Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Research Project

Author: Lucía Pich-Aguilera Ribas Advisor: Herbert Shields June 2020

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Abstract

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

In this project, a heuristic approach is designed so as to find the best configuration of working time models in the service industry, always focusing on the employee’s preferences. In order to do that, the project will first study a conceptualization of the working time models. Only the ones that are flexible will be considered when drawing the solution. Then, an evaluation concept will be developed which will consider on the one hand, the characteristics that best describe a company and on the other hand, the economic and ergonomic effects of implementing each working time model. This evaluation concept will analyze every working time model separately. The analysis has been made by carrying out a survey with different HR managers from the service industry. And finally, a solution is proposed.

Index

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Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

1. Introduction ...... 1 2. Concept ...... 3 2.1. Introduction ...... 3 2.2. Working time history ...... 4 2.3. Working time conflict ...... 5 3. Role of Human Resources in the configuration of working time models ...... 7 4. Conceptualization of working time models ...... 8 4.1. Depending on the contract ...... 8 4.1.1. Part-Time ...... 8 4.1.2. Full-Time ...... 9 4.2. Flexible or ‘Agile’ working time models ...... 9 4.2.1. Depending on the contract ...... 10 4.2.2. Flexible working time models ...... 14 5. Flexibility of each working time model ...... 23 5.1. Flextime ...... 23 5.2. Flexible work schedule ...... 23 5.3. Compressed workweek ...... 23 5.4. Shift work ...... 24 5.5. Annualized hours ...... 24 6. Classification of the employee’s role in their private lives ...... 25 7. Evaluation concept for the working time models ...... 32 7.1. Part 1 ...... 32 7.1.1. Service delivery requirements...... 32 7.1.2. Available Capacity ...... 34 7.1.3. Number of employees ...... 35 7.1.4. Employees preferences considering their social roles in their private lives ...... 36 7.1.5. Graphic explanation for the first part ...... 36 7.2. Part 2 ...... 37 7.2.1. Ergonomic factors ...... 37 7.2.2. Economic factors ...... 39 7.2.3. Graphic explanation for the second part ...... 40 8. Analysis of the flexible working time models with the evaluation criteria ...... 42 8.1. Analyzing working time models with Part 1 ...... 42 8.1.1. Flextime ...... 46 8.1.2. Flexible work schedule ...... 51 8.1.3. Compressed workweek ...... 55 8.1.4. Annualized hours ...... 58 8.1.5. Shift work ...... 64

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.2. Analysis of working time models with Part 2 ...... 69 8.2.1. Flextime ...... 69 8.2.2. Flexible work schedule ...... 71 8.2.3. Compressed workweek ...... 72 8.2.4. Annualized hours ...... 74 8.2.5. Shift work ...... 76 9. Solution development ...... 78 10. Conclusions and future prospects ...... 79 Acknowledgements ...... 80 References ...... 81 APPENDIX 1: Survey ...... 87 APPENDIX 2: Table to be filled by the employer ...... 90

Figures Index

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Figure 1: Gliding Schedule (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d)...... 17 Figure 2: Variable Day Schedule. Monday and Wednesday: 30-45 minutes of break (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d)...... 17 Figure 3: Variable Week Schedule. Monday and Wednesday: 30-45 minutes of break (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d)...... 18 Figure 1: Graphic explanation for the first part of the evaluation concept. (Self-elaboration) .... 37 Figure 2: Graphic explanation for the second part of the evaluation concept. (Self-elaboration) 41

Table Index

Table 1: advantages and disadvantages of part-time (Heathfield, 2019). [11] ...... 8 Table 2: advantages of telecommuting with regards to the organization (Doyle, 2020)...... 11 Table 3: disadvantages of telecommuting with regards to the organization and the employees (Roderick & Jelley, 1990)...... 11 Table 4: advantages of phase retirement with regards to the organization and the employees (Parker, 2020 & SHRM and AARP, 2006)...... 12 Table 5: disadvantages of phase retirement (Parker, 2020)...... 12 Table 6: advantages of job sharing with regards to the organization and the employees (Job sharing, 2015)...... 13 Table 7: disadvantages of job sharing with regards to the organization and the employees (Job sharing, 2015)...... 14 Table 8: advantages of flextime with regards to the organization and the employees (Flexi time, 2019)...... 15 Table 9: disadvantages of flextime (Flexi time, 2019)...... 15 Table 10: models of flexible work schedules (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d). ... 17 Table 11: advantages of flexible work schedule with regards to the organization and the employees (Heathfield, 2019)...... 18 Table 12: disadvantages of flextime with regards to the organization (Heathfield, 2019)...... 18 Table 13: advantages of compressed workweek with regards to the organization and the employees (Moore, 2017)...... 19 Table 14: disadvantages of compressed workweek with regards to the organization and the employee (Humphrey, 2017)...... 19 Table 15: examples of shift work (Self-elaboration)...... 20 Table 16: fixed shift vs rotating shifts (Fixed shifts are preferred by employees, but raise several issues for management, 2020)...... 20 Table 17: advantages and disadvantages of shift work (Reddy, 2014)...... 21 Table 18: advantages of annualized hours with regards to the organization and employees (Annualised Hours, 2020)...... 22 Table 19: disadvantages of annualized hours with regards to the organization and employees (Annualised Hours: What are they and who are they for, 2013)...... 22 Table 20: Summary table of planning and deciding of each working time model (Self- elaboration)...... 24 Table 21:Types of families (Blessing, n.d. & Demographic and Social Statistics, 2020)...... 26 Table 22: trends in family meaning (Cullen, Kordey, Schmidt & Gaboardi, 2003)...... 27

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Table 23:family classification that will be considered in the project (Self-elaboration)...... 27 Table 24: Stages in Life (Weelwright, 2010)...... 28 Table 23: Results for flextime according to the evaluation concept part 1 (Self-elaboration). .... 46 Table 24: Results for flexible work schedule according to the evaluation concept part 1. (Self- elaboration)...... 51 Table 25: Results for compressed workweek according to the evaluation concept part 1 (Self- elaboration)...... 56 Table 26: Results for annualized hours according to the evaluation concept part 1 (Self- elaboration)...... 59 Table 27: Results for shift work according to the evaluation concept part 1 (Self-elaboration). . 64 Table 28: Route that the employer must follow in order to select the best working time model. (Self-elaboration)...... 78

Graphic Index

Graphic 1: distribution of households in the US from 1970 to 2019, by household size (Distribution of U.S. households by size 2019, 2019)...... 29 Graphic 2: percentage of the distribution of households in the US from 1970 to 2019 Distribution of U.S. households by size 2019, 2019)...... 29 Graphic 2: service delivery requirements over the day ...... 46 Graphic 3: service delivery over the week ...... 47 Graphic 4: type of interaction with customers ...... 47 Graphic 5: frequency of the manager planning the employees’ working hours ...... 48 Graphic 6: employee population during the day ...... 49 Graphic 7: number of employees ...... 49 Graphic 8: employees’ family unit ...... 50 Graphic 9: employees’ preferences ...... 50 Graphic 10: service delivery requirements over the day ...... 52 Graphic 11: service delivery over the week ...... 52 Graphic 12: type of interaction with customers ...... 53 Graphic 13: frequency of the manager planning the employees’ working hours ...... 53 Graphic 14: employee population during the day ...... 54 Graphic 15: number of employees ...... 54 Graphic 16: employees’ family unit ...... 55 Graphic 17: employees’ preferences ...... 55 Graphic 18: service delivery requirements over the day ...... 59 Graphic 19: service delivery over the week ...... 60 Graphic 20: type of interaction with customers ...... 61 Graphic 21: frequency of the manager planning the employees’ working hours ...... 61 Graphic 22: employee population during the day ...... 62 Graphic 23: number of employees ...... 62 Graphic 24: employees’ family unit ...... 63 Graphic 25: employees’ preferences ...... 63 Graphic 26: service delivery over the day ...... 65

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Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Graphic 27: service delivery over the week ...... 65 Graphic 28: type of interaction with customers ...... 66 Graphic 29: frequency of the manager planning the employees’ working hours ...... 66 Graphic 30: employee population during the day ...... 67 Graphic 31: number of employees ...... 67 Graphic 32: employees’ family unit ...... 68 Graphic 33: employees’ preferences ...... 69

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Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

1. Introduction

The aim of this study is to design a heuristic for the Arrangement of Working Time Models in the service industry. It is very important to have in mind that in a service company the arrival of clients is not distributed evenly throughout the day or week, but service must still be provided around the clock. The goals of the project are to: • Provide a general outlook of the working time models and the preferences of the employees in their life as well as defining the social role each employee has depending on a certain variety of things. • Try to summarize this general outlook so as to find a final heuristic approach for the arrangement of working time models.

The project starts with a contextualization of the main project, mentioning briefly the evolution of work and the appearance of the flexible working time models along the years due to the working time conflict. Likewise, it is pertinent to give an overview about the role of human resources in the configuration of working time models, and how crucial their job is in todays’ companies. Moreover, a conceptualization of the working time models will be made. There are many different types of working time models, however only the most important and common ones will be mentioned. In order to develop the solution, only the flexible working time models which do not depend on the contract will be analyzed. By that is understood those working time models which can vary their working hours once the contract has been signed. Once all the working time models have been introduced, a brief description of the flexibility that each working time model offers will be explained so as to clarify whether if it is the employee or the employer who plans and decides the working hours. Then, the classification of the employee’s role in their private lives will be developed. It will firstly be described all the types of families and employees that will be considered in the project. Afterwards, the statistics of the number and type of households existing today in Illinois will be studied. With all this data, two different classifications will be defined so as to describe the type of employees inside a company.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Once the employees’ classification has been established, the question of defining an evaluation concept necessarily arises. This evaluation criteria has been divided into two parts and both are used in the final solution. Last step before proceeding with the solution is to analyze each working time model with both parts of the evaluation concept. The first part has been completed by carrying out a survey, whilst the second part has analyzed each working time model by explaining the pros and cons for the employers and employees. Finally, the solution is developed by defining a route that the employer must follow in order to determine the best working time model.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

2. Concept

So as to understand the idea of the project, the main goals of the study will be examined in section 2.1. An overview of working time history and working time trends is discussed in section 2.2. The conflict between private life and working time and the problems arising from this will be tackled in section 2.3.

2.1. Introduction The configuration of a working time model is a complicated task due to the fact that different restrictions concerning work demands and employees’ preferences must be considered. Developing a heuristic approach for the arrangement of working time models is encouraging, as it allows an objective, quantitative and potential evaluation of alternative working time arrangements during the design phase. Flexible working time models are being increasingly used in all areas of business. Employers are adapting to changes in the market and are using their workforce more competently which means that flexible working hours are becoming more common. Nowadays, employees consider both balance and the organization of upcoming job tasks as very important. Employees also like to socialize with each other outside of the working environment. Employers must consider their employees’ priorities, in order to ensure that they get the most out of their workforce. Flexible working hours are therefore the most beneficial for both employees and employers (Kattenbach, Demerouti, & Nachreiner, 2010). In many of the service departments, flexible working arrangements permit to adjust the allocation of the employees to the constant changing appearance of customers. It is important to bear in mind that in this project a conceptualization of flexible working time models will be done from the employee’s perspective always considering the extent of autonomy and its limits due to legal restrictions and flexibility oriented to the employer. The idea is to analyze already existing work arrangements from the individual working time perspective, considering their preferences. In the end, two evaluations concepts will be developed in order to assess and analyze each working time model and then a solution will be proposed. The solution should reach both, personal and the company goals.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

2.2. Working time history During the 18th century, factories began to dominate because of the new incorporation of technical innovations known as the Industrial Revolution. Later, from the year 1770 on, more and more cases of workers hired in jobs in which they were obliged to show at the workplace at specific times every morning and work throughout the day, always depending on the clock, began to be found (Blyton, 1985). During that time, critics about this domain discussed with different believes and perspectives: - “By the division of work; the supervision of labor; fines; bells and clocks; money incentives; preaching and schoolings; the suppression of fairs and sports, new habits were formed and a new time-discipline imposed (Blyton, 1985).” - There are many advantages to working; income, social contact, acquiring new skills, having a sense of purpose and meaning to life as well as feelings of success. However, there are disadvantages that come with working; tiredness, time spent away from family and friends and in some cases those at work may experience physical and mental problems (Burke, 2006). - “Economic historian Thompson (1967) tried to comprehend the general role of working time in the evolution of the industrial revolution. The growth of employment in the industrial sector created a sharper distinction between the “employer’s time and worker’s own time”, which became more central to the employment relationship. Industrialization and mechanization led to the precise measurement of time (Blyton, 1985)”. For all these mentioned reasons, an incipient labor movement in the 19th century was developed by workers so as to increase the number of leisure hours and moderate the standard working payed hours. A feeling about the workday being too long started to rise. According to The Overworked American, one of the most significant books related to this topic, estimated that, on average, between the 1970 and 1990, Americans worked 163 hours more per year, the equivalent of an extra month a year (Schor, 2008). Major changes are taking place at a global scale and in a variety of nationwide contexts. Hence, it is necessary to have a worldwide outlook so as to contemplate the findings of different actions like work-sharing in Belgium, the national partial pension scheme in Sweden, overtime reduction hours in the Netherlands and the job-sharing in the US (Messenger & McCann, 2007).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

