Advantages and Disadvantages for the Employees

Advantages for employees working on flexible hours abound. First of all it is important to see that today the UK labour market shows a remarkable change in the work choices made by the employees. Today, more and more (as many as 56%) of the employees are willing to spend their working time in flexible hours which is anywhere around the corner but the traditional cage ribs of the office walls. The favored destinations today are parks, the famous J K Rowling’s makeshift office, the coffee shop, and others like libraries.

The latest technologies like mobile phones, wireless hotspots have revolutionized the way work was seen in the past. Today, employees are enthusiastic about being at work while at the same time contributing productively toward development. Today, young people in the UK consider that office is now a state of mind rather than a four-wall boundary. With the largest age group (18-34), flexible working has more creativity in terms of work environment and putting best effort to work without any external pressure as is found in the traditional office (PR Newswire Europe, 2007).

Major advantages that are linked to flexible working on the side of the employees are improved productivity, better use of employees’ skills, and a less hectic work routine. In this way workers can contribute more positively toward productivity and can also benefit from being less under stressed. Commuting to work can be easily avoided specially in the jamming hours when it at times it seems that entire UK has come to a halt. If employees have the freedom to choose working time flexibly commuting chaos can be turned into creative productivity.

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It is a matter of real concern to the UK government and the employers alike that the 18-34 age group workforce belongs to the generation that grew old as mobile, Internet, and other mobility-oriented technologies grew. It is this bundle of workforce that is accentuating on being more on flexible working conditions than any other age group. Since this age group is seen as highly productive, creative, and efficient, the employers and the government can have abundance of benefit from addressing their needs to work flexibly.

Although this is the case, there are reports that many employers in the UK have not yet realized the immense potential that lies behind offering flexible working to employees. This way a huge amount of talent is being either misused or misplaced resulting in “waste of talent and investment in education, at a time when Britain needs to invest heavily in skills to maintain its competitiveness globally” (Daily Post, 2007). There are a few disadvantages for employees in flexible working hours and conditions that literature points out. The worst disadvantage of flexible working is related to the present trends in employment in the UK.

This means that employers carry the danger of misusing the talent for flexible working for a number of reasons from hiring to placing an employee. For instance, O2 study found out that a number of UK employees “are missing out on the opportunity to work flexibly”. The major reason is the lack of communication from the side of the employer or simply the loose infrastructure of communication that can put the employees at stake because if IT and HR departments do not go in harmony, the result is that “UK workers do not have access to the right mobile devices or technologies that will allow them to [work flexibly] in practice.

” The survey that pned over 600 business across the UK, a report that is claimed to be the most extensive regarding mobility businesses, shows that many of the business are putting their employees to the wall because they are only partially making use of the available resources and are also not “achieving to introduce or improve flexible working despite making a GBP9. 9 billion 1 investment in mobile technology”.

The major problem that employees are paying for is reported to be the lack of communication between the departments of IT and human resource. Other disadvantage that an employee can have while opting for the flexible working is that they can be at danger while they entertain ad hoc personal ownership of different mobile devices because the survey reveals that “18 of IT directors surveyed admitted they had no knowledge about the level of personal device ownership within the business and whether employees are synchronizing critical data”.

This means that employees can be at risk of being monitored for something they are not doing on the negative; they can also be asked to follow a number of extra procedures which might hamper their working proficiency while it is clear that their misuse of talent is very much the case in today’s UK labour market (MS Presswire, 2004). 5- Conclusion In conclusion, it must be clearly stated that changing global climate demands that traditional working conditions should go through a revival of change that has more benefits both for the workers and the employers.

New technologies assure that flexible working is the solution to a number of problems like commuting chaos and loss of billions in this regard, mental tension, and so forth. Flexible working bears fruits of creativity as well as ensures that the 21st century workforce is out to change the way the world lived in an age when technological advancement was not this much. AS such the employers in the UK must put serious thought on improving flexible working for their good as well as for the good of the people who want to contribute with more creative potential.

References

Daily Post (2007).Flexible hours 'vital to modern workforce'. (Business). " Daily Post (Liverpool, England). MGN Ltd. 2007. HighBeam Research. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www. highbeam. com>. Grimsby Telegraph, (2007). "Employers optimistic about future The UK's labour market remains "robust", with almost one in five employers planning to recruit new workers in the coming months, a new report said this week". Northcliffe Electronic Publishing. HighBeam Research. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www. highbeam. com> M2 Presswire (2002). "Number of 'Flexible workers' in UK accelerates past two million mark claims Teamphone.

" M2 Presswire. M2 Communications Ltd. 2002. HighBeam Research. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www. highbeam. com>. M2 Presswire (2003). "UK business 'caught short' on flexible working; Companies not ready for introduction of new legislation on 6th April. " M2 Presswire. M2 Communications Ltd. 2003. HighBeam Research. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www. highbeam. com>. M2 Presswire (2005). UK workforce rates flexi-working over salary; 9 - 5 days are numbered, says new research. " M2 Presswire. M2 Communications Ltd. HighBeam Research. 18 Nov. 2008 ;http://www. highbeam. com;.

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