A study done by the University of Birmingham showed that flexible working hours result in increased performance. The study samples of 597 managers on equal parenting for three quarters showed that the managers agree with the statement “flexible working hours increase performance.” The further tells that flexible working hours improve productivity by 62.5% and boost motivation.
During the pandemic, as most people work from home, they’ve been saving time for traveling and other daily activities, which allowed them to work on their tasks even during non-working hours. The authors, Sarah Forbes at the University of York and Holly Birkett at Birmingham Business School, said employees could address discrepancies by allowing flexible working hours.
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said workers’ demand for flexible working would force employers to facilitate flexible timings and compressed and term-time hours, which is reasonable.
Maria Miller, the Conservative chairman of the women and equalities select committee, emphasized the leaders’ effort to turn the flexible working hours deal into reality.
In recent times after the pandemic, the percentage of managers saying that employees need to work for long hours has been reduced from 43.3% in 2019 to 35.2% in 2021 and rising to 41.9%. Interestingly the research also noted that the organizations were also comfortable with the hybrid working style and did not want their employees working more than four days a week. In addition, the percentage of managers wanting their employees to attend the office once a week has doubled from 10.5% to 20.4% in 2022.
The post-pandemic era has changed the thinking of employees and employers. The firms have come up with a new trend of job descriptions mentioning flexible working hours to attract more suitable and potential candidates. However, most of the employers from the study voted that they do not believe in their employees and need to devise a system that detects and keeps surveillance of their employees’ working hours, bringing new stress to the employees.