HRM

HRM

HRM

This report will look at the value flexible working makes to an organisation during a recession. The current legislation allows employees the right to request flexible working but also allows the company to refuse; although they are duty bound to give it serious consideration. Businesslink.gov.uk lists fourteen different types of flexible working but most of them only involve the flexibility to change when the employee works, not how many hours they work. Schemes that don't involve a reduction in hours are not going to be as useful in a recession as the following options that do.

V time working is an agreed reduction of hours for a specified time with a guaranteed return to full time employment, while a zero hours contract means employees can only work when they are needed. Bloisi adds another method called “Annual Hours” where employees are paid in accordance with a set number of hours per year which would be of some use in a recession. Atkinson (1985) brings in several more; including self employment, sub contracting and agency temporaries. In the construction industry, self employment and sub contracting are common place. This type of flexible working seems more beneficial to the company than the worker, as they only have to pay for what is needed. The subbies have no job security but do have the option of getting work any where else as well. A possible downside for the company could be the inability to guaranty the availability of labour when it's needed.

In a recession, the most important thing for a company is its survival. For this purpose, the company needs to reduce capacity in line with the drop in demand as well as becoming more efficient; but without losing effectiveness. For the unprepared company, the only choices available are redundancies or the forced ...