These days, working time is seen as the amount of time that a person spends at paid occupational work. Hours spent outside work (i.e housework or overtime) are not included in the working week. Many countries have regulatory regimes to control the working hours per week, stipulating a normal hour limit per week, annual vacation and a minimum daily rest period (McCann, 2005). 2.3. Working time conflict Working time is a quantity that can be measured for an individual or for a society on the whole. Some industrialized countries have legalized the maximum amount of hours to about 35 to 45 hours a week. Nevertheless, the number of hours an individual is currently working per week cannot be reduced below the minimums that the society requires. In other words, citizens of these countries have become used to it and expect a certain lifestyle as well as a way of living that relies on these workers to produce more material goods. A lack of work hours contributes to a lack in industrialized production which influences underemployment, human capital, lower incomes, and a lower standard of living. However, if working hours become too extensive, these employees can suffer from stress related to health problems. Working more hours can negatively affect children's lives as a result of their parents being less available to them. Long work hours can negatively contribute to culture, public health, and education. As a result of these changes, the ILO introduced what is known as Decent Work. The concept of Decent Work has been defined as “opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity” and it has become a universal objective and has been included in major human rights declarations. The Decent Work Deficit is comprehended as “the gap between the world that we work in and the hopes people have for a better life” (ILO, 2001). One should consider that this gap persists and the majority of the employees are managing them constantly. The change in the working time patterns must lead us to rethink our perspective on "decent working time understanding". IlO’s 2008 declaration proposes its 4 dimensions of decent working time. These dimensions respond not only to singular human needs and those of the family, but also to the development of the nation. The dimensions are the following (ILO, 2013): (i) International labor standards and fundamental principles and rights at work (ii) Employment creation (iii) Social protection

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

(iv) Social dialogue and tripartism as a better way of solving conflicts than confrontation There is no doubt that still today, the working time problem continues to be one of the most seen issues in an enterprise. Demand is growing at an incredibly fast speed; thus, it is becoming increasingly costly to provide service to customers and society.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

3. Role of Human Resources in the configuration of working time models

Today’s companies cannot afford to have a Human Resource department that fails to lead modern thinking strategies and contribute to enhancing the organization’s profitability. So much about Human Resources involves managing people and resources. HR professionals are the ones in charge of managing the operational aspects of implementing the configuration of working time models in order to meet strategic goals. It is under their responsibility to motivate and engage employees, make them trust, respect and follow the company’s culture and principles. As it has been mentioned in the previous sections, it is a reality that employees, especially millennial employees are dedicated to work-life balance. For many, work is something they do all week to make money to spend on fun weekends. Unlike the older generations, employee’s wellness and flexible work schedules are in demand. A foundational function of HR professionals in the area of workplace flexibility is convincing the top management of the strategic advantages to be gained by means of offering work flexibility. Once flexible work arrangements are accepted, they ought to be executed through policies and procedures, and HR experts are key in this procedure. Surprisingly, one of the greatest hurdles to implementing flexible working time models may be because of other employees and midlevel supervisors. A supervisor with little staff under his charge may see that flexible work arrangements is the modern reason for slowing down productivity. This is why HR professionals are required to be well informed and updated about the benefits of flexible working time models and be prepared to communicate them whenever is needed.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

4. Conceptualization of working time models

Although there are plenty of different working time models, it is a hard task to keep track of the ones that are actually put into practice. In the dynamic environment that we live in, the same profession, the same activity or even same place of work might use different working time models. Because of the large existing variety of schedules, investigators have studied methods to measure different characteristics of the schedules. These characteristics will help examining how work arrangements impact health, well-being and efficiency. In order to proceed with the classification of working time models, it is important to differentiate those working time models that depend on the contract from the ones that do not, also known as flexible work arrangements. 4.1. Depending on the contract This first classification will be contemplated as an input factor but will not be considered when designing the solution. 4.1.1. Part-Time A part-time employee traditionally works less than 40 hours per week. Today, however, some organizations count employees as full-time if they work 30, 32, or 36 hours a week. Consequently, the definition of a part-time employee will vary from company to company. In many companies, one difference between full-time and part-time employees is eligibility for benefits like health insurance, paid time off, paid vacation and sick leave. Depending on the organization the part-time employee may be or may not be provided with a pro-rated set of benefits (Heathfield, 2019). Advantages for the organization: Disadvantages for the organization: • Reduce labor costs by not offering benefits • Employees are not as committed to to part-time employees. their employer and their job. • Ability to recruit qualified employees who • Employees may take longer to learn are unable to work full-time. the business culture and how to get • Opportunity to try an employee out before work done. committing to hiring him full time. • More difficult to retain. • Not all jobs require full time employee. Table 1: advantages and disadvantages of part-time (Heathfield, 2019).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

4.1.2. Full-Time Full-time employment implies that the employee will work 37-40 hours per week. The number of days worked do not matter, only the total amount of hours worked during the week. Usually the standard is 8-hours per day. A full-time type of work schedule gives the employee stability and predictability. However, when having a team of full-time employees, it may be hard and expensive to encounter someone to work overtime (Sling, 2019). 4.2. Flexible or ‘Agile’ working time models The United States is among those countries with the longest contractual work times, compared to many of OECD countries (Standard working hours, 2020). Although the standard work week is 40 hour long, many Americans end up working very long hours. This is due to the fact that employees are expected to keep up with emails and deadlines after work. The internet, smartphones, etc. have just made it easier. Companies today are operating in an outrageous competitive condition with the urgent need to be more efficient than their competitors. Employees ask and expect more of their bosses in terms of rewarding their career and dealing with their lives outside the work environment, putting on their employers a lot of pressure. The negative effects of the difficulty reconciling private and family life with work, impact not only the quality life of the employees, but also to the entire social structure and to the economy, as it usually results in health problems, demotivation, absenteeism and talent drain, which affects directly to the productivity. Thus, organizations are forced to be responsive and become more flexible for their employees.

It is undeniable that there is a growing demand for flexible working schedules. They are being asked by politicians, labor unions are more open to them than any other time in the past and they have already been adopted by many businesses.

A flexible working time arrangement is a win-win situational tool for both the employees and organizations, both are interested in implementing them in order to balance the many commitments that they have.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

As an employer, it is important to offer flexible working time models, in order to attract the best talent, have a higher productivity and reduce the staff rotation and abstentionism, all of which represents a significant saving for the company. From the employees’ perspective, flexible work boosts motivation and helps creating a more favorable work environment. It also generates greater loyalty to the company and a better performance, as employees are often grateful to the bosses who allow them to balance the lives. The internet era is the reality today and the way of doing things has changed completely. It is not about working fewer hours but working in a different way, more concentrated and optimizing time and resources. Flexible working includes (Flexible Work Arrangements: A Definition and Examples, 2010): • “Flexibility in the place of work, such as working at home or at satellite location • Flexibility in the amount of hours worked • Flexibility in the type of contract”

In the following section, the most popular working types will be described. The flexible working time models can be classified into two different groups. On the one hand, those based on the type of contract which are the ones where the employee signs a legal agreement in such a way that it is a flexible working time model but the number of working hours cannot vary. And on the other hand, those based on flexible work which are the ones where both, the employer and the employee are allowed to change the working hours once the employee has signed the legal agreement, always subject to the operational needs and management approval of the working time arrangement. Only the latter set will be studied in the project, the first group will only be stated. 4.2.1. Depending on the contract As mentioned before, the working time models that depend on the type of contract are the ones where both employers and employees make a first decision which will be no longer modified. This is the reason why these working time arrangements are not useful for the project. The deployment of these models defines for how long and where the employee will work.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

4.2.1.1. Telecommuting or telework Telecommuting, also known as telework or e-commuting, is a flexible work arrangement in which the employee works outside the office at a remote location, usually working from home or a place close to home (such as coffee shops or libraries). The employee “travels” via telecommunication connections rather than travelling back and forth to the workplace and is expected to stay in contact with colleagues and employers on a regular basis. Being part of telecommuting is voluntary and does not affect terms and conditions of employments nor employment status. Working at home adapts to the work habits and life-styles of certain personalities, mostly those self-disciplined and enterprising people who are able to work self-sufficiently and with a high degree of autonomy (Christensen, 1989).

Advantages for the organization: • A marketing tool to promote work-life balance. Retention, employees become more loyal to the company. • Managers save time of direct supervision and have extra time for other important tasks. • Save on office expenses. • Encourage productivity. Table 2: advantages of telecommuting with regards to the organization (Doyle, 2020).

Disadvantages for the organization: Disadvantages for the employees: • Adoption of new strategies and • Being out of the day-to-day of procedures are needed for the information. management of telecommuting workers. • An expectation from bosses to be • Dealing with other employees annoyed available outside of “standard” because they are not permitted to working hours. telecommute. • Distraction by spouse, children, pets and others in the workspace. Table 3: disadvantages of telecommuting with regards to the organization and the employees (Roderick & Jelley, 1990).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

4.2.1.2. Phased retirement Phased retirement permits an employee who is reaching retirement age to keep working with a reduced workload and eventually shifts from full-time work to full-time retirement. Phase retirement includes different procedures like part-time, seasonal and temporary work. It is an easier way of dealing with psychologically compared to quitting work entirely and from the employer’s point of view, it brings about a smoother transition of roles and responsibilities and a better knowledge and experience transfer (Kagan, 2019). Advantages for the organization (Parker, Advantages for the employees (SHRM and 2020): AARP, 2006): • Training and mentoring of younger, • Work fulfillment. Many individuals enjoy newer employees. working and hope to work even if they are • Retaining highly-skilled, financially set for life. knowledgeable workers. • Workplace flexibility. A reduction in the • Easier forecasting of future workforce number of hours provides the employee the needs. opportunity to balance non-work • Ability to transition employees into responsibilities and life interests. In retirement. addition, this reduction allows reducing the stress often associated with sudden retirement. • Retirement income. Table 4: advantages of phase retirement with regards to the organization and the employees (Parker, 2020 & SHRM and AARP, 2006).

Disadvantages of Phase retirement • Higher plan costs • Companies do not like paying benefits like health insurance for employees who are now contributing half as much as they once did. Table 5: disadvantages of phase retirement (Parker, 2020).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

4.2.1.3. Overtime According to the U.S Department of Labor, overtime work is when, “unless specifically exempted, employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than 1.5 times the employee’s regular rate of pay (U.S. Department of Labor, 2019)”. Most countries have overtime work regulations designed to prevent employers from pressuring their employees to work extra-long hours. Such policies not only recognize humanitarian concerns, such as protecting the workers ’wellbeing in order to preserve high productivity, but they also rise the average level of employment in the economy. Time off in lieu is among the best options for overtime work. It is a kind of work schedule which allows workers to take time off instead of, or in addition to earning overtime pay. A worker can receive an overtime pay plus equal time off for each hour worked on negotiated days (Overtime, 2020). 4.2.1.4. Job sharing Two people voluntarily sharing the duties of one full-time job, with wages and benefits distributed fairly and in proportion to the hours worked. They share the task and work as a team to fulfill the job and both are equally responsible for the workload. Job sharers can divide their working days, divide or alternate weeks, or even their hours can overlap. Job sharing is appealing for workers who are looking to reduce their working hours to provide care for someone at home (mothers with their sons) or who simply want a lighter workload. Advantages for the organization: Advantages for the employees: • Two heads are better than one. • They have more time for social and family • Opportunity to recruit and retain personal activities, they feel less stressed. highly skilled employees who may be • Flexible working arrangement. unable to work on a full-time job. • Balance their work with personal • More productivity. commitments. Table 6: advantages of job sharing with regards to the organization and the employees (Job sharing, 2015).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Disadvantages for the organization Disadvantages for the employees: • Hard for employers to find • Less benefits compared to full-time prospective employees who want to workers. participate in job share. • Harder to make career in the company. • Hard for employers to successfully • It can lead to heavy competition. match two people for job sharing. • Increase in administrative costs; training two employees for a job that can be satisfied by one. • Extra time for supervision. Table 7: disadvantages of job sharing with regards to the organization and the employees (Job sharing, 2015).

