How does flexible working affect employee retention and turnover after the pandemic COVID-19?
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| Flexible working, employee retention and turnover after the pandemic COVID-19 |
The Great Resignation and Organisations’ Concerns
The increasing trend of "Great Resignation" has attracted business professionals to investigate why people prefer to quit office jobs and look for flexible working opportunities that provide professionals with freedom of time and space. Indeed, the change in working trends from regular office attendance to flexible working or working from home has increased in the post-COVID-19 working environment. The statistics indicate that the trend of quitting jobs increased in the United States by 3.0% during and after the Covid-19 pandemic (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022).The primary concern for organisations as Gagne and Panaccio (2014) denote is to ensure an increased level of work engagement and motivation among employees to gain competitive advantages over competitors. However, a higher rate of quitting jobs across the globe is a concern for business organisations (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). This situation as Gagne and Panaccio (2014) believe requires an understanding of employees' psychology. The investigations indicate growth opportunities, yearning for higher earnings, and most dominantly flexible working are certain issues that persuade employees to quit and look for flexible or work-from-home opportunities. This situation also indicates that the identified issues are relevant to job design and employees’ motivation. Grant, Fried and Juillerat (2010, p. 418) denote that Job design is all about "encapsulating the processes and outcomes of how work is structured, organized, experienced and enacted". The trend of working from home (WFH) was becoming popular among companies in pre-Covid-19 time to ensure business productivity, reduce operational expenses and take advantage of the skills of professionals living in other geographical areas. However, another strong reason behind flexible working concepts is to reduce employee turnover issues and to ensure the retention of experienced staff by allowing employees to work from remote places at their convenience.
Covid-19 and Great Resignation
Some researchers believe that blaming Covid-19 for the “Great Resignation” is not correct as field studies (Kuzior et al., 2022) indicate that employees' personal reasons especially the demand for flexible working hours is one of the strongest reasons behind the “Great Resignation”. However, it is true that the ease of working from home during Covid-19 has contributed to the trend extensively. Linzer, Griffiths and Feldman (2022) denote that avoiding death was the primary motto for professionals and even in the medical field as "physicians and other healthcare workers are no exception" (p. 4276). This situation caused problems for the leadership of organisations and increased the pressure on HR departments to devise certain mechanisms that can contribute to employee retention. Such a situation led organisations to “prioritize concrete support and culture change for their workforce” (p. 4276).Flexible Working Trends in Ireland
Job dissatisfaction, poor work engagement and job resignation are certain issues that contribute to poor organisational performance with relatively higher employee retention issues. To resolve these issues, it is essential to understand if flexible working especially work-from-home or a remote place can contribute to reducing retention issues and help increase employees' work engagement. In the post-Covid-19 time, the preference of employees to work from home has increased due to the flexibility and the ease of managing time between professional and personal lives (Kuzior et al., 2022; Linzer, Griffiths & Feldman 2022). Business companies are providing flexible working opportunities to resolve employee retention issues. Leiter and Maslach (2003) denote that flexibility of working allows employees to manage their workload with work-life balance as these generate cognitive satisfaction among employees. Remote working or working from home among Irish workers (Irish Department of Business Enterprise and Innovation, 2019: p. 7) increased “by 63% in the private sector” and “28%” among public sector workers during Covid-19. The Irish Government promoted the trend of working from home in its ‘2019-2020 Regional Enterprise Plans’. To overcome employee retention issues "a number of international policies were considered in order to identify good practice and potential learning" (p: 8). In an investigatory report Slattery (2022) wrote in the Irish Times that the demand for working from home in Ireland is very high and it is believed that "working-from-home culture set to continue beyond coronavirus". This situation requires the presence of a “corporate culture in a hybrid environment” because management and leadership styles will change because of working from home culture.Flexible Working as a New Norm
Flexible working has become a new normal, especially after Covid-19 and has caused pressure on employers to change organisational culture. This has led HR professionals to devise new ways to recruit, manage, and motivate employees to ensure work engagement. However, the question if work flexibility can help in employee retention, especially in a post-Covid-19 environment is such an issue that has been explored merely (Kuzior et al., 2022; Linzer, Griffiths & Feldman 2022). This literature review section explores the role of flexible working as a new normal, it's positive as well as negative implications and how it is essential for HR professionals to manage this cultural transition. This will help to understand and evaluate certain positive and negative implications that flexible working might generate.The trend of working from home has increased in the post-COVID-19 working environment as flexible working has become a new normal. This has persuaded organisations to bring change in HR practices, and working schedules as per employees' preferences. Allowing workers to work from home has reduced employee turnover issues and it has contributed to employee retention as well (Boskovic, 2021). However, for some researchers, the case is not simple as some companies offer higher salaries to attract the skilled workforce and this issue has contributed to retention issues for some companies. Working from home is a complex issue for business people because it has generated pressure for employers to ensure strategic management change to maintain their brand name, reputation and particular HR culture. However, it is evident that working from home has its good and bad implications that need to be examined in relevance to job specification and industry (Chambel, Carvalho & Santos, 2022; Kotey & Sharma, 2019).
