Page 208 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

CHAPTER 6 • Organizational Structure and Design 207
to a career counselor, and holding quarterly community events at its offices. In addition,
the telecommuter employee may find that the line between work and home becomes even
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more blurred, which can be stressful. These are important organizing issues and ones
that managers and organizations must address when moving toward having employees
telecommute.

how Can orGanizaTions use ComPressed workweeks, FlexTime, and joB
sharinG? During the most recent economic crisis in the United Kingdom, accounting
firm KPMG needed to reduce costs and decided to use flexible work options as a way
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of doing so. The company’s program, called Flexible Futures, offered employees
four options to choose from: a four-day workweek with a 20 percent salary reduction;
a two-to-twelve-week sabbatical at 30 percent of pay; both options; or continue with
their regular schedule. Some 85 percent of the UK employees agreed to the reduced-
work-week plan. “Since so many people agreed to the flexible work plans, KPMG
was able to cap the salary cut at about 10 percent for the year in most cases.” The best
thing, though, was that as a result of the plan, KPMG didn’t have to do large-scale
employee layoffs.
As this example shows, organizations sometimes find they need to restructure work
using other forms of flexible work arrangements. (1) One approach is a compressed
workweek in which employees work longer hours per day but fewer days per week. The
most common arrangement is four 10-hour days (a 4–40 program). (2) Another alternative
is flextime (also known as flexible work hours), which is a scheduling system in which
employees are required to work a specific number of hours a week but are free to vary
those hours within certain limits. In a flextime schedule, most companies designate cer-
tain common core hours when all employees are required to be on the job, but starting,
ending, and lunch-hour times are flexible. 3. Another type of job scheduling is called job
sharing—the practice of having two or more people split a full-time job. Organizations
might offer job sharing to professionals who want to work but don’t want the demands
and hassles of a full-time position. For instance, at Ernst & Young, employees in many of
the company’s locations can choose from a variety of flexible work arrangements includ-
ing job sharing. Many companies use job sharing during economic downturns to avoid
employee layoffs. 55

whaT is a ConTinGenT workForCe? “When Julia Lee first heard of Tongal, she
thought it was a scam. Tongal pays people—anyone with a good idea, really—to create
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online videos for companies such as Mattel, Allstate, and Popchips.” Tongal divides proj-
ects into stages and pays cash for the top-five ideas. On Lee’s first submission—which only
took three hours of work—she got $1,000. On another, she earned $4,000. In a year’s time,
she’s earned some $6,000 for about 100 hours of work. Tongal isn’t the only business doing
this. The idea of breaking up a job into small pieces and using the Internet to find workers
to do those tasks was pioneered by LiveOps and followed by Amazon.com’s Mechanical
Turk and many others.
compressed workweek
A workweek where employees work longer hours
Switch on. Switch off. per day but fewer days per week
flextime (also known as
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“Companies want a workforce they can switch on and off as needed.” Although flexible work hours)
A work scheduling system in which employees are
this quote may shock you, the truth is that the labor force already has begun shifting required to work a specific number of hours per
away from traditional full-time jobs toward contingent workers—temporary, freelance, week but can vary when they work those hours
or contract workers whose employment is contingent upon demand for their services. In within certain limits
today’s economy, many organizations have responded by converting full-time permanent job sharing
jobs into contingent jobs. It’s predicted that by the end of the next decade the number When two or more people split a full-time job
of contingent employees will have grown to about 40 percent of the workforce. (It’s at contingent workers
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30 percent today.) In fact, one compensation and benefits expert says that “a growing Temporary, freelance, or contract workers whose
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number of workers will need to structure their careers around this model.” That’s likely employment is contingent upon demand for their
to include you! services