Home Working

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT LONG CASE STUDY

TOPIC: HOME WORKING

Presented by:

Javeria Penwala Pgd (MBA)

Supervisor: Dr.Tahir Javed STRATFORD COLLEGE LONDON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. CONTEXT The purpose of this case study is to enhance the reading and writing skills. Doing research and searching on a given topic also helps to gain more knowledge and information. Being MBA student it will also help us for our final desertion.

2. OBJECTIVE

1. Explain what is meant by home working and explain importance of home working in new economy?

2. Describe the difference between functional flexibility and numerical flexibility, use case study and internet?

3. What are the drawbacks of home working? How might an organisation deal with these issues?

4. Evaluate how or if home working could be applied to a work place that you know?

3. BACKGROUND

Before the 19th century, and the spread of the industrial revolution around the globe, nearly all offices were small offices and/or home offices, with only a few exceptions. Most businesses were small, and so was the paperwork that went with them.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, the advent of the personal computer, and breakthroughs in voice and data communication, created opportunities for office workers to decentralize. Decentralization also benefits employers, in lower overhead, and in many cases, greater productivity. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, the term "Small or Home Office" and its variants —along with the acronym "SOHO"— have been used to a great extent by companies who market products targeting the great numbers of small businesses which have a tiny or medium sized office.

4. WORK According to the `All word` website word has defined as: •

An effort on a particular task.

•

A measure of energy expended in moving as object

Similarly word can also be defined as; •

Physical or mental effort or activity directed towards the production or accomplishment of something.

•

Something that has been produced or accomplished through the effort ,activity or agency of a person or thing.(thefreedictionary,2009)

4.1 KINDS OF WORK According to the Donna Baines from McMaster University, Canada (iwpr, 2003) there are seven kinds of work: 1. Paid Social Service Work 2. Unpaid Overtime Work 3. Formal Volunteer Work 4. Policy and Servicing Work 5. Informal Unpaid Social Service Work 6. Union Activist Work 7. Unpaid Work in the Family.

5. INTRODUCTION

The background of Home working has very strong roots in the History of world. From ages people belong to any community or countries are working at home with the name of cottage industries, Home based work and etc. But according to the trend of world the field of Home working is also walking parallel. From Stone Age to modern it has shown the vast change in its style, business and mode of work.

3.1 DEFINITION OF HOME WORKING

The INTERNATION LABOUR ORGANISATION has defined it as:

“People working form their homes or from other premises of their choosing other than the workplace, for remuneration, which results of a product or service specified by the employer”

According to Radu Mare (Business and human rights, 2004)

“A person who carries out work for a company under direct or indirect contract, other than on a company’s premises, for remuneration, which results in the provision of a product or services as specified but the employer, irrespective of who supplies the equipment, materials to other inputs used”

Therefore home working has referred as the work conducting by an employee according to the instructions and supervision of the employer. Many CONSULTANTS and the members of several professions such as LAWYER, REAL ESTAES AGENTS or SURVEYORS in small and medium sized towns operate form such home offices.

3.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF HOME WORKING

The Agreement at South Lanarkshire Council identifies some of the personal characteristics considered important for home working as: •

Self-motivation, self-reliance and discipline to work without direct supervision

•

The ability to complete work to scheduled deadlines

•

Initiative, flexibility and time management skills

•

The ability to communicate well by telephone and in writing

•

The ability to cope with reduced social contact and isolation

•

The ability to cope with the additional pressures of working in the home where the demands of family life are difficult to ignore

•

The ability to combine work and leisure life.

3.3 TYPES OF HOME WORKING Home workers fall into two categories:

Occasional Home-workers - Employees who spend the majority of their time in the office but, at their manager’s discretion work at home where it is appropriate for them to do so. . In cases where office facilities are shared or where employees are liable to disruption, the employee may work from home at the discretion of their manager. The office base for these staff will remain the base as detailed in their Statement of Terms and Conditions of Employment. Employees who work at home on an occasional basis must ensure that their manager and the Council have details of their contact number at home and that they can be easily contacted during their normal hours of work.

Regular Home worker, Employees who routinely work at home and attend their office base on a formally agreed basis. This definition also covers employees who are required to travel to various and use their home as base. Where home working is agreed the employee will sign a

Home working agreement. The manager will not create problems for other staff and that the home conditions are conducive to quiet working.

