lasting impacts which pandemic had on how people work and has brought changes in
different HR roles and functions. The widespread adoption of remote work practices, video
conferencing and telecommuting has added additional work to HR functions like Training
and development of managers, scheduling of work design and routine, new technology
solution implementation, team working platforms, modifying onboarding, offboarding
processes, celebrating promotions, workplace policies and legal compliances and more.

Onboarding of Newly Hired Employees

Businesses which have adopted hybrid work arrangements during and after pandemic are
rethinking how they onboard new employees to provide a memorable and inclusive
experience while preparing for their new role in their team and organisation.

Workplaces which are increasingly adopting hybrid work models, where employees are
preferring to work from home, onboarding new employees in a team brings in new challenges
for the HR. It is essential to customise the onboarding process to ensure team members
connect and collaborate with the new team member and the new hire understands and adapts
to the organisation culture. Designing different onboarding experiences based on the location
preferences of the new hire is important. (HR Reporter, 2021)
Post-pandemic, many newly hired employees prefer to have either work from home or hybrid
work schedule in their new organization. In such cases a mix of in person and virtual
onboarding process speeds up introduction to the workplace structure and culture while
allowing flexibility. In person training and development sessions include meeting with
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managers and co-workers while remote onboarding activities includes reading and research
and policy review. This arrangement also prevents information overload for new employees.
(Hetvi, 2022)
Because of dominance of hybrid work or work from home arrangement, companies are
witnessing a longer onboarding phase. The possibilities to learn work on the job and establish
professional relationships with co-workers and managers may not be as easily available for
hybrid and remote workers. In an in-person workplace, new employees have many
opportunities to learn about the company, their function, the culture, and their co-workers just
by observing and talking with them. Connecting informally over a coffee break or lunch
break that usually happens while working under one roof is challenging when new hires have
the only option of connecting with co-workers through virtual platform.

New hires may take longer to adjust to their new position and connect with their team if they
are not exposed to a regular office setting. Managers should take feedback from employees
and teams to discover what worked well and what may be improved in their onboarding
experience, and they should use a mentorship program to help transition the process.

Along with onboarding, offboarding also needs to be considered to ensure that when an
employee leaves the organisation, leaves with a positive experience. This is because Covid
era has resulted in creating an open talent economy, where changing jobs has become more
frequent. (HR Reporter, 2021)

Building Corporate Culture in Hybrid Work Model

Planning an onboarding process in case of working from home arrangement is important as

the impact of the company’s first impression during first two weeks of a new hire is critical in
determining if the employee stays back with the company or not. Thoughtfully planning
onboarding process for new employees, ensuring all co-workers, team manager are connected
during onboarding of new team member and considering the aspect of “human touch” is
extremely important. The key aspect here is to get the top leaders and managers involved in
this process-it is essential to develop and build their innate humane capabilities.
Consequently, it becomes essential for HR professionals to train and develop the managers to
have empathy, curiosity, collaboration, and strong interpersonal skills and ensure they bring
these in the onboarding experience. (HR Reporter, 2021)

Ensuring Equity in Flexible Work Schedule

It is important for HR professionals and employers to address equity issues while having a
flexible work arrangement policy in place. Different employees have different situations and
arrangements at their remote location or home while working from home. For one employee
who has multiple young children at home and does not have adequate space at home to work
quietly may prefer going to a workplace location or rotational model. On the contrary,
employees who have a lengthy commute time and have adequate workspace and proper work
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conditions at home may prefer working from home mostly. Understanding specific situational
needs of individual employees addresses the equity part of this issue. (HR Reporter, 2021)

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement has been one of the biggest challenges for HR professionals with
workplaces which are shifting towards hybrid work arrangement and work from home as new
normal routine. According to Gallup, high levels of workplace engagement often lead to
higher performance—ultimately driving an aligned, thriving, and purpose-driven culture
among employees of a company. While employees are working from home, tracking their
engagement, interest levels while working might be more challenging for managers or HR
professionals as they cannot be seen or monitored. (Rangarajan, 2022)

In case of telecommuting and work from home arrangements many employees may feel
disconnected from their jobs, co-workers, or the organisation culture. Especially during
pandemic, when new hires would join a company, many of them felt disconnected from the
new team they joined especially, if team members lacked interpersonal skills or interest.
Human resource professional must think above and beyond and provide virtual engagement
strategies and support for remote employees. This includes the use of different video
conferencing platforms and collaboration tools, as well as special employee events and
meetings. Conducting virtual team lunches, virtual celebration of promotion and birthdays.
Unique engagement tactics and perks spearheaded by HR ensures workers feel involved and
are on the same page with any company goals.

While flexible work schedules provide a more flexible, engaging and employee-oriented
operations, there are significant issues with legal compliance, and employee engagement that
organisations need to navigate for it to be successful.