4.2.2. Flexible working time models This second classification includes those working time models which define when the employee works. Both the employee and the employer have more flexibility when choosing the working hours. They can be modified once the contract has been signed, so anytime in the contract period. This is the reason why only this group is the one examined in this project. 4.2.2.1. Flextime Flextime is an abbreviation of flexible time. It is a work arrangement that permits employees to choose their starting and finishing time within agreed restrictions as a solution to conflicts between work and family life (Christensen, & Staines, 1990). There is a core period during the day which is compulsory for the employees to be present at work, and the rest of the day is the flextime. During this flextime, the worker decides when they work, always within the scope of what the employer expects from them and of the required work being done. For instance, some organizations oblige flextime employees to be present during the core hours whereas other companies demand that all work must be done during any time between the working hours from 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. This working arrangement permits a deviation from the employee from the standard work week without the boss’ consent. An example of a typical flextime day (Flexi time, 2019): • 07:00-10:30 → Flexible starting band

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

• 10:30-11:30 → Core time, must be there • 11:30-14:00 → Flexible lunch period • 14:00-15:00 → Core time, must be there • 15:00-19:00 → Flexible finishing time The hours worked between these times are credited to the flex time balance. Most plans allow a credit or debit margin of about 8 hours. For instance, if the worker has enough flexi time credit, they can translate that into time off. Advantages for the organization: Advantages for the employees: • Reduced stress among employees, • They have more control over their work. greater staff morale and job • They can adjust easily to all the activities satisfaction. (work and non-work). • Increased retention of the staff. • Better use of their free time. • Competitive edge, it may rise the • Avoid congestion, it allows the employee to rank of qualified job applicants. schedule their travel. • More efficient productivity.

Table 8: advantages of flextime with regards to the organization and the employees (Flexi time, 2019).

Disadvantages of Flextime • Insufficient staffing ratios at a times. • Some employees may abuse the system and easily fabricate their times. • It requires planning and adjustment. Table 9: disadvantages of flextime (Flexi time, 2019).

4.2.2.2. Flexible work schedule Flexible work schedules include timetables that are both predetermined, so as to say, schedules in which the employee preselects the starting and finishing time on a daily basis and sticks to them, and timetables which allow the employees to start and finish anytime within the flexible schedules established. Employees today, tend to consider flexible work arrangements as a valuable instrument to relief some of the chronic stresses and conflicts that many times become implicit with trying to

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

accomplish both working and non-working duties. The growing value of these day-to-day flexibility for employees might be manifested with increases in labor force participation rates of parents, families with dual income, family annual work hours, and weekly overtime hours, the reward for extra working hours, college enrollment rates, and the aging of the workforce. Moreover, employers are likely to use flexible scheduling as a tool for recruiting and retaining employees for boosting job satisfaction and labor productivity. Nevertheless, the demand for such flexible work schedule from the employees is still beyond the offer provided by employers. There are several types of formal flexible work schedules. Only 3 of them are mentioned in order to understand the concept of what they are (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d):

Gliding schedule Variable Day Schedule Variable Week Schedule Basic work A full-time employee must work 8 A full-time employee must A full-time employee must requirement hours a day, 40 hours a week, and work 40 hours a week. The work 80 hours in a 80 hours a biweekly pay period. employer determines the biweekly pay period. The The employer determines the number of hours a part-time employer determines the number of hours a part-time employee must work in a number of hours a part- employee must work in a day, in a week. time employee must work week, or in a biweekly pay period. in a biweekly pay period. Tour of Duty Employers establish flexible and See Gliding Schedule See Gliding Schedule limits set by an core hours. Gliding Schedules agency within which an provide for flexible time brands at employee must complete his or the start and end of the workday her basic work requirement. and may also allow for flexible

hours at midday (during the lunch break). Employees must work during core hours. (Same as flextime)

Core hours An employee must account for See Gliding Schedule See Gliding Schedule missed core hours (if permitted)

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

with leave, credit hours, or compensatory time off. Overtime Overtime work is work in excess of See Gliding Schedule See Gliding Schedule work 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a workweek, ordered in advance by the employer. Flexibility Employees may vary arrival and See Gliding Schedule. An See Gliding Schedule. An departure times on a daily basis employee may also vary the employee may also vary during the established flexible length of the workday. An the length of the hours. agency may limit the number workweek. of hours an employee may work on a daily basis. Table 10: models of flexible work schedules (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d).

Figure 1: Gliding Schedule (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d).

Figure 2: Variable Day Schedule. Monday and Wednesday: 30-45 minutes of break (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Figure 3: Variable Week Schedule. Monday and Wednesday: 30-45 minutes of break (Handbook on Alternate Work Schedules, n.d).

Advantages for the organization Advantages for the employees: • Increase employee productivity and • Meet family needs by adapting the overall morale. schedule. • Hiring better talent. • Avoid rush-hours and fuel costs. • Reduce absenteeism. • Sense of autonomy, it enables employees to feel fully in charge of their work and personal lives. Table 11: advantages of flexible work schedule with regards to the organization and the employees (Heathfield, 2019).

Disadvantages for the organization • Inadequate staff levels at some times, extra work for the supervisor to ensure that there will always be someone when the service is provided. • Difficult to create a bonded team Table 12: disadvantages of flextime with regards to the organization (Heathfield, 2019).

4.2.2.3. Compressed Workweek In this working time model, the standard work week is reduced to less than five days and the employees do the complete number of hours per week working longer hours. The more common options in a compressed workweek are: 4 days of 10 hours each, 3 days of 12 hours each or working

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry the standard 70 hours biweekly work period in 9 days instead of the usual 10 days, which would translate to having one “compressed day” every two weeks (Flexible Work Arrangements, n.d.). Employees can accumulate extra hours by beginning early and/or leaving late. Advantages for the organization Advantages for the employees: • Job satisfaction, which leads to better • Save time commuting during a given week. employee productivity, cooperation and • More productive during the nontraditional retention. working hours, when there are less staff • Lower absenteeism rates as employees members present at the office. are given more time to fulfill other • More time for personal life and leisure obligations. opportunities, thus, they are more focused on • Customer satisfaction: from Monday the job at hand during scheduled work time. through Thursday companies are likely • Particularly interesting for people who wish to be open earlier and to remain open to reduce the number of days at work but later, making them more available for cannot financially afford decreasing their working customers. working hours. Table 13: advantages of compressed workweek with regards to the organization and the employees (Moore, 2017).

Disadvantages for the organization Disadvantages for the employees: • Less work may be done due to employees • Long working hours can be requiring more breaks and rest moments. emotionally and physically • Longer working days generate more stress and exhausting. anxiety, reducing concentration and ability, there • Workers can have difficulties in is more probability of workers making mistakes. coordinating child treatment or • Hard finding the time when everyone is travel during the extended working available. day. • Although employees may work four-day weeks, • Chronic fatigue caused by existing most businesses cannot work on the same work-family tension time constraints schedule. can or cannot be compensated by the normal day off. Table 14: disadvantages of compressed workweek with regards to the organization and the employee (Humphrey, 2017).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

4.2.2.4. Shift work Shift work is a job that takes place on a schedule outside the traditional 9 am-5 pm day, employees are required to work what may be considered irregular hours. Numerous businesses depend greatly on shift work, and millions of people work in jobs that need shift schedules. (What is Shift Work, n.d.). Typically, it is implemented by those companies that require 24-hour coverage during the 7 days of the week. Approaching shift work can be done in many different ways, and every shift work schedule presents its challenges (Heathfield, 2018). Some examples of shift work are mentioned below: Morning shift (6 am-2 pm) Afternoon shift (2 pm-10 pm) Night shift (10 pm-6 am) Starting hours really early. Period in which the majority Considered extended or unusual of the people end work and and although it is not mandatory, have leisure time to socialize. employers generally pay some extra money. Workers have to sleep during the day. They are vulnerable to having health consequences. Table 15: examples of shift work (Self-elaboration).

Other types of shift work can also include fixed or rotating shifts. Fixed shifts Rotating shifts Groups that always have the same shift. Groups alternating shifts, often on a weekly basis. Table 16: fixed shift vs rotating shifts (Fixed shifts are preferred by employees, but raise several issues for management, 2020).

The majority of employees prefer to have a fixed shift, so they can have a fulfilling lifestyle and home life. Nevertheless, there are three other points that also have to be considered, in addition to employee’s preferences, and these are: health concerns, business needs and staffing requirement (usually fixed shifts require more workers than rotating shifts).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Advantages for the employees: Disadvantages: • Employees are able to choose the • Unsettling routine shift according to their needs. • Shifts sometimes can be based on seniority • No working extra hours as the next and there are unequal shifts. shift will take over. • Unbalanced work. In hospitals for instance, • Without having official training night shift nurses get most of the work as sessions for the job, employees have the heavy workload happens during the possibility to develop the abilities midnights or the early mornings. and expertise required for the workplace by joining another shift apart from their owns. Table 17: advantages and disadvantages of shift work (Reddy, 2014).

4.2.2.5. Annualized hours Annualized hours are another effective way to improve flexible working time and many companies have already embraced them as an alternative to the more traditional arrangements where employees are paid “hourly” or “weekly”. Annualized hours imply that instead of looking at and adding the employee’s number of hours over a week, it is generally done over a year. The number of hours that the employee actually works varies from week to week and month to month. They are typically used by those companies dealing with great demand fluctuation throughout the year. Employers can match working hours with demand avoiding this way, having periods where employees are underutilized or on the contrary, days where they have to pay overtime. The annual contract hours of an employee are usually divided into two different types: - Rostered hours, which are the hours set in advanced. - Reserve hours. The employee may be asked to work on short notice to cover unexpected increases in demand. Unlike overtime, the employer has the right to request these hours without payment of extra costs. Although the ratio of rostered and reserve hours will depend on the labor agreement, employers should build flexibility to alter this ratio, as work requirements are often unpredictable. In other words, a period of regular hours are the core arrangement and the remaining time unallocated is used on “as needed” basis.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Advantages for the organization: Advantages for the employees: • Reduction of overtime and training • More flexibility and opportunities to temporary workers expenses. balance work with commitments out of the • More flexibility to deal with seasonal workplace. and peak demands. • Steady income as business fluctuation is • Enhanced productivity, greater client reduced. satisfaction and improved profits. • Easier to take vacation and time off. Table 18: advantages of annualized hours with regards to the organization and employees (Annualised Hours, 2020).

Disadvantages for the organization: Disadvantages for the employees: • Time consuming to develop a system that • Unsettling routine because of irregular works for the company. working hours. • Paying for the working hours employees • No overtime earnings and no increase in may or may not have worked. their basic pay. • Conflicts when employees do not want to • Employees may be required to work work extra hours in such short notice. longer hours at short notice seasonally, summer included. Table 19: disadvantages of annualized hours with regards to the organization and employees (Annualised Hours: What are they and who are they for, 2013).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

5. Flexibility of each working time model

Once the inventory of the working time models has been made, a brief description of the flexibility that each working time model offers will be explained from the perspective of both, the employers and employees. In order to do that, two different points will be explained. First thing will be explaining the person who is in charge of planning the working time model, referring to planning as the distribution of the flexible hours (when can they take place). The second thing will be describing the person in charge of deciding whether to use the flexible working time model and to put it into practice. 5.1. Flextime In flextime, the core and flexible hours are chosen by the employer, depending on the type of company. However, the final decision of which flexible hours to work is up to the employee. Thus, the final decision is up to the employee having in mind that he will be deciding from the employers’ planning. 5.2. Flexible work schedule Flexible work schedule is quite similar to flextime but has one main difference. When it comes to planning the flexible and core hours it is the same case as flextime, the employer is the one in charge. However, in a flexible work schedule the employer also plans the number of hours the employee has to work every day of the week. Therefore, the employee chooses which flexible hours to work as well as the starting and leaving hours, but the number of working hours is determined by the employer. 5.3. Compressed workweek With compressed workweek, the planning of the working time model is typically made by the employer, or in other words, the employer will provide employees with the opportunity of compressing weeks in those hours where he knows no employees are required. Nevertheless, it is up to the employee whether to compress the week or not, within the hours provided by the employer to compress the week. Thus, the planning is made by the employer and the decision is made by the employee.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

5.4. Shift work Shift work is the less flexible working time model, some authors even regard shift work as a non- flexible working time model. With shift work, it is the employer who plans and decides the working hours and the employee will work the shifts decided by the employer. Therefore, shift work, as is the case with flexible work schedule, is decided and planned by the employer. The difference is that in shift work, there are the exact shifts whereas in flexible work schedule there are flexible working hours during the week. 5.5. Annualized hours To finish the description, in annualized hours the employer tells the employee the number hours he must do during a complete year and the employee must distribute these working hours to complete all the hours of the year. Typically, in most cases the employer asks the employee to work for more hours one day due to increased demand. The planning of the working hours is carried out by the employer so as to have a better control of the employees inside the company. The employee has the possibility of working more hours one day so as to have some other free days, always subject to the employer’s restrictions. To sum up, the planning is done by the employer and the decision, depending on the demand, will be either the employees or the employers’ if there is an increase in hours.