3.4 AWARD Home working is expanding globally due to its more advantages therefore “Remote Employment” has announced the launch of the “REMOTE WORKER AWARDS” to highlight how remote and home working benefits the environment, business productivity and employees’ quality of work life. (Personnel today, 2009)

3.5 ADVANTAGES OF HOMEWORKING (South Lakeland District Council HR Policies and Procedures Home-working Draft, 8 September 2007) For the employee •

Increased discretion in the management of their work and personal time

•

A saving of travelling time and costs

•

The ability to work without distraction

For the employer •

Retention of valued and skilled employees for whom the ability to work at home is the preferred option

•

Well motivated staffs who feel that they work for an organisation that is prepared to be flexible and which trusts them

•

A method of addressing limited office space

•

Potentially increased output because of fewer distractions

3.6 ROLE OF HOME WOKING IN NEW ECONOMY

3.6.1 DEFINITION OF NEW ECONOMY The new economy is a proper noun, describing one of several aspects of the late 1990s. Lipsey (2001) has discerned these meanings: An economy characterized by the absence of business cycles or inflations.

The industry sectors producing computers and related goods and presumably services such as e-commerce. An economy characterized by an accelerated rate of productivity growth. The "full effects on social, economic, and political systems of the [information and communications technologies] revolution" cantered on the computer. This is Lipsey's meaning.

3.6.2 NEW ECONOMY and HOME WORKING Advancement in technology and modes of work has made home working in fashion. Organisations are now eager to adopt home working, due to its various advantages, Flexibility in work place and decentralization of work has created a new definition of work at home. •

People who do any work at home and use the internet to do so (Net Home workers, or “Networkers”), PC to do so (PC Home workers).

•

People for whom a mobile is important not internet or PC do their work through mobile (Mobile Users).

•

People doing any work at home in normal work hours, not using a PC or the internet, and for whom the mobile is not important for work (Day Home workers)

Hence different styles of modern technologies as well as Intranet have made the work easier for organisations and solo workers to give their best in their work and field.

FLEXIBLITY The flexibility in an organization leads the business environment a new mode of thinking and innovations. Through its help a company or organisation is able to work on different circumstances due to the variation in its nature. Delegation of work with empowerment and decentralization leads to flexibility.

4.1 Parents 'want flexibility' at work (Bounty, 2009)

From April 6th 2009, the government extended the right to request flexible working to employees with children aged 16 and under. It took the estimated number of workers with the right to over ten million, allowing a further four and a half million to apply.

4.2 SURVEY 4.2.1 MORE COMPANIES PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY (bizjournals, 2009) A survey has been conducted by “The business Journal of the Greater Trial Area” in which the rising prices of Gasoline has prompted more companies to help employees with their associated with driving, according to a poll by the SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANGEMENT. According to them,

“Flexible hours are catching on, with 48 percent offering flex time to employees, up from 26 percent in May 2008.And more companies -35 percent -are allowing employees to work form home, up form 18 percent a year ago.” The survey of 450 human-resources professionals was conducted the week of May 5.

4.3 DIFFERENCES

4.3.1 DEFINITION

FUNCTIONAL FLEXIBILITY

According to Peter Andrew Reilly (2000): “Functional flexibility relates to employers` ability to use labour across functional boundaries. It should give them freedom to move labour as required to meet business needs.”

Atkinson in his book “Manpower strategies for flexible organizations” (1984) has given a model of functional flexibility which involves: “The division of a firm’s workforce between a ‘core’ of long – term employees and a ‘periphery’ of workers in a less continuous employment relationship. Core workers are

expected to display a wide range of accomplishments and high task adaptability, capacities referred to as ‘functional flexibility’.”

NUMERICAL FLEXIBILITY According to Marco Biagi (2000) “Numerical Flexibility takes us to key institutions of labour law, given that it deals with the important areas of access to and termination of employment, two basic elements can be identified: types of temporary contracts and redundancy.”

Peter (2001) has explained: “Numerical flexibility as the name implies, concerns flexibility around numbers: how organisations vary the numerical input to their work to meet the changing demands for labour.”

According to Atkinson (1984): “The periphery would have less skill. but would contribute to the flexibility of the firm by being quickly pulled into or pushed out of employment as demand for products fluctuates ,a potentiality referrer to as ‘numerical flexibility’.”