Building Leadership in a Flexible Work Schedule with Hybrid Work

Model

As per KPMG's Canada’s survey on “Where do working Canadians stand on remote work?”
81% of surveyed Canadians believe that their managers are not adequately trained or have
enough skill sets to lead and manage hybrid teams. Therefore, managers need to adopt the
right attitude and soft skills that are necessary to keep remote workers motivated and engaged
as if they were physically working in the office environment. Leading teams on virtual
platforms requires managers who can set and communicate clear goals, objective, deadlines,
and quality expectations while also ensuring to limit employee burnout, feeling of isolation,
and left out due to lack of socialization that results from work from home. (KPMG, 2021)
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Other issues with respect to leadership include questions regarding required soft skills,
empathy, communication skills needed to make hybrid work arrangements successful. Also,
it is important to consider if the managers are adept at balancing the work from home
employee needs with organisational goals. It is also essential for the managers to keep remote
teams engaged, productive, motivated, and connected at the same time. (KPMG, 2021)

Assessment of team limitation and performance management by managers and team leaders
is another challenging issue while working through a hybrid work model, especially when
working from home. It should also be considered that the shift to a hybrid work model should
not come at the cost of inclusion and diversity and managers must ensure that each employee
has unique circumstances, and they are taken into consideration when they are logging in
from home. Managers and team leaders must ensure that employees are getting opportunities
for career development and growth. (KPMG, 2021)

Legal Considerations for HR While Transitioning to Flexible or Hybrid

Work Model

● Greater workplace flexibility and presence of work from home arrangements result in
greater legal complexities. Especially in cases where employees working from home
arrangement changes from working within the same province to working from home
located in a different province or in some case different country altogether.
● For most employers in such cases workplace regulations like the employment
standards act, human rights code, occupational health and safety procedures and
regulations will be different for provinces. This results in different employment
requirements that need to be applied to employees who work in different provinces.
Also, employees when working from outside of Canada might have new
considerations arising from tax, immigration laws or data security regulations. (Cabel
& Melnick, 2021).
● Bringing in new policies and practices based on implementation of flexible work
policy or hybrid work results in different levels of mitigation and enforceability:
legally formalising the processes, terms and conditions of work that govern flexible
work model ensures their clarity for all employees. Additionally, it ensures that the
practices are uniformly enforced across all levels. Making changes at the level of
workplace policies can provide expedient option to formalise changes across
employees. On the other hand, enforceability can be ensured through renewed terms
and conditions of employment. (Cabel & Melnick, 2021).
● HR professionals need to ensure that they are providing advance notice and obtaining
employee sign-off on workplace changes which is essential for formalising the
changes required to establish a hybrid work model or implement a flexible workplace
policy.
● Human Rights Considerations: Not all employees will be positively impacted by the
transition to a hybrid work model or work from home arrangement. As such, based on
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their additional support needs, HR managers should be able to address employees’

need for accommodation based on protected human rights grounds.
● When employers implement hybrid work arrangements, Hr professionals must
consider how this work model can be made equally available and accessible to all
employees and measures may be required to equipment and technology training
available for all. Also, HR remains prepared to address employee needs for different
arrangements due to protected grounds (example: disability or family status) and
make anticipated arrangements. (Cabel &Melnick, 2021)

Conclusion

With time, employers are becoming more flexible towards providing different options for
work arrangements to their employees as it helps in recruitment and retention of valuable
employees. However, this comes with challenges. It demands a great deal of technological
changes and results in a digitally connected organization that brings together teams and
ensure productivity is consistent irrespective of the location of employees. It requires to be
supported by a framework that involves adapting new policies like the flexible work
arrangement policies, modified workforce models, altering work designs, legal
considerations, leadership skills, and technologies. Even though creating different kinds of
flexible work arrangements is an extensive task, yet organisations that make the journey can
benefit from more efficient, engaged operations and more satisfied and more productive
employees. Based on various workforce surveys, interview opinions of various HR
professionals, it can be concluded that dominance of flexible work arrangements including a
hybrid work environment is a permanent change for a lot of organisations. Post-pandemic,
employees have been facing more challenges and stressful situations in both the work and
family domains that can have impact on their engagement levels and perceptions of support
from the workplace. Implementing the use of flexible work arrangements in organisations can
make workplace practices effective and addresses work-life balance concerns for employees
while still increasing positive employee outcomes.

When it comes to flexible and hybrid work schedules, it can be also be concluded that there is
no “one-size-fits-all” approach which can be applied organisation-wide, and that hybrid
workforce and flexible schedules are landscapes with evolving practices. Work from home,
telecommuting, and hybrid work models have resulted in diversifying the roles and
responsibilities of human resources professionals and team leaders and managers and will
drive them to adopt innovative ways of connecting with employees.
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Bhatia, D., & Mote, A. S. (2021, February). Work from home (WFH): The new normal.
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Cabel, L., & Melnick, D. (2021). (Issue brief). a hybrid workplace guide. KPMG Publishers
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