A resume table is shown below; Working time model Planning the working Deciding whether to use the time model working time model or not Flextime Employer Employee Flexible work schedule Employer Employer Compressed workweek Employer Employee Shift work Employer Employer Annualized hours Employer Employee and employer Table 20: Summary table of planning and deciding of each working time model (Self- elaboration).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

6. Classification of the employee’s role in their private lives

Work is a vital source of income, financial stability and prestige, while the family serves as the center where two spouses usually find love and affection, and support and raise children. Therefore, it is obvious that work and family do not go on separate paths, and conflicts will certainly occur. Work-family conflict is a form of inter-role conflict in which stresses from work and family areas are incompatible in some aspect. It occurs when meeting one’s family role expectations is perceived to be incompatible with meeting the role demands of one’s jobs, and vice versa. According to KAHN et al (1964) roles are the results of incompatible pressures or expectations among domains. For instance, the time an individual requires to fulfill their job obligations may overlap with the family domains’ time demands, meaning that the individual will have to stay late and therefore skip dinner with their family (Boyd & Crask, n.d.).

Work-family conflict can be time-based, which occurs when role pressures from two different domains overlap, work and family roles for instance, strain-based that happens when pressures from the role in one domain influences the second role, for example a father who is unable to concentrate at work because of his son illness, or behavior based which is experienced when there is an incompatibility of two attitudes required for two different roles, for example a mother who is head of a company and is expected to be aggressive, impassive and hardworking but at home this behavior would turn out to be a problem (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).

As it can be seen from the examples above family-work conflict is bi-directional. That is to say, there is a difference between the term work-to-family conflict and the term family-to-work conflict. The first one occurs when work interferes with family life, such as extensive and long working hours, and the second occurs when family commitments interfere with work life, such as taking care of children or unsupportive family members (Work-family conflict, 2020). Today, the term “family” is understood differently in a variety of ways, mostly because of the wide spectrum of religions, cultures and ethnic situations. During the most recent studies in developed countries, four main types of family have been identified.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Types of families Nuclear family Traditional type of family. Consists of wife/mother, husband/father and their children. Extended family Consists of two or more adults who are related by blood or by marriage and their children. It can include cousins, aunts or uncles and grandparents. Single parent family Only one parent in the household raising the children on his own. Childless family Group of people from any kind of backgrounds who have never had children related by blood. Table 21:Types of families (Blessing, n.d. & Demographic and Social Statistics, 2020). These four groups are the main types that are found in the US population. It is important to understand that these different kinds of households will influence the conclusions of this project. Consequently, a more in detailed explanation regarding the different kinds of households in recent studies will be done. A great number of other family/household configurations are now becoming more popular. It will provide the employer with a clearer understanding of the different types of worker situations that he could encounter in the workplace.

Various kinds of trends in family meaning are listed in the table below:

Trends in family meaning: Adult living alone It covers the whole spectrum of young people who study further or higher education, adults who have opted for a non-couple partnership, single, divorced or widowed adults, and also the elderly. Couples Two adults living together with or without children. This includes paperless marriages that although they are not usually legally enforceable, are often recognized as legitimate forms of partnership by the todays’ society.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Single parent A parent living without a partner with one or more children. Unmarried mothers and separated families are also considered single parent families. Vcomplex Extended families and households with three or more adults and other permutations of household members with or without relationship. Table 22: trends in family meaning (Cullen, Kordey, Schmidt & Gaboardi, 2003). As the tables illustrates, nowadays households are evolving faster than one would suppose. As such, it is important to identify households’ types together with the conflicts that could occur in each one of them in the coming years. Considering this wide variety of households, new patterns in working time modeling are developing. Only the first classification and the first of the trends in family meaning will be considered. Single adult is the only trend in family meaning which is not integrated in the traditional 4 classification of family.

Nuclear family • Man working outside home, woman inside home • Woman working outside home, man inside home • Both working outside home Extended family • 1st Generation • 2nd Generation • 3rd Generation Childless family Single Parent Family Single Adult living alone Table 23:family classification that will be considered in the project (Self-elaboration).

The employees’ role in their private lives can also be categorized per ages, individuals take different roles depending on their gender, age and physical conditions.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

20-29 years 30-39 years 40-60 years Age 60 onward Young Adult Adult Middle age Independent Elder “Completing “Managing family “First signs of aging and “More signs of aging and lifestyle higher education and career growth. effects of lifestyle; effects. Eligible for Social and beginning Increasing numbers menopause, children are Security, Medicare (U.S.), career and family. of couples are leaving the nest, pensions. Retirement. More Potential coping starting families in grandchildren arrive, discretionary time and and financial this stage. career peak. Aging opportunities for travel, hobbies pressures.” Continued coping parents may require and sports. Some health problems pressures.” help.” and medications. May be caring for a spouse or others. This stage is becoming the longest stage of life.” Table 24: Stages in Life (Weelwright, 2010).

Once the classification of the social roles by families (households) and ages has been made, some statistics from the US are presented so as to know the actual situation today and its evolution during the years.

Although the population of the United States has been growing steadily for decades and hence, so has the number of households (since 1960, it has more than doubled from 53 million to about 128 million households in 2018), the number of people per household has decreased over the past decades. In 1960, there was an average of 3.33 people per household, but in 2018 this figure has decreased to 2.53 people per household.

Most of these households, about 34% are two-person households. The distribution of these households has been changing over the years though. Two-parent households are decreasing in the US due to the fact that divorce, remarriage and cohabitation are increasing and are being more common.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Yet since 1970, the number of single people living alone has increased, making up the largest sha re of US families at 28% in 2019. In line with the rise in single adult living households, the percentage of family households with own children living in the household has reduced from 56% in 1970 to 40% in 2019.

In the following graphic, some numbers are given in order to see how the population of the United States evolved in households’ terms.

Graphic 1: distribution of households in the US from 1970 to 2019, by household size (Distribution of U.S. households by size 2019, 2019).

Graphic 2: percentage of the distribution of households in the US from 1970 to 2019 Distribution of U.S. households by size 2019, 2019).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

As it is can be seen from the two graphics above, two-person household is still the most common type of family in the US with a 34.51% of its population, although it has declined over the years. This group contains the following types of family: • Childless family • Single parent family Right after, comes the one-person household with a 28%, which as mentioned before, it has been increasing a lot over the past years and decades. It includes: • Single adult living alone Then, with a 15.07% of the population in the US comes the 3-person household, including: • Nuclear family 4-person households onwards can be grouped in the same group, so 22.05% of the North American populations includes: • Nuclear family • Extended family

To sum up, after the analysis of this data, it can be said that more than half of the population in the United States lives alone or with a partner but without children. And that 37.12% of the population lives in family, understanding family as two parents and minimum one child. The employees’ different social roles should be classified into groups in a way to make it easier for the employer to categorize them. Such classification will categorize each worker in a separate level of life based on the state of the household, differentiating those with children but living in a family and those with children but living alone.

This first classification will differentiate three different groups based on the family obligations and responsibilities: • Group 1: a single adult living alone and childless families are in the same group. Both are independent adults, alone or with their partner, and neither of them have the bond of a child, which will not suppose a great load for the working hours. Therefore, regarding family obligations, they share a common responsibility.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

• Group 2: the two types of families existing are in the second group: nuclear and extended families. Two adults with one or more children. The only difference between one another is that another adult may live with the family or the babysitter may be living with them too. Nevertheless, regarding family responsibilities, these two types of family will be included in the same group. • Group 3: the last group, is the most critical one; single parent family. There is only one adult living with a child, taking all the responsibility of the child, which will suppose a great load when it comes to choosing a flexible working time model. This is why this type of family is in another group in the categorization.

The second classification will help the employer know the employee’s’ preferences regarding working hours, studying them as a group. That is to say that for example, if the employer has a team of 20 employees, the employer will first of all, group each employee as it was specified in the first classification. After that, with the information of each employee, the employer will try to classify them as it is explained in the next three points: o Same preferences. Employees are all in one of the three groups explained in the first classification, hence, they prefer to work similar hours. The employer is able to predict the employee’s preferences and then choose the working hours that best fit for all employees. o Different preferences. Employees are divided into different groups explained in the first classification. They often indicate alternate schedules and it is really difficult for the employer to combine each group to meet the preferences from all the employees. o Position based preferences. Similar preferences by position, but different schedules throughout organization. It is easier for the employer to combine the working hours and the preferences from the employees.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

7. Evaluation concept for the working time models

An evaluation criterion will now be explained and developed. It has been divided in two parts and both will be used in order to reach the final solution and determine which flexible working time model is most appropriate for its company (ILO, 2019). The first part will include those characteristics that are the most important ones when describing a company. That is how the employees and the company functions. The idea with this first part of the evaluation concept is that the employer should be able to identify which flexible working time model best fits the company. Nonetheless, in certain situations, two different working time models could be a good option. And that is when the second part of the evaluation criteria comes into place. The second part of the evaluation will describe the consequences and effects that each working time model will have for both the employees and the organization; the economic and ergonomic consequences. After that, the employer should be able to choose which of the two or three different working time models is better for the company. 7.1. Part 1 As it has just been mentioned, this first part will explain the characteristics that describe the functioning of the company at study and its importance towards it. After that, the employer should understand them, know why they are so important and rate its importance in their own company. 7.1.1. Service delivery requirements The service delivery requirements are a key factor in the first part of the evaluation criteria. A very critical issue is anticipating how the costumers will appear. Two key factors when choosing a flexible working time model are: the way service needs to be provided to clients and when. Depending on the amount of time the employer needs to determine the service delivery requirement of the company, these are classified into two different groups: 7.1.1.1. Service delivery requirements during the day Three different issues should be considered when referring to the service delivery requirements during the day.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

o Service must be provided around-the-clock. Employees must be there to guarantee the service is provided. Because the service must be delivered around the clock, commonly not much flexibility will be given to the employees. o Peak of service in specific hours. Although the company must remain opened during all working hours, the workload is concentrated on concrete hours. The employer is able to predict those hours; thus, the employees are given more flexibility. o No planning required. Flexible timings to provide the service. The only thing that matters is that the service is delivered but it can be done within a long period of time. Therefore, employees will be able to take a couple of days off. 7.1.1.2. Service delivery requirements during the week Likewise, the service delivery requirements during the week will be considered, as depending on the service company in hand, this company will have a different distribution of the workload during the week. o Workload is distributed from Monday to Friday primarily. The employer works from Monday to Friday having the weekends off for the employees (e.g. Office). o Workload distributed on the weekend primarily. The company works during the whole week but the workload is concentrated primarily on the weekend. In these types of companies, is suggested to have more than one working time model. o Workload distributed during the whole week, from Monday to Sunday. The workload is constant during the whole week, the company must remain opened all days of the week as costumers can appear at any time any day. (e.g. Hotels).

It could also be considered service delivery requirements over the month and over the year, depending on the type of service company. For instance, an ice cream store will have more clients in the summer than in any other time of the year. Nevertheless, in order to keep it simple and because they are the most critical and the ones that cover the vast majority of the service companies, only service delivery requirements during the day and during the week will be contemplated for the solution.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

7.1.2. Available Capacity The available capacity indicates the way the employees are going to work in the business. Thus, there will be various classifications. The way clients appear is just as critical as the way employees are organized during the day and their roles at the workplace. 7.1.2.1. Type of interaction When describing the available capacity, first thing to consider is the type of interaction in the job of study. Considering only those employees who interact with customers during the majority of their day, the type of interaction can be catalogued into three different sets: o Direct interaction. Employees must stay at the workplace at all times throughout the working hours to serve the clients. o No interaction at all. Employees are not required to be at the workplace to serve the clients. o Partial interaction. Employees must be at the workplace in case of a meeting. It is an in between point of the last two sets. In this group, there are two different ways with which the employee can have contact with the customer, with a meeting or without one. Only those with a meeting will be considered in this set because those without one will already be included in the first set. Employees have direct interaction with clients when it is not known when clients will appear so the employee must be at the workplace at all times. 7.1.2.2. Frequency with which the manager plans the employees working hours Another important issue when describing the available capacity is the frequency with which the employer plans the employees’ schedule and working hours. It is the managers’ decision and is influenced by several aspects of the company of study, such as the size, workload and type of business. It is categorized into four different groupings: o Weekly basis. The manager checks on a weekly basis which flexible working time is best. This planning form of the working hours is commonly used in small companies where there is not a big number of employees and it is quick and easy to make a new plan every week. Still, medium and big companies can also use this form of planning. o Biweekly basis. Same as before, but the plan is done every two weeks.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

o Monthly basis. The manager checks on a monthly basis which flexible working time is best. On the contrary to planning on a weekly basis, this group is mostly recommended to companies with larger groups of employees. o Yearly basis. The plan is checked on a yearly basis. Surely, this category could embrace all kinds of companies. On the one hand, it may not be as beneficial as planning on a weekly basis for the employees and on the other, it can suppose a higher risk for the employer. 7.1.2.3. Employee population during the day Lastly, the distribution of the employee population during the day also needs to be contemplated. A classification into three different groups has been made: o Constant employee population. The number of employees typically does not change throughout a certain period of time (24h period for example), the number of employees remains constant for the whole time. o Irregular employee population. Impossible for the employer to know many employees they will need in very far in advance. o Regular employee population. The number of employees varies but not a great deal, and the employer is able to determine how the fluctuation will be.