Work balance
The primary concept behind working from home is to generate flexibility for employees to reduce work stress and work overload so that employees can keep a balance in their personal and professional lives. In developed countries, the trend of working from home has brought more productivity as compared to developing countries because of the lacking of technology infrastructure and training. The case of Indonesia is a specific example in this context where working from home or flexible working contributed to 54% productivity. However, it is a fact that Covid-19 has brought acceptance and change in organisational culture as business organisations and government departments allow flexibility of working from home or remote places. This has contributed to the mental satisfaction of employees resulting in higher productivity at personal and professional levels (Hidayah, Singh &Hussain, 2021).Flexibility as a healthy working style
The trend of working from home ensures flexibility between employers and employees to decide when, where and how they tend to work with full potential to generate maximum output (Kosses & Michel, 2011). The concept of flexible working is not about working from the place of choice but it indicates that organisations tend to promote a healthy working style for maximum productivity. The flexibility of working from home not only boosts employees' cognitive satisfaction but increases their commitment resulting in higher employee retention (Kotey & Sharma, 2019).
Work environment positivity
Anderson and Kelliher (2009) denote that the relationship between flexible working and employee engagement is a primary source behind employer and employee satisfaction from work results. It not only allows employers to critically examine the work outcome but to understand the professional growth of employees as a result of employees' motivation and satisfaction from flexible working. "Degree of choice" (Anderson & Kelliher 2009, p. 13) contributes to the originality and work productivity. The results of Kaya's et al. (2022) field study in Turkey to map the benefits of flexible working during the pandemic period indicate that Covid-19 changed the working patterns not only for employees but forced organisations to revisit their HR strategies to stay competitive in the market. Covid-19 provided researchers with opportunities "to examine the widest transition to flexible and remote working system" (Kaya et al., 2022, p. 254). One of the significant aspects of this working transition was the application of technological infrastructure to the process of business operations and the ways employees work. Work from home produced ease for professionals in multiple sectors but the case with medical professionals was the opposite as they directly interacted with Covid patients (Kaya et al., 2022). However, for most businesses as Anderson and Kelliher (2019) believe flexible work is a major source of a positive and long-lasting relationship between a business organisation and employees resulting in employee retention.Enhancing employees’ work engagement
The flexibility of place increases employees’ work engagement because of emotional and cognitive satisfaction from the job. The relationship between responsibility and happiness depends on the working environment an employee works in and a positive environment increases work engagement as employees feel motivated, less stressed and enthusiastic because of work flexibility. Autonomy of choice results positively and it ensures "work engagement, vigour, dedication and absorption" among employees (Boskovicm 2021, p. 238).Kim, Tonelli and Silva (2016) denote that flexible working is a new approach that allows workers to work in an informal environment following certain work conditions that they agree upon with employers. This allows workers freedom of place; however, it is equally convenient for organisations to get the maximum output from employees in a less structured environment with less spending. Some argue (Azevedo et al., 2015) that flexible working has a less positive impact on employees except for the convenience of time and place. On the contrary, this concept is more useful for a business organisation as these organisations have to spend little compared to formal labour contracts. However, this concept according to Kim and colleagues is wrong as flexible working does not undermine workers' rights but such facilitation of flexibility helps organisations in employee retention. Flexible working, (Kim, Tonelli & Silva, 2016, p. 136) "emerges as a labour benefit, since the possibility to balance work activities and personal life contributes to better productivity capacity as a whole”.
