Essay on Flexible Work

Introduction

Various transformations have occurred in different places of work in the past few decades. Socio-demographic changes (e.g., a high number of women in the workplace) and technological advancements, due to globalization, are impacting employees' expectations from the workplace (Kossek, Lewis and Hammer 2010, p.35). The increase of income household has placed pressure on people to manage work and life issue. The scenario in "You Manage It! 2" depicts Joe who is in a dilemma because he thought that he was ready for job promotion but did not understand that with promotion comes responsibilities (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2016). Particularly, the dilemma is that he fears he might jeopardize the relationship with his family or fail to handle the workload that the work demands. Working for nearly 24 hours in a day and being away for most the day may tarnish his relationship with his wife and kid.

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The kind of jobs that are suited for flexibility in the context of office location and hours are easy to find. For instance, full-time college student and single parents that need home time can find institutes that are open for less than 24 hours and remain in the same location. In fact, this kind of jobs may include finding employment at nursing homes, restaurants and self-employment. However, there is need to make arrangement for the flexible working condition. As such, time can be adjusted based on work schedule at any time of the day.

In contrast, there are certain occupations that cannot be flexible. For instance, in the military, the staff members have to understand that field operation are continuous regardless of where their location or time. Without time plan, military officers may be required to unpack their bags and head to the war ground. Another instance is that of truck drivers who are never home and may encounter breakdowns on the road which may cause extension of the travel time. As such, the members of the family have to comprehend the risks accompanied with such hectic schedules.

One key thing that I have extracted from scenario described in "You Manage It! 2" is the significance of time as well as having a balance between work and life. I can relate to Joe's situation in the context of flexibility because I work nearly six days in a week. Due to the long distance, I hardly have the opportunity to see my family. For people like Joe and I, it will hardly get any simple unless we develop something that works in our favor. Baral and Bhargava (2010) found that working longer and harder may be the consequence of employees exchanging efforts for flexibility with their companies. Besides, working from home can make the life and work boundaries to be more permeable, thus, increasing the level of work-life balance.

Conclusion

Another lesson thing I have learned from the scenario is that flexible work is not mended for every worker. Even though many people struggle for flexible hours to sustain the concept of work-life balance, many companies do not consider it to be relevant to all employees. People have to prove that they can handle flexible schedules without being advantageous about it. Therefore, employees need to adhere to give and take hypothesis through the demonstration that they can compromise between employee and employer.

References

Baral, R., & Bhargava, S. (2010).Work-family enrichment as a mediator between organizational interventions for work-life balance and job outcomes. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25(3), 274-300.

Gomez-Mejia, L., Balkin, D., & Cardy, R. (2016). Managing human resources (8th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kossek, E. E., Lewis, S., & Hammer, L. (2010). Work-life initiatives and organizational change: Overcoming mixed messages to move from the margin to the mainstream. Human Relations, 63(1), 3-19.