7.1.3. Number of employees Another important aspect in this first part of the evaluation criterion is the number of employees in the service company. Depending on the size of the company, having a small or big group of employees will influence the choice of the flexible working time model. It has been classified into 4 different groups: o Micro small group of employees. Those companies or departments with less than 30. o Small group of employees. Those companies having 31-100 employees. o Medium group of employees. Those companies having 101-499 employees. o Large group of employees. Those companies with more than 500 employees.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

7.1.4. Employees preferences considering their social roles in their private lives As it has been described in section 7, the employee’s preferences will also influence when choosing a flexible working time model. Depending on the social role of the employee in their family unit, the employee will be classified into one group or another. Moreover, the fact that employees have similar or completely different preferences regarding working hours also needs to be considered. Accordingly, the classification of the employee’s preferences will be divided into two different points: 7.1.4.1. Employee’s family unit Considering the overall employee population: o Group 1. Single adult living or childless families o Group 2. Nuclear and extended families (two adults with one child or more) o Group 3. Single parent families (only one adult living with a child) 7.1.4.2. Employees’ preferences o Same preferences. Employees prefer to work similar hours. o Different preferences. Employees often indicate alternate schedules. o Position based preferences. Similar preference by position, but different schedules throughout organization

7.1.5. Graphic explanation for the first part In order to better understand the first part of the evaluation concept and see all the information explained before in an easier way, a graphic will be drawn. The input data will be all those characteristics from the first part of the evaluation, the instrument will be the solution provided at the end of the project and the output will be the best working time model.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Using the solution provided at the end of the project and considering the INPUT OUTPUT descriptions of each working time model

for the first part of the criteria. Best working time 1. Service delivery requirements models

1.1.During the day 1.1.During the week 2. Available capacity 2.1.Type of interaction

2.2.Frequency with which the manager plans the employees working hours 2.3.Employee population during the day 3. Number of employees

4. Employees preferences considering their social role in their private lives 4.1.Employees’ family unit 4.2.Employee’s preferences

Figure 4: Graphic explanation for the first part of the evaluation concept. (Self-elaboration)

7.2. Part 2 Unlike the first part which was a brief overview of the company, this second part of the evaluation criterion is more focused on how each working time model will impact the economic and ergonomic aspects. These impacts will affect the employees in terms of workload and the organization in terms of economic. 7.2.1. Ergonomic factors Considering ergonomics when designing the working hours of the employees can improve human well-being and overall productivity. Ergonomics puts first the employee and then the work, considering people’s abilities and limitations. The goal of ergonomics is to ensure that jobs, equipment, information and the environment fit each employee. In order to evaluate the fit between a person and their work and to assess the working hours, one of the most important considerations is the workload factor.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

When planning and evaluating working time arrangements, so as to consider the adequate aspects of workload, the criteria should include the outcomes and consequences of the following three factors; working conditions (job, equipment, environment), working time arrangements (time constraints) and their interactions. Currently, there are computerized programs which design the working schedules and all them usually consider time-related constraints by following general guidelines such as avoiding working extra hours, having fast forward rotations or keeping shorter nightshifts. These time-related criteria are based on empirical studies (Schomann, Stapel, Nickel, Eden & Nachreiner, 2004). Therefore, they will be the ones that will be used to measure the workload of each working time model. A load criteria has been defined for each one of them to measure which is the model with less workload for the employee. 7.2.1.1. Extended working days Extended working days are those that take longer than what is normal, e.g. 8 hours per day. This can also refer to those enterprises with hard work activities during all the hours of work. Avoiding extended days will be one of the general recommendations, thus depending on the working time model it will be classified into; short days, medium days and long days. Short days will be the best ones for the load criteria whereas long days will be the worst. 7.2.1.2. Overtime Overtime is the same term as working extra-hours, those hours of work that the employee will work in addition to the working hours signed in the contract. 7.2.1.3. Night shifts Another significant factor is the amount of consecutive night shifts that the employees work. Consecutive nights shifts are not recommended because it will most probably cause negative effects on the health of the employees, and thus, increase the workload and cause injuries and accidents at the workplace. The grouping that will be used so as to assess how this could affect night shifts in the workload is; not having nights shifts, no consecutive night shifts, or consecutive night shifts. Not having night shifts will not penalize the workload criteria, whereas having consecutive night shifts will do a great deal.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

7.2.1.4. Type of rotations Rotation refers not only to those shift changes between employees but also to the different pauses during the working hours. Rotations will also be an important factor to consider in the load criteria. They will be categorized into, slow rotations, fast rotations and no rotations. For the load criteria of this project, slow rotations will be the worst. Slow rotations imply that the employees have a great load of continuous work and is harder for them to recover. Thus, the best way to maintain a good level of workload is to perform fast forward rotations. 7.2.1.5. Interaction with leisure activities Interaction with leisure activities refers to the study of how the spare time of the employees will be affected by the use of the studied working time model. 7.2.1.6. Intensity of workload Another important issue when measuring the workload is the nature of the task; it can be mental or physical. It will influence the choice of the flexible working time model.

Although there are other important aspects that also help to measure the amount of workload, only the ones mentioned before will be considered. This project is focused on the working time arrangements and the distribution of the working hours during the day, not on the type of job the employee does and its characteristics. 7.2.2. Economic factors From the economic point of view, the important criteria when designing working time hours of the employees are the costs of an arrangement of working hours. Based on the economic literature, labor costs and surcharges have been considered the most relevant aspects in order to choose the correct flexible working time model. Although the rest are important aspects too when measuring the economic factors, they are irrelevant when doing the selection. Therefore, only the following aspects have been considered: 7.2.2.1. Labors costs Labor costs will be differentially according to the professional qualifications of the employees. Higher labor costs imply more qualifications that the employee has. These costs have been

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry classified into three group: low, medium and high labor costs. Low labor costs are associated with less qualified employees. 7.2.2.2. Surcharges Surcharges will be associated with the additional labor costs such as for instance, overtime premium, night work, or work on Saturdays and Sundays. The same classification from labor costs will be used for surcharges: low, medium and high surcharges. 7.2.2.3. Design of the working shifts A bad design of the work shifts can also cause negative economic effects for the company. On the one hand, a bad shift design can imply not having enough employees at the workplace at a given period, or maybe an excess of them. On the other hand, a bad shift design and if the workload is too much, employees may have health problems, generating casualties and having to hire new employees. Additionally, having too much work accumulated could also cause accidents at the workplace. Hence, in order to reduce the economic costs a good working shift design is highly recommended. 7.2.3. Graphic explanation for the second part Just as it has been made with the first part of the evaluation concept, the same will be done with the second part. The graphic is shown below:

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Reading the analysis descriptions of each working time model for the second part of INPUT OUTPUT the evaluation concept (section 8.2).

Best working time 1. Best working time models obtained from model

the first part of the evaluation criteria 2. Ergonomic factors 2.1.Extended working days 2.2.Overtime

2.3.Night shifts 2.4.Type of rotations 2.5.Interaction with leisure activities 2.6.Intensity of workload

3. Economic factors 3.1.Labor costs 3.2.Surcharges 3.3.Design of the working shifts

Figure 5: Graphic explanation for the second part of the evaluation concept. (Self-elaboration)

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8. Analysis of the flexible working time models with the evaluation criteria

After this detailed description of the evaluation criteria, the next step is to combine them with the flexible working time models so as to finally get the best working time arrangement depending on the type of company. In order to do that, each working time model will be analyzed by both parts of the evaluation criteria.

This analysis will be done differently for each part of the evaluation criteria. With the first part, the best way to analyze each working time model will be by carrying out a survey with 100 service companies, asking which model they think would be the best fit depending on the characteristics. After that it will be determined by some statistics if a working time model is recommended or not for each characteristic of this first part of the evaluation criteria. With the second part of the evaluation criteria, the analysis will be performed in a logical way, explaining why one working time model is recommended over another, considering the pros and cons of both the employees and employers studied in section 4. The aim of this second part of the evaluation criteria is to provide the employer with additional information about the working time models so when one is proposed the employer will know which costs will it suppose or what is the same, its economic and ergonomic effects and then choose the best one. 8.1. Analyzing working time models with Part 1 This part is one of most important points of the project as it will be very useful when it comes to finding which working time model is better, based on the inputs of the user (characteristics of the company and the employees). This is the reason why an exhaustive survey with different service industries has been carried out. Before proceeding with the evaluation of the survey, a brief description of how the survey has been made will be explained. The steps followed when developing the survey are those explained below; 1. Decide the information required. Before writing any type of questions, it is very important to set the clear goals of the survey, “what is the information one needs to identify from the respondent in order to meet the survey’s goals?”. If the objectives are uncertain, the outcome will consequently be uncertain.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Thus, some sentences have been written in order to specify the objectives in the survey which will help to keep focus on obtaining the correct results: o Be able to tell if a flexible working time model is recommended or not for each characteristic defined in the first part of the evaluation criteria. o Collect some data to determine out of the service industries which working time model is most suitable according to a set of characteristics. 2. Define the target respondents There are two main things that will define the target respondents. The first thing will be identifying the kind of people that the project is willing to interview. In this case, the target respondents are all those employers from any kind of service industry. The second main factor in this part is to define how many people are required to do the survey so as to be able to draw conclusions. The estimated target population is to have a minimum of 100 respondents, but it will vary depending on the available time. 3. Choose the method of reaching the target respondents It is almost impossible to exclude all bias. Nevertheless, assuming that there will always be some, the methodology of reaching the target respondents will be selected out of the following types: o Personal interviews: it is a method used to get comprehensive and complete information. The problem with this type of survey is that it is time consuming, and must be fixed to carry it out. o Telephone interviews: it is the quickest way of gathering information. However, the problem with this method is that a lot of time is required to analyze the responses and also the cost of it is higher. Moreover, another inconvenient encountered is that interviewer must use some private information which in the case of the survey of this project, all this information is not available. o Email surveys and Internet: they are ideal for large samples and when the target respondents are from an extensive geographic zone. They are also the most cost effective and quickest method of gathering information. The only inconvenient is that respondents must have an internet connection so as to do the survey. Given the advantages and disadvantages of these types of survey, it has been decided to use the email and internet survey approach.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

The main reason of selecting this method is because a human resource contact was provided. With her help, there has been access to a list of more than 100 contacts of a variety of employers from different kinds of service industries. The implementation of the survey has been created in the online version using SurveyMonkey, with which a link is sent to the list of contacts provided and a unique survey will be created every time the link is clicked. By choosing this type of survey, the data will be obtained in a time and cost-effective way, it offers a free and unlimited number of responses and preserves the anonymity of the respondent. 4. Decide the question content, develop the question wording and put the questions into a meaningful order and format When designing the survey, one of the most important points that has been used is the technique Keep It Short and Simple (KISS). For this case, the survey designed has no more than 10 questions and all of them being multiple choice questions. A survey with 30 questions will not get as many responses as a survey with 10 questions. Moreover, an introductory message has been provided on the first page of the survey, so as to introduce the project and the reasons for doing the survey. It will invite people to do the survey. Also, it is recommended by most experts to put an ‘Other’ as a possible response for all questions, except those where the evaluator is certain that all respondents will have a clear answer. This way, the answers obtained will be much more honest and will avoid having incomplete surveys. The definition of the questions of the survey was done with the brainstorm method. A lot of questions were thought, and then after examining their importance only 10 were selected. In order to select those 10 questions and decide if a question was providing relevant information to the survey, they had to pass the question test, which is the following: • How will these answers be used in reference to the main goal of the study? Regarding the question wording, order and format, the survey has been made in a way where early questions are easy to answer and the most difficult or non-straight away questions have been left until the end. The answer choice order has also been considered. It has been done in a way that it is easily understood from the beginning of the answer. The survey has been divided into two pages; the first one is the introductory page, with the welcome message and the first easy question, and on the second page the rest of the questions. It

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry has been thought this way so it is more visual and encourages respondents to complete the survey until the end. 5. Pre-test the survey The survey was first tested with a group of 20 people before conducting it to the rest of the contacts, in order to make sure that all questions were understood correctly and be opened to new suggestions. After the testing, a few modifications were made. In question 7 for instance, a broader classification of the number of employees working in the company was drawn. The companies interviewed resulted to be bigger than expected, the smallest one having a minimum of 20 employees. 6. Develop the final survey form The final survey form is shown in Appendix 1. As it has been mentioned, the survey has been divided into two separate pages. Regarding the second page, questions from 2 to 9 refer to all the characteristics defined in the first part of the evaluation concept. Question 10 is simply asking about the working time model used by the company. This question is necessary to group the characteristics by working time model and then observe the patron each one follows. 7. Collect and analyze the data This is the part where data is collected and classified according to each flexible working time model. As it has been mentioned, the final goal of the survey is to analyze the working time models according to the set of characteristics defined in section 7. Thus, the results for each flexible working time model are shown below; a summary table will be first illustrated and then the results of each characteristic will be briefly explained.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.1. Flextime Service delivery Service must be No planning Peak of service requirements delivered required in specific over the day around-the- hours clock Service delivery Monday to Weekends Whole week requirements Friday, over the week primarily Type of Direct No interaction Partial interaction interaction at all interaction Frequency with Weekly basis Biweekly basis Monthly basis Yearly which the basis manager plans the employees working hours Employee Constant Irregular Regular population employee employee employee during the day population population population Number of Less than 30 31-100 101-499 More than employees 500 Employee’s Single adult Nuclear and Single parent family unit living or extended families childless families families Employees’ Same Different Position based preferences Table 25: Results for flextime according to the evaluation concept part 1 (Self-elaboration).

