Flexible Working Practices Analysis

1. One of the many types of support offered by organisations within call centres is flexible working practices. Flexible working practices refer to how organisations accommodate employee’s preferences and needs in order to better the well-being of the employee and the organisation as a whole (de Menezes & Kelliher, 2011). As a whole flexible working practices can take multiple forms and it is due to this multiple design that organisations have indeed seen significant changes among their employees (de Menezes & Kelliher, 2011). Flexible working practices can be understood in terms of, shift work, telecommuting, remote working and or practices that encourage work-life balance (Bailey & Kurland, 2002, de Menezes & Kelliher, 2011).
Put forward,

Work life balance refers to increasing an employee’s control of the job while reducing work and family conflict in terms of responsibilities (de Menzer & Kelliher, 2011). Work life balance can be achieved by realigning work time with leisure time (Tripathy, 2006). This can be done by allowing employees to have time off to spend with their family, have enough time to complete work tasks as well as allowing down time and implementing initiatives that bring families together (Tripathy, 2006). For example, companies can offer facilities within the organisation such as a gym, entertainment section with a pool table and coffee places so that employees can step away from work when they become overwhelmed (Tripathy, 2006). Having these resources available to employees, reduces consistent long working hours to refresh the mind as they are allowed to use these resources whenever they feel a break or a step back is necessary (Tripathy, 2006). Furthermore, by allowing employees to step away from the computers, which are highly used among call centres, this allows for employees to rest their eyes and prevent damage (Toama, Mohamed & Husseim,

This can be understood as an organisation recognising employee’s socio-emotional needs, efforts, commitment, loyalty as well as demonstrating concern for employee’s well-being (Jain, Giga & Cooper, 2013). Jain et al. (2013) put forward that social support within organisations lower employee’s stress and increases job satisfaction. Thus, resulting in support acting as a moderator between the different stressors experienced within work environments and buffering the organizational stress being experienced (Jain et al., 2013). These types of support acts as an emotional and financial support to counterbalance and reduce physical, psychological and behavioural reactions to stress (Jain et al., 2013). Furthermore, having social support allows for an extra resource for employees to deal with job demands and organisational change, as social support can act as guidance (Castanheira & Chambel, 2010; van Dick & Haslam, 2012). Above all, social support within the organisation can reduce negative stressors such as uncertainty, frustration and confusion within an organisation, thus, resulting in employees having more control and understanding over their job and job demands (that is things that have to be done within an employee’s required job field) (van Dick & Haslam,