Negative Implications: Work-family relationship
However, at the same time, working from home (Kaya, Ileri & Kara, 2022) contributes to social isolation which is a cynical factor that might contribute to an imbalance in human behaviour. Working from home contributed to family issues for some workers as for some workers it was hard to keep a balance in professional and personal lives and this situation "negatively affected job responsibilities" (p.258). Family responsibility often consumed much of the time which also negatively affected the "financial gains" that a work-from-home employee was expecting (p. 261). Hadayah, Singh and Hussain (2021: p. 40) denote that “irregularity and unpredictability of working hours” affected the personal life patterns of employees despite work flexibility. This is the reason that researchers argue that the concept of flexible working should be examined in a broader context that involves personal life, professional life and HR policies. The primary concept of flexible working is working with ease and convenience to ensure a higher level of work commitment, engagement and satisfaction. Any negativity might cause serious harm not only to the professional profile of an employee but will disturb the competitiveness of business operations also. Chambel, Carvalho and Santos (2022) argue that work and family conflicts often cause health issues such as stress, anxiety, irritation and yelling. These medical complications disturb family life resulting in poor professional performance and negative financial outcomes.HR and the Cultural Transition
In the post-Covid-19 work environment, human resource departments of business organisations are under immense pressure because the new norm of working from home has forced organisations to reconsider their working structures. This has increased concerns about how organisations will manage and maintain their unique culture while addressing employees' concerns and facilitating employees with work flexibility. The new trend of working from home has initiated a discussion on how HR can attract new employees and retain existing employees to gain a more competitive marketplace. The new norm of working from home has caused serious stress for HR professionals to ensure productivity by retaining and recruiting talented employees using creative HR policies and strategies (Tripathy & Rohidas, 2021).The need for improved HR communication
Organisational culture according to Rogers (2022) is a set of unique norms based on social and professional values that an organisation follows and these practices make an organisation unique contributing to a competitive market position. Every organisation uses a unique HR structure that is an emblem of two factors namely external and internal factors and “valuing stability or flexibility in terms of change” (p. 6). Maintaining a unique culture requires HR to ensure effective communication with employees and the effectiveness of communication is the utmost requirement in working from home or work from a remote environment. Working from home reduces interaction among employees resulting in limiting "employees’ ability to recognize underlying assumptions and finer details of communication” (p.7). Poor communication not only limits professional cohesion but makes it difficult for an HR department to understand employees' concerns, demands, and work engagement issues (Ozimek, 2020). Poor working relationship always results in a reduced sense of belongingness that results in decreased commitment leading to turnover issues (Larson et al., 2020).Employees’ wellbeing
Bobbio, Canova and Manganelli (2022) denote that the working environment has changed dramatically in recent years either because of technological advancement, wars or the recent pandemic of Covid-19. The new trend of work-home culture has increased HR professional responsibilities. In a work-home culture professionals often lack organisational support, supervisor and colleague support which results in serious harm to career development. Time pressure is another factor that becomes the reason for the strain on positive family relationships. In this case scenario, the subjective well-being of employees is a major issue regardless of employees' work experience. The concept of subjective well-being is directly linked with life and job satisfaction resulting in employment positivity. Work-from-home culture also requires the presence of a unique HR support culture to “shape workers’ perception of the organizational culture” (p. 2935). Dealing with employees' concerns is also one of HR's responsibilities and these concerns can be about working culture, retention issues and appointing talented people in the right places to ensure business productivity.Managing work at a distance culture
Lal, Dwivedi and Haag (2021) argue that in the European market, people have been working from remote places since the 1990s but its scale in the past was very limited compared to distance working that phenomenally increased during the Covid-19 period. The trend of WHF has changed HR professionals' responsibilities because now the concern is shifted to using technology to manage, recruit and motivate professionals to stay committed to their jobs with higher engagement. The task of managing employees is different from office-based employee management but the core concept of managing, hiring, and retaining employees is similar to previous HR policies and strategies. One of the biggest issues as Lal, Dwivedi and Haag identified is to persuade “individuals maintain social interactions with colleagues via technology when working from home” (p. 15). Writing on organisational culture and HR responsibilities in Harvard Business Review, Hinds and Elliott (2021) denote