8.1.1.1. Service delivery requirements during the day

Service delivery over the day

Peak of service No need of planning Around the clock

Graphic 3: service delivery requirements over the day

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

It makes sense that flextime is recommended for those companies with no planning required since it is the employee who picks which of the flex hours he will be missing. On the other hand, and for this same reason, flextime is not appropriate for those companies where service must be provided around-the-clock, as it is possible that customers arrive in the flex hours that employees have decided to miss. Flextime is also suitable for companies who plan their own service hours. The employer is the one deciding the core hours and can match them with the service hours, so as to never miss serving the clients. The problem appears when the serving hours are at night, in that case flextime should be combined with another working time model, such as shift work. 8.1.1.2. Service delivery requirements during the week

Service delivery over the week

Whole week Weekend Monday to Friday

Graphic 4: service delivery over the week As the graphic shows, flextime is only used by those companies with a workload distribution from Monday to Friday primarily. It is a model typically made for companies working the regular 5 days of the week with 40 hours per week. 8.1.1.3. Type of interaction

Interaction

Partial interaction No interaction at all Direct interaction

Graphic 5: type of interaction with customers

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

The graph illustrates that flextime is mostly used by companies who have no interaction with customers. This can be explained by the fact that the employer is the one planning the core and the flexible hours, and the employee chooses which of those flexible hours he wants to work. Thus, if the employee has no regular contact with the clients, the flexible hours which the employee will be missing will not generate any conflicts. However, were the employee to have regular contact with customers, flextime could be a problem because of two reasons; there could be times where service would not be delivered to the customers and secondly, it would be a hard task for the employer to decide the flexible hours. 8.1.1.4. Frequency with which the manager plans the employees working hours

Planning working hours

Yearly basis Monthly basis Weekly basis Biweekly basis Other (daily…)

Graphic 6: frequency of the manager planning the employees’ working hours There is no established frequency in flextime with which the manager plans the employees working hours, the only thing that matters is the core and flexible hours. The employee will select which hours to work subject to the required work needed to be done and to the employers’ expectations. For this reason, it could be said that flextime suits all those companies that plan the employees working hours on a monthly, biweekly or weekly basis which is what the graphic illustrates. On a yearly basis is the only planning frequency which is not recommended.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.1.5. Employee population during the day

Employee population

Constant Irregular Regular

Graphic 7: employee population during the day

From the graphic it can be deduced that flextime is mostly used by those companies who present an irregular employee population, or in other words, an employee population impossible for the employer to predict it. This is due to the fact that although the employer plans the working hours and during the core hours employees will definitely be at the workplace, there are also the flexible hours where the employer will not know how will the employees be organized. For this same reason, and although the graphic does not show it clearly, regular employee population is not common in companies with flextime. A constant employee population is sometimes used by flextime, probably in those cases where the employer asks to have a constant employee population during a certain period of time, i.e. from 8am to 4 pm. Nevertheless, it will not be considered as the better option with flextime. 8.1.1.6. Number of employees

Number of employees

More than 500 101-499 31-100 Less than 30

Graphic 8: number of employees

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

From the graphic it cannot be concluded that the number of employees does influence in flextime. The only planning required with this working time model are the core and flexible hours of the employees, and the only thing to consider is that the more employees the company has, the more rotations that will be necessary. Thus, it is reasonable to say that flextime is appropriate for all types of companies; small, medium and large. 8.1.1.7. Employee’s family unit

Employees' family unit

Single parent Nuclear families Single adult living alone or childless families

Graphic 9: employees’ family unit

It can clearly be identified that flexible work schedule is not suited for families where there is only one single parent living with a child. It is a complicated condition for the parent as core hours oblige the employee to be at work and not only are they not allowed to be off on those hours but they cannot take a day off when they need one. Thus, it makes sense that flextime is appropriate for the following groups: single adults living alone and childless families, as they have little family responsibilities, and for nuclear/extended families as they have enough flexibility between the adults living at home to take care of private and family responsibilities. 8.1.1.8. Employees’ preferences

Employees' preferences

Position based Different Same

Graphic 10: employees’ preferences

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

The graphic demonstrates that flextime is hardly used by those corporations with employees sharing the same preferences. This is because employees having similar preferences would imply that they would all be missing the same flex hours. On the contrary, if employees have different preferences, the employer will plan their core hours to make sure that they are at the workplace, and regarding the flexible hours, employees will be missing different hours, which is what the company and the employer need.

8.1.2. Flexible work schedule Service delivery Service must be No planning Peak of service requirements delivered required in specific over the day around-the- hours clock Service delivery Monday to Weekends Whole week requirements Friday, over the week primarily Type of Direct No interaction Partial interaction interaction at all interaction Frequency with Weekly basis Biweekly basis Monthly basis Yearly which the basis manager plans the employees working hours Employee Constant Irregular Regular population employee employee employee during the day population population population Number of Less than 30 31-100 101-499 More than employees 500 Employee’s Single adult Nuclear and Single parent family unit living or extended families childless families families Employees’ Same Different Position based preferences Table 26: Results for flexible work schedule according to the evaluation concept part 1. (Self- elaboration).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.2.1. Service delivery requirements during the day

Service delivery over the day

Peak of service No need of planning Around the clock

Graphic 11: service delivery requirements over the day In a flexible work schedule, it is the employer who schedules the working hours and decides when the flexible hours take place, hence, flexible work schedule will be suggested for those companies with established service hours. The employer can choose to distribute the working hours in the most efficient way for the business. Flexible work schedule is not suitable for those companies whose service needs to be delivered around-the-clock due to the fact that although it is the employer who plans the employees’ working hours, the employees may change these working hours during the day, and it could generate some issues with how the service is delivered. Lastly, a flexible work schedule will also be suggested to those companies where no planning is required to deliver the service. A significant factor for both the company and the employees is the flexibility offered. And for this type of company, the employer can use a very flexible working time model. 8.1.2.2. Service delivery requirements during the week

Service delivery over the week

Whole week Weekend Monday to Friday

Graphic 12: service delivery over the week

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Flexible work schedule is used by all the different types of workload distributions over the week, although the graphic does not show it clearly. The employer, who is the one designing the working hours, can plan them during the different days of the week. 8.1.2.3. Type of interaction

Interaction

Partial interaction No interaction at all Direct interaction

Graphic 13: type of interaction with customers Flexible work schedule is mostly used by those companies where there is no interaction with customers. The employee is allowed to modify the working hours during the day and this could possibly cause conflicts towards the company. However, since employers decide the core hours in which employees must be at the workplace, meaning that employers can make employees to be there when regular service hours are required, it could also be used by those companies with partial interaction with customers. Employees will have the flexibility to change the working hours when necessary. 8.1.2.4. Frequency with which the manager plans the employees working hours

Planning working hours

Yearly basis Monthly basis Weekly basis Biweekly

Graphic 14: frequency of the manager planning the employees’ working hours

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Same case as in flextime, a flexible work schedule works for all types of planning frequency except for a yearly basis. 8.1.2.5. Employee population during the day

Employee population

Constant Irregular Regular

Graphic 15: employee population during the day

As it can be seen on the graphic, and as it is the case with flextime, a flexible work schedule fits with those employers seeking for irregular employee population. This is due to the fact that although the employer decides the employees’ working hours throughout the day, the employee ends up selecting which hours of the flexible hours he wants to work. Thus, the manager is unable to predict how the working time will be displayed. On the contrary, and due to this same reason, neither constant nor regular employee population is normally used by flexible work schedules. The fact that there is a small percentage of companies that does have a constant employee population might be because there can be times where the employer requires to have a constant employee population during a given period of time i.e. from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 8.1.2.6. Number of employees

Number of employees

More than 500 101-499 31-100 Less than 30

Graphic 16: number of employees

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

As the graphic shows, flexible work schedules are mostly used by micro, small and medium companies. Unlike flextime, in this case the employer needs more planning since the employer also schedules the employees’ working hours. With large corporations, planning becomes a harder task and it could end up generating a conflict. 8.1.2.7. Employee’s family unit

Employees' family unit

Single parent Nuclear and extended families Single adult living alone or childless families

Graphic 17: employees’ family unit

It is the same case as flextime. 8.1.2.8. Employees’ preferences

Employees' preferences

Position based Different Same

Graphic 18: employees’ preferences

Unlike flextime, a flexible work schedule is also used by those companies not only with different preferences but also with position-based preferences. There will be a great range of different schedules and it will an easier task for the employer to fit them all. 8.1.3. Compressed workweek Not enough data has been collected to draw conclusions about this working time model. Therefore, the analysis has been made using the logic for each characteristic.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Service delivery Service must be No planning Peak of service requirements delivered required in specific over the day around-the- hours clock Service delivery Monday to Weekends Whole week requirements Friday, over the week primarily Type of Direct No interaction Partial interaction interaction at all interaction Frequency with Weekly basis Biweekly basis Monthly basis Yearly which the basis manager plans the employees working hours Employee Constant Irregular Regular population employee employee employee during the day population population population Number of Less than 30 31-100 101-499 More than employees 500 Employee’s Single adult Nuclear and Single parent family unit living or extended families childless families families Employees’ Same Different Position based preferences Table 27: Results for compressed workweek according to the evaluation concept part 1 (Self- elaboration).

8.1.3.1. Service delivery requirements during the day A compressed workweek would suit those companies where no planning is required. In this case, the employer provides the employee with the option of compressing the working hours and then the employee makes his decision. Hence, with no planning needed the employer does not have to be concerned about the employee not being at the workplace to provide the service. Conversely, and using the same reasoning, compressed workweek will not be recommended for those companies with a service delivery requirement around-the clock or with peak services in

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry concrete hours. The service must be delivered and with a compressed workweek the employer does not know if his/her employee will decide to compress the week. 8.1.3.2. Service delivery requirements during the week It makes sense that compressed workweek will typically fit in companies working primarily, from Monday to Friday, as this working time model consists of compressing the week in order to have longer weekends or have fewer hours of hour in some days. However, there could be the case where companies work during the whole week, since, that can also be possible for this working time model. The conflict with that could be that, in periods of great amount of work, the employee could suddenly take the day off because he has worked hard during the week and he has all the right in having a day off. 8.1.3.3. Type of interaction With regards to the type of interaction with customers, a compressed workweek could be appropriate in those companies where there is no interaction at all with the clients. This is because the employer in this case does not have to check on the service being delivered. Thus, the employee working more hours one day to have a day off will not cause any conflicts. On the contrary, companies where employees show direct or partial interaction with clients, a compressed workweek is not appropriate. There could be the case where the employee missed providing the required service because they were taking the day off and the employer could not take notice of that, as he does not plan the working days of the employees. 8.1.3.4. Frequency with which the manager plans the employees working hours A compressed workweek is generally planned in a biweekly basis. 8.1.3.5. Employee population during the day This working time model fits in those enterprises with a constant employee population. A compressed workweek consists of compressing the working hours to have a day off or a day with fewer hours. Thus, as long as the constant employee population refers to an employee population from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the normal working hours from the service industry, this working time model fits perfectly well. On the contrary, this working time model is not appropriate with regular nor irregular employee population since there is no option to have those distributions with it.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.3.6. Number of employees The number of employees does not really affect the way in which a compressed workweek must be selected as it does not influence neither the employer nor the company. Thus, this working time model is appropriate for small, medium and large companies. 8.1.3.7. Employee’s family unit A compressed workweek suits those companies where the overall employee population are single adults living alone or childless families. Not only those employees will have little family responsibilities but also because with this working time model, they have the chance of compressing the hours to have days off. Certainly, it does not fit those employees involved in group 2 (nuclear and extended families) and group 3 (single parents) since there is not enough flexibility to take days off when there are family requirements and obligations. 8.1.3.8. Employees’ preferences Regarding the employees’ preferences with working hours, a compressed workweek will fit indifferently into all three groups as this working time model does not affect the way employees are distributed.