4.3.2 TYPES FUNCTIONAL FLEXIBILITY Category

Function

Example

full multi-skilled

Employee can perform In production, across the

all the tasks required

various craft discipline

full flexibility within a changes in work within a within functional grouping

group

an

office

an

employee can work as cahier, receptionist

limited extensions

across

functional operators

boundaries

performing

minor maintenance

NUMERICAL FLEXIBILITY For example: One organisation had a classification as follows, Category

Contract length

Purpose

temporary staff

under 6 months

short-term absence cover

short term contract

6 to 24 months

Specific project

fixed-term contract

3 years

Specific

work

potential

for

but regular

contract

4.3.3 ADVANTAGES

Facilitating factors promoting functional flexibility 1. Educational level of workers-more highly qualified workers should be more adaptable; particularly knowledge workers who may be expected to manage their tasks and take much of the responsibility for their own training and skills updating. 2. Decentralization-act against specialisation of function. 3. Fluctuation of workload-necessitates more efficient allocation of tasks to minimise ‘Idle’ time. 4. New Technology-enables a broader range of tasks to be carried out. 5. Ability of staff to resist-this is paradoxical: the greatest use of multi-skilling seems to be in highly unionised workplace. 6. staff is expert in particular field(Atkinson 1984)

7. it if easier for manager to cover for absence and lateness 8. faster response to change in business and technological; environment

Facilitating Factors promoting use of Numerical flexibility •

Staff is cheap

•

They work hard due to insecurity.

•

They are not unionised or included in collective agreements

•

They are easy to dismiss

4.3.4 DISADVANTAGES Barriers against use of Functional Flexibility: 1. Most workers are more interested in some areas of work than others. 2. Managers recognise that speciality of high quality work derives from a narrow ‘ownership’ of a particular area. 3. Cost and availability of training. 4. Skill retention0best maintained through regular use. 5. Tight staffing levels-staff could not be spared for training. 6. higher salaries

Barriers against use of Numerical Flexibility 1. Managers did not find it easy to make these distinctions: they often blurred in every day life. 2. temporary workers are less reliable 3. less productive(Atkinson 1984) 4. transaction costs may be hidden, but much higher than expected(Bryson and barness.1977) 5. higher level of absenteeism 6. Lower commitment and loyalty. 7. lower status 8. worse terms and conditions 9. lack of career development and progress 10. segregation and discrimination

5. INTRODUCTION Home work, as has been seen, has advantages for employers, workers and national economies. However, these do not naturally or inevitably coincide: they may, and frequently do, produce a clash of interest and raise a wide range of problems and issues.

5.1 DRAW BACKS OF HOME WORKING 5.1.1 LOW LEVELS OF REMUNERATION The very level of remuneration which the vast majority of homework’s receive is the most single crucial issue, because it co exists with or leads to other problems.

SOLUTION Proper regulations and policies should be applied for the uniform remuneration of the employees with in an organisation.

5.1.2 LONG HOURS OF WORK

The need to meet targets in terms of quantity and quality compels the allocation of substantial amount of time to work, time which may easily become stretched into excessively long hours when it has to be fitted around family and domestic task. Its Home working Reality study found that the working week is longer than 45 hours for nearly half of all home workers, compared with the UK average of just over 39 hour. (Mirror, 2009)

5.1.3 HEALTH AND SAFETY PROBLEM Laptops, computers and Intranet has made home working more effective but they have very bad impact on the health.

SOLUTION The Audit Commission sets out clear guidelines as part of its

home working policy. These

guidelines refer to employers’ liability insurance which covers employees while they are working from home.

5.1.4 ISOLATION Lack of communication with other adults and lack of external stimulation tended to generate a sense of isolation. University of Central Lancashire’s work psychologist Dr Sandi Mann said. “Some people find it more stressful working at home, mainly because of isolation, both emotional and technical” (BBC, 2007)

SOLUTION The arguments for and against home working depend upon a high degree of trust. This is because an employee is working independently outside the office. In a team-based environment, each individual needs to be available to other members of the team as and when they are needed. Being able to set their own goals and identify their priorities is important for home workers. . There is also an intranet to help workers to stay in touch.

5.1.5 IMPACT ON COLLEAGUES

Employees who do not have a justifiable reason to work flexibly may feel that colleagues are not doing their share or even that they are being discriminated against.

Example: People with children getting Christmas off and requiring cover by non-parents.

5.1.6 INEFFECTIVE POLICIES

Policies without culture change will be ineffective. Example: In an organisation with a long hour’s culture, individuals who leave on time will be seen as not pulling their weight and not be offered promotion opportunities.

SOLUTION Initiatives need to be equally of benefit for employers and employees and a collaborative approach will support this.

5.1.7 RECOGNISE AS ‘REAL WORK’? A disadvantage faced by home workers is that their family and friends are failed to recognise their toil as real work. (Alan Felsted and Nick Jewson,2000)

5.1.8 HINDER CHANCES OF ADVANCEMENT

The lower visibility within the work organisation could hinder chances of advancement and contribute to the out put of those working remotely being less recognised that that undertaken by their work-place based colleagues. (Key concepts in work, 2007)

SOLUTION Seminars and educational programmes should be arranged for the home workers to keep them updated in the field.

