Flexibility at work is a hot topic and there are several trends in the current job market. But what can we expect in the near future?
Currently, workers value flexibility at work more than ever. The covid-19 pandemic came to implement a series of habits that many company employees want to maintain, or even reinforce.
It is in this context that a new concept of “self-service hours” at work. This “innovative proposal” can “profoundly transform the relationship between work and personal life, placing the employee autonomy at the center of labor management”, analyzes economist José Pedro Fernandes in an opinion article in the online newspaper.
Fernandes, who is vice-president of SISQUAL WFM, a Portuguese company that sells solutions for managing work teams, emphasizes that “self-service hours” are more than “a simple matter of convenience” and what interests employees.
“It is a significant change in the way we balance professional demands with personal needs”, he points out.
But what are self-service hours?
“Instead of rigid and immutable schedules, this model proposes an organization in which employees workers can actively participate in defining their schedules, requesting advance adjustments that respect their well-being and their responsibilities outside the work environment”, explains Fernandes in Eco.
This type of flexibility can be applied “in sectors with rotating schedules or variable hours, such as retail, healthcare or hospitality”, where it is sometimes difficult to balance work and personal life, which is a reason for “stress and dissatisfaction”adds the economist.
“By allowing employees to participate in defining their schedules, the work environment becomes more inclusive and humanpromoting satisfaction and, consequently, talent retention”, he also notes.
A paradigm shift
Traditionally, employers have always respected the interests and needs of the employer. But “the era in which companies unilaterally dictate schedules is coming to an end“, predicts Fernandes.
Flexible hours offer the opportunity to build a new working reality, where flexibility, autonomy and well-being are priorities.
This change could lead to “re-humanization”, with “greater personalization” and with workers’ personal lives to be “a factor as important as production demands”, Fernandes further analyzes.
What do I need to have self-service hours?
In addition to changes in labor legislation and us assessment methods of work in companies, it is also important to rely on new technologies to be able to implement a “self-service” schedule.
“Currently, many sectors still rely on a time metric to evaluate performance,” highlights Fernandes in Eco. This constitutes one of the challenges to be overcome.
But above all, the implementation of this new approach needs a change of “chip” in organizational cultureas well as prior preparation of workers and companies themselves.
An article published by management magazine (HBR), an affiliate of the renowned Harvard Business School, advises companies to train employees “to create and manage your own flexibility“.
Success stories in healthcare and aviation
Some industries are already “creating employee self-management that give workers greater control over their schedules without penalty”, says HBR.
There are also cases in the health sector where “self-service” hours are applied. One about the “self-scheduling” of schedules among nurses in five medical and surgical units in the USA, concluded that “employee satisfaction and retention increased”, as cited by HBR.
But for the process to work, it was necessary to “educate” nurses about negotiation skillsadjusting “guidelines to meet needs,” for example, “how to determine vacation coverage,” the study notes.
HBR also gives the example of North American airline Deltawhere employees choose their own shifts using specific computer software. Seniority is a factor that prioritizes this choice.
“Workers can exchange or give up shiftsas long as overtime does not increase and health and safety rules are not violated”, points out HBR.