8.1.4. Annualized hours It is important to highlight that not enough data has been collected for this working time model. Thus, the analysis has been made with both, the information provided by the survey and the logic of each characteristic.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Service delivery Service must be No planning Peak of service requirements delivered required in specific over the day around-the- hours clock Service delivery Monday to Weekends Whole week requirements Friday, over the week primarily Type of Direct No interaction Partial interaction interaction at all interaction Frequency with Weekly basis Biweekly basis Monthly basis Yearly which the basis manager plans the employees working hours Employee Constant Irregular Regular population employee employee employee during the day population population population Number of Less than 30 31-100 101-499 More than employees 500 Employee’s Single adult Nuclear and Single parent family unit living or extended families childless families families Employees’ Same Different Position based preferences Table 28: Results for annualized hours according to the evaluation concept part 1 (Self-elaboration).

8.1.4.1. Service delivery requirements during the day

Service delivery over the day

Peak of service No need of planning Around the clock

Graphic 19: service delivery requirements over the day

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

As the graphic shows, annualized hours are used by companies with no planning required and with peak of service in specific hours. With this working time model the employee decides when to work. However, the employer can ask the employee to work more hours some days given the fact that the number of hours is counted annually. Therefore, when no planning is required to provide the service there is no problem, but when there are peak of services in specific hours and the employer has to ask the employee to work more hours there is still no problem as these extra hours will be deducted from the annual working hours. 8.1.4.2. Service delivery requirements during the week

Service delivery over the week

Whole week Weekend Monday to Friday

Graphic 20: service delivery over the week It can clearly be seen that annualized hours are appropriate for those companies where the workload is distributed from Monday to Friday. Moreover, although the graphic does not show it, companies with the workload distributed during the whole week could also suit with annualized hours. The fact that it is not common to use annualized hours in companies where workload is primarily distributed on the weekend is because the company would be wasting lots of money. The employee would be contracted for one year, with a theoretical average of 40 working hours per week when in reality, the employee would only be working on the weekends. There would be many hours unused and wasted from part of the company.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.4.3. Type of interaction

Interaction

Partial interaction No interaction at all Direct interaction

Graphic 21: type of interaction with customers It makes sense that annualized hours are mostly used by those corporations where there is no interaction at all with clients. This can be explained by the fact that the employee is the one to plan his/her own working hours. Were the employee to have direct interaction with the customer, the employer would have to constantly be aware and supervise the employees. This way, having no interaction with clients, the employer does not have to worry about the service being delivered properly. 8.1.4.4. Frequency with which the manager plans the employees working hours

Planning working hours

Yearly basis Monthly basis Weekly basis Biweekly basis

Graphic 22: frequency of the manager planning the employees’ working hours As expected, annualized hours are planned annually. However, they can also be planned monthly.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.4.5. Employee population during the day

Employee population

Constant Irregular Regular

Graphic 23: employee population during the day

As the graphic shows, annualized hours are mostly used by those companies with an irregular employee population during the day. This is because of the fact that it is a hard task to predict the working hours that employees will be doing. 8.1.4.6. Number of employees

Number of employees

More than 500 101-499 31-100 Less than 30

Graphic 24: number of employees

Although the graphic shows that annualized hours are mostly used by medium companies, the important thing about this working time model is not the size but the fact that employees are given enough flexibility. Therefore, it can be said that the number of employees is indifferent, the size of the company has no importance for this working time model.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.4.7. Employee’s family unit

Employees' family unit

Single parent Nuclear families Single adult living alone or childless families

Graphic 25: employees’ family unit

Annualized hours are the only working time model in this project that is appropriate for all three groups of the family unit classification. This working time model offers more flexibility to the employee, especially those from group 3 which are the most critical ones (single parents). They will be able to plan their working hours in a more flexible and better manner. 8.1.4.8. Employees’ preferences

Employees' preferences

Position based Different Same

Graphic 26: employees’ preferences

As it is the case with flextime and flexible work schedule, annualized hours do not work on those companies where employees have same preferences due to the fact that employees would be missing the same hours. Therefore, the small percentage that the graphic above shows will not be considered as a relevant reference.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.5. Shift work Service delivery Service must be No planning Peak of service requirements delivered required in specific over the day around-the- hours clock Service delivery Monday to Weekends Whole week requirements Friday, over the week primarily Type of Direct No interaction Partial interaction interaction at all interaction Frequency with Weekly basis Biweekly basis Monthly basis Yearly which the basis manager plans the employees working hours Employee Constant Irregular Regular population employee employee employee during the day population population population Number of Less than 30 31-100 101-499 More than employees 500 Employee’s Single adult Nuclear and Single parent family unit living or extended families childless families families Employees’ Same Different Position based preferences Table 29: Results for shift work according to the evaluation concept part 1 (Self-elaboration).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.5.1. Service delivery requirements during the day

Service delivery over the day

Peak of service No need of planning Around the clock

Graphic 27: service delivery over the day It can clearly be seen that shift work is only used by companies who need to provide the service around the clock or companies with peak of service in specific hours. This is due to the fact that with shift work, the flexibility of the employees is considerably reduced, all the decisions are taken by the employer. On the one hand, the times when service must be provided around the clock, shift work will guarantee that the service is provided at all times while the company remains opened. On the other hand, in those specific hours when there are peak of service, the employer will simply add some shifts to ensure the whole service is delivered correctly to the clients. Lastly, shift work will not fit when there is no planning required to deliver the service as the employee is not given any flexibility. 8.1.5.2. Service delivery requirements during the week

Service delivery over the week

Whole week Weekend Monday to Friday

Graphic 28: service delivery over the week Shift work is a good option for all types of service delivery requirements during the week, as shift work has shifts during the weekends and during the normal working days of the week. The

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry employer is the one in charge of planning all these shifts, so he will plan them the best way so as to meet the companies’ goals. 8.1.5.3. Type of interaction

Interaction

Direct interaction No interaction at all Partial interaction

Graphic 29: type of interaction with customers With the same reasoning used in the service delivery requirements over the day, it can be explained what the graphic above is showing; shift work is generally used when there is direct or partial interaction with customers. The employer, knowing how customers will arrive, will plan the employees shifts. Shift work is not appropriate when there is no interaction with clients as, once again, the employee is not given any flexibility. 8.1.5.4. Frequency with which the manager plans the employees working hours

Planning working hours

Yearly basis Monthly basis Weekly basis Biweekly Other (daily…)

Graphic 30: frequency of the manager planning the employees’ working hours

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Shift work has many different shifts and the employer will be able to plan them weekly, biweekly, monthly and even termly. Yearly is not as usual as the other frequencies as it may me a long period of time in which many things could change. 8.1.5.5. Employee population during the day

Employee population

Constant Irregular Regular

Graphic 31: employee population during the day

It makes sense that shift work is used by those planned distributions, or what is the same, distributions where the employer knows in advance how the employee population will be. These refer to constant and regular distributions. On the contrary, irregular employee population does not fit with shift work for the same reason just mentioned, shift work is a planned working time model. 8.1.5.6. Number of employees

Number of employees

More than 500 101-499 31-100 Less than 30

Graphic 32: number of employees

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

With shift work, the number of employees as it is the case with compressed work, does not really matter. The fact that there is a small percentage of companies with less than 30 employees is only because the majority of the employers interviewed own medium and big businesses. On the other hand, the small percentage of large companies is most probably because it can be a hard task for the employer to choose the shifts when there are so many employees. 8.1.5.7. Employee’s family unit

Employees' family unit

Single parent Nuclear families Single adult living alone or childless families

Graphic 33: employees’ family unit

From the graphic it can be concluded that shift work does not fit with companies where the employees are single parents. It makes sense as this type of families need much more flexibility than the one provided with shift work, and with this working time model it will be hard for employees to attend all the family responsibilities. On the hand, the same but in a smaller scale, happens with nuclear and extended families. Although the graphic shows a high percentage of this type of families using shift work, by logic it can be said that this working time model is not recommended for them as they also need to have flexibility so as to meet work and family requirements, and almost none is offered to them. As for the group of single adults living alone or childless families, shift work is a working time model that suits quite well. The only inconvenience with this group is that in case of a couple living together, there is the possibility of them two not having the same shift, and hence, they would not see each other during the working days.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.1.5.8. Employees’ preferences

Employees' preferences

Position based Different Same

Graphic 34: employees’ preferences

From the graphic above, it is deduced that shift work is used by those companies where its employees have either different or position-based preferences. This is due to the fact that, as it is the employer who plans all the employee’s shifts, different preferences will make the designing shift task easier. Whereas if employees have same preferences, they will ask for the same shifts and that will complicate the employer’s task when planning the shifts.

8.2. Analysis of working time models with Part 2 As it has been mentioned at the beginning of this section, the analysis of each working time model with the second part of the evaluation criteria will be done in a logical way. A study of the economic and ergonomic effects of implementing each working time model will be made in order to help the employer select the most appropriate one. 8.2.1. Flextime 8.2.1.1. Ergonomic characteristics 1.1. Extension working days In flextime work, the working available hours are from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. approx., so from 10 to 12 hours each day. However, the working hours are just 8. Therefore, and although employees have some hours of rest during the day, the working time model does not avoid the extension of days. Typically, employees compress these working hours so they do not have 12 hours workdays. 1.2. Overtime

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

In this case, overtime is not possible. The employee will work 8 hours a day and it is up to the employee whether to work these 8 hours continuously or having breaks in between. 1.3. Night shifts Night shifts are not possible with flextime; therefore, they will not affect the ergonomic aspects. 1.4. Type of rotations In flextime work, the rotations are an important aspect. Flextime offers really fast rotations; the employees have different working hours every day and they are able to change them as they wish depending on their preferences. This flexibility in the working hours not only does provide a good impression on the employees but it is also beneficial for them regarding resting periods during the day. 1.5. Interaction with leisure activities With flextime, due to the fact that the working hours are during the whole day, inevitably some of these working hours will clash with leisure hours. Although this could be an issue for the employees, the best part of flextime is that employees are the ones to choose the flex hours they want to miss, which provides the employees with more flexibility. 1.6. Intensity of workload Whether the nature of the task is physical or mental, which will depend on the type of company, it will have the same effect. The employees have enough rest periods with flextime all along the workday and this will be beneficial for both the company and the employees. It will help to increase productivity and on the other hand, it will not affect the employees’ mental or physical abilities. 8.2.1.2. Economic factors 2.1. Labor costs The possible increase in labor costs for flextime is that there could be more employees hired than the ones really needed to provide the service. Due to the fact that in flextime the employer is the one to plan the employees’ core hours, this planning could have some errors and therefore, have more contracted employees at the workplaces than the ones really required. 2.2. Surcharges It is important to consider the possible surcharges with flextime. The employee will work for 8 hours but these will not necessarily be consecutive hours. There will be some hours during the day when the employee will not be at the workplace but still, the work duration in the eyes of the company will be of 10 to 12 hours. Thus, these 4 hours will suppose an increase in administrative

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry costs such as lightning and heating. Flextime implies an increase in surcharges as the company will be working for 10 and 12 hours and not always used by the employees. 2.3. Design of the working shifts It is an important and hard factor for the employer. In flextime, planning the working shifts consists of differentiating the flexible hours from the core hours. The employer plans which are the essential hours where employees will be required to be at the workplace, and the flex hours which are the non-essential ones where the employee can avoid working. Additionally, it is the employers’ responsibility to plan those hours where employees will be missing and try to replace them by doing something different. 8.2.2. Flexible work schedule 8.2.2.1. Ergonomic characteristics 1.1.Extension working days A flexible work schedule could present the problem where there are some days the employee does not avoid extended working days. With this working time arrangement, the employer chooses the number of hours the employee must work each day within a maximum of 10 hours per day. The good thing about it is that these 10 hours are not continued, the employee has flexibility when choosing the working hours and so he can avoid being at the workplace at some flex hours. This will help the employee in terms of fatigue. 1.2. Overtime In this case, there is no overtime. However, there will be days where employees will have to work for 10 hours and these 2 extra hours will affect the employee’s fatigue as overtime hours, although not being counted as overtime. Thus, taking that into account, the employer must be careful not to give too many 10 hours shifts during the week. 1.3.Night shifts In flexible work schedule it is the employers’ decision to plan the working hours of the employees. It must be done in a way in which employees do not have night shifts. 1.4.Type of rotations Same as before, it will be the employers’ decision to decide the working hours of each employee. Usually, with flexible schedule there is no rotation. 1.5.Interaction with leisure activities