5.1.9 LACK OF PRIVACY The confidential records and files are with in the home.

SOLUTION The Audit Commission sets out clear guidelines as part of its home working policy.

HOME WORKIGN APPLIED TO A WORKPLACE Home working can be applied to any work place due to the advancement in technologies and sophisticated mode of work. Lets for example: A teacher’s work is to guide and teach its students what ever knowledge or experience he/she has. Rather than, just to teach in any institution or centre now through Home working he/she can also teach the students through Internet. He/She can give the tuitions or lectures on the internet not only for his own students but also to other students nationally or internationally. There are many online universities offering their courses so u can attend the class or lecture through the webcam coverage in the class. In the same way a teacher can record his/her lecturers and can deliver them on the internet. He/she can also offer the notes and presentations for the further guidance. With the help of online chatting he can guide any one, either a student or non student.

Because after having lots of knowledge and experience many teachers don’t get a proper chance to prove themselves, therefore by this mode they can easily express themselves in the way they want. Hence through flexible work place as Home working a teacher can teach the students who are eager to learn universally.

7. CONCLUSION The reputation of any organisation or business depends on the mode and style of wok they are conducting and promoting. Today is the era of competition and day to day success and loss, therefore in this condition of daily competition organisations have to be very conscious regarding their business .Therefore to keep yourself updated according to the role of world companies are using flexibility in their business and style of busies . The flexibility of work has different aspects as some are according to time, some on contracts or some on seasonal basis. But the very common and successful type of flexibility is Functional which is more appropriate to conduct and is easy as compare to numerical, time etc. Because functional flexibility helps to make the staff innovative and updated according to the demand of time; whereas numerical flexibility conduct at the time of need. When in any organisation there is a need of new staff so that flexibility will be followed. Homework is the very basic and current example of flexibility as due to the advancement in technology and sophisticated innovation the work which was happening in the room of an office now can easily be done at home. With the usage of internet and intranet the task of office or official work can be accomplished at home; not in the business field also in service industry, home working can be made into practice for the task. It has been seen that Home working was made related to the women only due to their responsibility towards their family and home, but now in modern era it is conducting by male staff also, they are also performing their official task sitting at home or making an office at their home .Home working consists of a lot of advantages as this the type of work you can do according to your ease and wish whereas in the office you must have to follow the formal style of work and dressing. It has its impact on the workers life and environment also as the worker will fell his/her self more close to the family and is available at the time of any emergency where as the environment has the advantage in case of lack of pollution and rush of traffics at the roads. But contrary to this home working is not useful for the social relation of an employer with his/her colleagues and friend and the

experience to see the outside world, similarly being in front of computer for all the time has bad effects on one’s health also. Therefore it has been concluded that flexibility has made the task of the manager easier in case of maintaining its staff and home working as the kind of it has developed a huge impact on business environment and nature. It has given a new field to the business with the help of modern technology.

8. RECOMMENDATION Organisations are interested in costs and cost saving, and effective work-life balance policies can help this goal by projecting an image of an employer of choice, thereby helping with effective recruitment. A key area is encouraging women back into the workforce after maternity leave, thus by-passing the cost of replacing and training a new employee while retaining experience in the workforce. In addition, studies have shown that individuals with home commitments are frequently more effective and efficient workers who have to make best use of the time they spend in the workplace all of which is a benefit to the business.

REFERNCE

Delaney, A., 2004.Global trade and home work. Gender and development, 12(2), pp.22-28

Mare,R.,2004 Business and human Rights :Martin Nijhoff

www.personneltoday.com http://www.personneltoday.com/searchservices/search.aspx? searchtype=news&content=site&skeywords=remote+workers+award

http://economics.about.com/cs/economicsglossary/g/new_economy.htm Dangler, Jamie. ,2004.Industrial home work in the modern world economy. Crime, law and social change, 10(3), 257-279

. Corner,J. & Harvey,S.eds., 1991.Enterprise and heritage.:Routledge

http://news.bbc.co.uk Reilly,P.,2001.Flexibility at work.:gower

Atkinson,J., 1984.Manpower Strategies for flexible oragnisation:personnel Biagi,M.,2000.job creation and labour law:kluwer law Leopold,J.Harris,L& Watson,T.,2005.the strategic managing of human resources:pearson www.bounty.com www.mirror.co.uk http://www.allwords.com/

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/work http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/Baines_Donna.pdf