By Melva Mangal,
Contributor
A FLEXIBLE WORKWEEK can run from Monday to Friday or even shorter from Monday to Thursday, with longer workdays to satisfy the 40-hour week. It does not have to work against family life; on the contrary it can enhance family life. With a flexible workweek, a working mother can schedule her workdays to coincide with school hours.
She can report to work earlier in the mornings, and schedule to take her lunch break at the end of the day to facilitate her picking up her children from school. She can then spend the rest of the day at home with them plus attend to other family matters. I have seen it work very well for mothers of young children in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, where there are two parents, they can plan the hours they work, so that one takes the children to school in the mornings while the other picks them up in the afternoons. Research shows that flexitime is mutually beneficial for both employers and employees. It provides more time for personal and family life. Workers with school-age children find it especially attractive.
Before I go any further, I wish to salute the stalwart for discipline and order in the nation, The Very Reverend Father Richard Ho Lung, for his consistent and alert watchfulness over the ills of this Island and taking a stand for Godly living. I commend also the other persons who have been speaking out against the mandatory inclusion of Sunday as part of a proposed flexi week.
However, in the articles I have been reading in the press lately, on the very controversial matter of flexi week, there seems to be some misunderstanding about exactly what a flexible workweek is. First of all, the articles all seem to be missing one very important point. A flexible workweek does not have to include working on Sundays.
I therefore, feel compelled to refer to my article in the Daily Gleaner of Friday, December 20, 1996 under the FLEXITIME A CURE FOR THE CONGESTED ROADS.
Whilst writing that article, I had done some research on the matter, both from a human resource management staff benefit point of view as well as from the point of view of how successful it had been in other countries. Nowhere in my research did I see it mentioned that Sunday was included in the workweek. I did not notice Saturday either. In fact, my research revealed a five-day workweek, i.e. Monday to Friday. My research also revealed that the flexi week without Sunday has several benefits that makes it an automatic productivity booster.
That leaves me to ponder on the relevance of the mandatory inclusion of Sunday here in Jamaica. Why complicate the schedule with Sundays in the legal framework being contemplated here? Other countries are experiencing higher productivity with a five-day flexi week. Shouldn't we be looking for ways to improve staff morale, to encourage our workers to exercise better work ethics, time management, a greater sense of responsibility and efficiency? These are just a few of the factors, which are attainable with flexitime according to researchers, and which they found result in higher productivity.
FLEXITIME IS A POPULAR LOW-COST EMPLOYMENT BENEFIT allowing workers to exercise decision-making control in fitting their obligations at work around their obligations or needs outside the workplace. Further, it is seen as a morale builder and a solution to congested roads (families can get home much earlier, and before it gets dark, when people are not all heading home at the same time creating congestion on the roads.)
I quote from my 1996 article "According to Duane P. Schultz in Psychology and Industry Today "Employees interviewed, liked best of all the following features of flexitime-- (several features were listed in the article, one is quoted here)-- Reduces conflict between work and family life. The flexible approach to work scheduling" he says "seems to be a fair and sensible arrangement and offers considerable advantages for both employers and employees.
"Flexitime, which originated in West Germany in 1967 to relieve road congestion, saw employees setting their own arrival and departure times. Not only did the Germans at the time, find it a cure for the congested roads, but also a surprise bonus to productivity. It was so successful in Germany that Switzerland quickly followed in its footsteps and used it to attract women with family responsibilities to join the work force. This allowed them to divide their time and attention equally to their work life as well as to their family life. The concept then spread throughout Europe and later the United States."
I quote further from my 1996 article "In the words of Bill Bratt, Labour Management Specialist with the National Centre on Productivity in the U.S.A. 'Flexitime gives people much more freedom to organise their lives, reduces pressure on the transportation systems, and improves productivity. It just makes good sense. It would be my recommendation that more companies should try it.
"A major employee benefit is the employee's ability to schedule work to accommodate emergencies in his or her personal life, and to cut down on time-off from work. Additionally, employees spend less time and energy commuting, since workers will not all be travelling to and from work during the same "rush hours", they arrive at the work place and back home, less stressed out and more relaxed."
Even without Sunday, a flexi week can boost productivity since this arrangement will automatically reduce absenteeism, staff will not have to use company time to shop or to keep appointments. They will be able to put back time when they are late, cut down on sick leave, increase employee morale and commitment, and will automatically reduce overtime during the week.
I too support the plea of the churches that the "powers-that-be" need to go back to the drawing board and reconsider the decision to implement a seven-day work. However, in our objections, we should not lose sight of the fact that even without the introduction of flexi week, there are persons who will always work on Saturdays and Sundays for one reason or another, sometimes to benefit the rest of us. Person employed to the essential services, such as, inter alia, transportation, hospitals, fire, police, and broadcasting stations. Persons should, however, have freedom to choose whether to work for organisations where Saturday or Sunday is compulsory. I cannot help but agree with Father Ho Lung, that there is a frightening deterioration in family life in Jamaica, resulting in the vicious murders we hear daily. Let us not be guilty of doing anything that would make worse a bad situation. The state of our nation is the heartfelt concern of most Jamaicans. I believe of paramount importance, at the top of any planning for this nation, should be strategies to lure our young people in particular, and the wider society in general, to turn from their wicked ways and to return to the basics of Godliness. To encourage our young people to attend church, rather than to give them an excuse or put an impediment in their way. A flexible workweek has worked successfully elsewhere without the need to amend the law to include Saturdays and Sundays. Why can't it work in Jamaica?
The church may appear to some to be silent, but there are several projects being implemented by churches to reach and encourage persons from the inner cities to turn to a better way of life, results are being seen and fruits are being reaped. These, however, never seem to make the headlines. Making Sunday a mandatory workday could only make us take backward steps in an already corrupt society, and make it more difficult for the churches.
Let us not make it harder for Jamaicans to go to church and take their children to Sunday School. What we need at the workplace is better work ethics, good time management and better staff morale. Greater job satisfaction results in greater productivity. Let us pray that God will grant His wisdom and vision to persons responsible for implementing flexi week, lest we perish.
Melva Mangal is a retired human resource practitioner.