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

With flexible work schedules, the interaction with leisure activities is an important aspect to have in mind. Some leisure hours will clash with the working hours during the day. Therefore, as it is the employers’ decision to plan the working hours, they should consider that and try having enough leisure hours for the non-working activities. 1.6.Intensity of workload It is the same case as flextime. No matter what the nature of the task is that the effect will be the same one. The employees have resting periods all along the workday and thus, their mental or physical capacities will not be affected. 8.2.2.2. Economic factors 2.1. Labor costs In this case, labors costs are not an important point. It will depend on the kind of company and the position of the employee in the company. The only labor cost that could be added is the training that the employer will need in order to plan and distribute the working hours of the employees during the week. Probably a new employee will have to be contracted in order to do this. 2.2.Surcharges As in flextime, surcharges are an important point and will make a difference. The employee will have some hours where he will not be at the workplace but still, these hours will be counted as working hours in the eyes of the company. The work duration of the company will be from 10 to 12 hours a day, and these 4 hours will suppose an increase in administration costs such as lighting and heating. Therefore, a flexible work schedule will imply an increase in surcharges as the company will be working for 10 to 12 hours and not always used by the employees. 2.3.Design of the working shifts As it is the case in flextime, the employer is the one planning the flexible and core hours. However, in this case the employer must also plan the distribution of the employees’ working hours during the week. Therefore, for a flexible work schedule the design of the working shifts will be a more difficult task compared to flextime. A bad design can increase the economy cost of the company. 8.2.3. Compressed workweek 8.2.3.1. Ergonomic characteristics 1.1. Extension working days

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

With compressed workweek, the extended days will be a problem as some of the days of the week the employee will work for 9 or 10 hours. A 10-hour workday implies a really extended working day which will make the last hours of the day to be more unproductive compared to the working hours at the beginning of the day. 1.2. Overtime As mentioned before, the employee will work from 8 to 10 hours during the working days and these 2 extra hours will act as overtime and will affect them as overtime hours. It is really important that the employer helps the employees so they do not work more hours than the ones employees are capable of. 1.3. Night shifts Compressed workweek is mostly used in daily hours. Working 10 hours in a night shift is tiring and would have a negative impact on the health of the employees. This flexible working time model is certainly not recommended for a company with night shifts. 1.4. Type of rotations With this working arrangement there are usually no rotations and it will be a problem for the employees. The working hours are worked continuously, from 8 to 10 hours depending on the employee’s preference and no rotations are provided. 1.5. Interaction with leisure activities In this case, the interaction with leisure will be a problem during the working days, as after being at work for 10 hours employees feel exhausted to do anything else. However, working hard during the working days will allow the employee to have longer weekends, thus, more spare time for non- working activities. 1.6. Intensity of workload On this occasion, the intensity of workload is an essential aspect to consider as the employee will have long working days. The employer must know that this working time model implies a decrease in productivity in the last working hours of the day. Working continuously without breaks produces bad effects for the employees. If it is a hard task, the employee will be unproductive at the end of the day and it will suppose a loss of time and money for the company. 8.2.3.2. Economic factors 2.1. Labor costs

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

An important aspect to consider with labor costs is that high levels of concentration are required for this working time arrangement. High levels of qualification will not affect this working time model; however, employees must remain focused, productive and without distractions for long periods of work. Long weekends will help the employer to recover and charge energy for the hardworking week. 2.2. Surcharges In this case, the surcharges will be mostly associated with the employees’ productivity. As it has been explained, some of the 10-hour workday can cause fatigue and exhaustion which would result in a decrease in productivity for the last hours of work. 2.3. Design of the working shifts With a compressed workweek, the design of working shifts will not affect the company’s expenses as much as other working time models. In this case it is not hard to design the working shifts, because the employer offers the employee the possibility of working more hours in specific days to have some other days off. 8.2.4. Annualized hours 8.2.4.1. Ergonomic characteristics 1.1.Extension working days Extended days can sometimes be a problem in annualized hours. Generally, it is under the employee’s choice to work more hours one day so they can have more days off or have less hours of work some other day. However, the conflict appears when, in peak demand periods, the employer calls the employee to work extra hours without planning it. That can be a problem from the employee’s perspective. 1.2.Overtime As in the other working time models, when talking about overtime, it is not exactly overtime. It will be the employer who will have the option of talking with the employee and ask him to do extra hours. The employer should be careful with this as it can cause some problems to the company 1.3.Night shifts Annualized hours are considered a good option in terms of night shifts. It is up to both the employers and employees to choose when to work; the employees are given the option to select when to work and the employer will ask the employee to work extra hours. Were these extra hours

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry night shifts, the employer would have the option not to ask the same employee to do consecutive night shifts. 1.4.Type of rotations As said in the characteristics before, the type of rotations will also depend on the choice of both the employers and employees. The employees will have a lot of flexibility when choosing when to work, thus, forward rotations will be possible. 1.5.Interaction with leisure activities The interaction between leisure activities and working hours will depend on the selection of the working hours of the employee. 1.6.Intensity of workload The employee has total flexibility to choose when to work. The choice will consider and vary depending on the intensity of workload and on the nature of the task. 8.2.4.2. Economic factors 2.1. Labor costs Regarding labor costs, what could be a problem is the control over the employees; the employer has to know how many hours has the employee worked. As the planning is not very good, more employees than the really necessary ones will be contracted which will add labor costs. In terms of qualification, the employees will be paid depending on the company and the level of importance in it. 2.2.Surcharges With annualized hours, overtime will not be counted as overtime and there will not be any surcharges added. What could be added as surcharges are when the employer does not plan well the working hours and does not know how many employees he will have available. 2.3.Design of the working shifts When talking about the design of the working shifts and annualized hours, it is one of the most important aspects of this working time model. Because the working hours of the employees are planned according to the number of hours worked during a year, it is crucial to take advantage of this situation and plan the working hours according to the needs of the company.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8.2.5. Shift work 8.2.5.1. Ergonomic characteristics 1.1.Extension working days With shift work employees will have a specific work shift and they will not be able to extend the shift. The employee does not have the opportunity to extend the working day so as to reduce another, his flexibility is notoriously reduced. 1.2. Overtime Overtime is generally not used in companies with shift work, employees work for 8 hours on fixed shifts. 1.3.Night shifts It will depend on the shift of each employee. The employer is who does the planning and should know who is doing the night shift and for how long. 1.4.Type of rotations Rotations can be a problem with shift work. The employees will have fixed shifts and rotations will not be possible unless the employer decides to rotate. Nevertheless, these rotations will be slow and will not be so good. Once again, the employees’ flexibility is really reduced and that is a problem in ergonomic terms. 1.5.Interaction with leisure activities On the one hand, the interaction between leisure activities and working hours will not be really helpful for the employees. They will have fixed shifts or shifts with slow rotations and will not be able to change the working hours. On the other hand, however, employees are able to plan in advance their leisure activities avoiding this way, the clash of working hours and spare time. 1.6.Intensity of workload In terms of workload, shift work can also be an issue. The employee will be working 8 consecutive hours and if the nature of the task is really intense, 8 hours of doing a continuous and intensive work can be fatiguing for the employee. Therefore, it will depend on the intensity of workload but it can be a problem. 8.2.5.2. Economic factors 2.1. Labor costs and 2.2. Surcharges Unlike the ergonomic characteristics, the economic aspects are quite good. The employer has a good control over how many employees are working and when they are leaving the workplace.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Thus, labors costs will not increase and the surcharges will be the ones necessary. This working time model is beneficial for those companies working 8 hours or 24 hours with shifts of 8 hours each. 2.2.Design of the working shifts In this case the design of the working shifts will not influence the economic aspects of the company, as the employer will use the necessary shifts and will put the required employees in each shift.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

9. Solution development

Once each working time model has been analyzed by both parts of the evaluation concept, next and last step will be proceeding with the solution development. This section will consist in developing a route that the employer will have to follow so as to select the best working time model that better fits his/her company. The route is the following one:

1. Read section 7.1 and 8.1. After reading those two sections (description of the first part of the evaluation concept and analysis of this first part for each working time model), employers should be able to describe their company according to the set of characteristics defined. 2. Fill the table provided in Appendix 2. 3. Select the working time model that better fits with the company. By comparing the table filled with the ones provided in section 8.1, one for each working time model, the employer should be able to select the working time model that better suits the company. 4. Read section 8.2. At this point the employer will have a selection of different working time models that could all fit the company. By reading section 8.2 (analysis of the second part of the evaluation concept for each working time model), the employer will gain a deeper inside into the economic and ergonomic effects that implementing each working time model has, and then, be able to choose the best one. 5. Finally select the working time model considering both parts of the evaluation concept. Table 30: Route that the employer must follow in order to select the best working time model. (Self- elaboration).

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

10. Conclusions and future prospects

This project has aimed to develop an approach for the best arrangement of the working hours for the service companies, and once it has been finished it can be said that the main goal has been successfully accomplished.

The approach that has been developed for the working time models in each part of the evaluation concept has been done in a logical way. On the one hand, all types of activities that a service company has have been considered, and on the other, all the different flexible working time models and the influence that each one of them has on both the employers and employees have also been take into account. Moreover, another significant point of the project was not only to find an approach for finding the best working time model, but to consider, within this approach, the employees’ preferences and priorities. For that, a really general approach has been studied, classifying the employees first by their family unit and then by their preferences regarding working hours.

As for the future prospects, it is important to bear in mind that the approach developed in this project has been made with five flexible working time models. In the future, the same approach can be used but considering more working time models, so that the service companies will have more data about these and have a wider range of options and possibilities. Additionally, with regards to future prospects, the first part of the analysis of each working time model, which has been made by carrying out a survey, can be reinforced by sending the survey to more than 100 contacts. Not only would that provide more accurate statistics about each working time model but it could also help categorize the data collected from the survey by industries so as to be more accurate when developing the final solution. Last but not least, something that has not been considered when drawing the solution but yet, it could be an interesting output to look at, is the importance that each company places in each characteristic of the evaluation concept.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to thank the teaching staff, specially Herbert Shields, for the teaching received, both academically and personally. For providing me with the possibility of writing the project at IIT, for encouraging me to continue with the study despite possible difficulties and demand the best of myself. I would also like to thank Lori Kleiman, a Human Resource consultant who has helped to develop the survey and get in contact with employers so as to get as many responses as possible. Without her help, the development of this project would have been impossible.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

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Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

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Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

APPENDIX 1: Survey

Flexible Working Time Models in your Company

PAGE 1

Dear participant,

Thank you very much for your interest and your time employed in this inquiry. This survey will take about 10 minutes approximately. This study is part of the research project, named “Design of the arrangement of flexible working time models in the service companies”. The project is carried out by Lucia Pich-Aguilera, a student from Illinois Institute of Technology in the last year of her Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering.

The aim of this survey is to develop a solution in finding which flexible working time model bests fits in a service company. An evaluation criteria has been defined, considering the most important characteristics of a company. These characteristics are the ones that are asked in the survey.

1. If your company is in the field of services, please select the industry: o Consulting o Banking o Warehouse o Accounting o Legal firm o Engineering o Building Management o Hospitality o Other→ option to write the field o My company is not in the field of services→ Thank you for the interest. End survey

PAGE 2

2. Please choose the service delivery requirements during a typical day that best fit in your company: o Service must be provided around-the-clock. Employees must be there to guarantee the service is provided.

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

o No planning required. Flexible timings to provide the service. o Peak of service in specific hours. Although the company must remain opened during all working hours, the workload is concentrated on specific hours.

3. Please choose the service delivery requirements over the week that best fit in your company: o Workload is distributed from Monday to Friday primarily o Workload distributed on the weekend primarily o Workload distributed during the whole week, from Monday to Sunday

4. Considering employees who interact with customers during the majority of their day, please choose the type of interaction that these employees have with the customers in your company: o Direct interaction. Employees must stay at the workplace at all times throughout the working hours to serve the clients. o No interaction at all. Employees are not required to be at the workplace to serve the clients. o Partial interaction. Employees must be at the workplace in case of a meeting.

5. Please choose how often do you plan your employees working hours (as in manager planning the employees’ schedule): o Weekly basis o Biweekly basis o Monthly basis o Yearly basis o Other→ option to write

6. Please indicate which of these accurately describes your company: o Constant employee population. The number of employees typically does not change throughout a certain period of time (24h period for example). o Irregular employee population. Impossible for the employer to know many they will need in very far in advance. o Regular employee population. The number of employees varies but not a great deal, and the employer is able to determine how the fluctuation will be.

7. Please select the number of employees that best fits in your company: o Less than 30 o 31-100 employees o 101-499 employees o More than 500 employees

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

8. Listening to employees’ preferences regarding working hours, do you often hear that they have: o Same preferences. Employees prefer to work similar hours. o Different preferences. Employees often indicate alternate schedules. o Position based preferences. Similar preference by position, but different schedules throughout organization.

9. Considering your overall employee population how would you describe the majority of their family units: o Single adult living or childless families o Nuclear and extended families (two adults with one child or more) o Single parent families (only one adult living with a child)

10. Please select the working time arrangement that is used by the majority of your employees: o Flextime o Flexible work schedule (i.e. gliding schedule, variable day schedule, variable week schedule) o Shift work o Annualized hours o Compressed Workweek (employees work longer shifts in exchange for a reduction in the number of working days in their work cycle, to have for example long weekends) o Other Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WGW8YB7

Flexible Working Time Models in the Service Industry

APPENDIX 2: Table to be filled by the employer