that the pandemic has provided chances for some organisations “to become fully remote, and the experience has been better than many imagined” (p.1). However, despite improved working results, maintaining a unique working culture has been a primary concern for the organisation because “office settings and interactions have been key signals of culture” (p.3). These types of unique features are a source of attractiveness for competitive employees to join a firm. On the contrary, the WFH environment does not produce this type of cultural attractiveness to employees. To overcome these issues and to ensure effective results from WFH, leaders of organisations opted for new initiatives. These included "do nothing, work to craft new ways of reinforcing the existing culture or capitalize on the shift to remote work to profoundly reset the culture" (P.4). Companies such as IBM, Alibaba and Infosys are particular examples as these companies promoted remote working or WHF culture and thus managed their employees' concerns. These companies even promoted online fun activities to ensure social inclusion and "to commemorate this special time" (p.3).The application of the hybrid working culture model
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| Hybrid work culture |
Patanjali and Bhatta (2022) denote that IT companies have indicated that “70% of their workforce would continue to work from home”. This is a huge shift in working culture requiring the presence of a diversified working infrastructure or model allowing flexibility to promote productivity. The primary concept behind the application of a new or hybrid working culture model is to ensure a higher level of diversity and inclusion. Remote working culture has made it possible to attract professionals across the globe making it possible for organisations to enjoy their skills. The new hybrid working model makes it possible for professionals to interact with each other and learn from their experiences. This interaction can be named the social inclusion of employees. The core concern behind this process is to ensure higher employee retention and to attract new employees to join an organisation to enjoy a flexible working environment to contribute to organisational competitiveness.
Hinds and Elliott (2021: p.3) argue that it is a reality that business “culture can no longer be forged in the same way as it was in an office-centric model”. New working culture is not a set of hard and fast rules but it is based on convenience that requires social inclusion using online technology. The presence of a new hybrid working culture model promotes diversity and inclusion of employees in the work environment and managing these aspects is crucial for HR professionals. Hinds and Elliott further argue that the case analysis of Infosys indicates that during Covid-19 Infosys announced “no workforce reduction”, while Alibaba “hosted a remote quilt-making event where employees could come together” and interact with each other to make the time memorable (p.3). Lal, Dwivedi and Haag (2021) believe that its HR's responsibility to ensure the presence of an online interactive platform with the help of the IT department that facilitates workers interacting with each other and sharing their difficulties and concerns. The facilitation of working from home and the availability of an online platform for employees to interact with each other might not be effective because understanding employees' concerns is essential which is possible by applying improved HR employee engagement policies.
Cultural change impact on employee outcome
Many theorists have discussed the relationship between employee motivation, engagement and satisfaction in the context of flexibility and cultural change. However, the core concept how different organisational practices either positively or negatively impact employee outcomes is questionable? Employee turnover issues and employee retention issues are certain problems that negatively affect the competitive market position of an organisation (Patanjali & Bhatta, 2022). The question at this point is directly relevant to the HR policies or HR tools that can help organisations to resolve these issues. It is an evident fact that the core responsibility of HR (Patanjali & Bhatta, 2022) is to ensure a higher level of motivation and work engagement by understanding employees' concerns to maximize operational productivity. For this purpose, HR professionals as Spicer (2020) believe need to understand the cognitive aspects of employees and changing market trends. Work-life as Patanjali and Bhatta (2022) denote involves how an employee feels about the organisation, what type of flexibility they tend to enjoy, how this flexibility outcome will positively affect organisational growth and what procedures should be implemented to engage with employees. Understanding and getting the answers to these questions can assist HR professionals to map the success level of HR policies. Spicer (2020) denotes that an understanding of market trends is the preliminary requirement, especially in the post-COVID-19 working environment. Sometimes rigidity fails organisations to cope with work challenges. Covid-19 appeared like a tremor to organisations which forced HR professionals to devise new ways to ensure work productivity. Sometimes, an organisation "overreacts in a thoughtless way" leading to the complete collapse of organisational policies (Spicer 2020: p. 1738). To overcome these issues and to boost organisational productivity, Ozimek (2020) denotes that due attention to flexibility can resolve most of the issues because "the future of remote work" is evident and its importance cannot be ignored.References
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