http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 161 editor@iaeme.com
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)
Volume 10, Issue 03, March 2019, pp. 161–171, Article ID: IJMET_10_03_016
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=10&IType=3
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359
© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed
FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENT
INITIATIVES AND COMMITMENT OUTCOME
OF SELECTED TECHNOLOGY-BASED BANKS
Oludayo, O.A.; Salau, O.P.; Falola, H.O; Atolagbe, T. M.;
Ogueyungbo, A.; Fatogun, T.O.
Business Management Department, College of Business & Social Sciences,
Covenant University, Km. 10, Idiroko Road, Canaan Land, Ota, Nigeria
Correspondence Author‟s Email: odunayo.salau@covenantuniversity.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
There have been dramatic changes in workforce demographics over the past few
decades affecting employment relation. As a result, flexible work pattern became a
common initiative used by organizations globally in response to various challenges
faced in demanding industries like the banking sector. Despite the efforts of
management to facilitate quality life, concerns regarding how this practice contributes
to greater commitment remain worrisome. Descriptive approach was used and the
target respondents comprises purposively selected commercial banks staff in Lagos
state. Data collected were through the use of questionnaire and analysed through a
variance-based model. Findings revealed that the strongest predictor of flexible work
pattern initiatives is flex location specifically telecommuting, followed by flexitime
which comprises of the use of shifting swaps, flex-hours and compressed work weeks
while flexitime-off had the least.
Key words: Flexible work pattern, Flextime, Flex location, Behaviour, Commitment
Cite this Article: Oludayo, O.A.; Salau, O.P.; Falola, H.O; Atolagbe, T. M.;
Ogueyungbo, A.; Fatogun, T.O., Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives and
Commitment Outcome of Selected Technology-Based Banks, International Journal of
Mechanical Engineering and Technology 10(3), 2019, pp. 161–171.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=10&IType=3
1. INTRODUCTION
Flexible working arrangements is commonly a practice in organizations where employees are
apt to decide when and where they work from to fulfil their work obligations (Grzywacz,
Carlson, & Shulkin, 2008). Giannikis and Mihail (2011) indicates that flexible working
arrangement (FWA) is an essential aspect of many Work-Life Balance (WLB) initiatives that
organizations across the globe use to comfortably support employees to balance work and
family, and to actualize both their family and work obligations. These Work-Life Balance
initiatives can also be referred to as an all-inclusive family friendly workplace practices.
Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives and Commitment Outcome of Selected Technology-Based Banks
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Globally, every human being struggles to survive in the wake of competing challenges
due to innumerable wants but limited resources. As organizations strive to meet stakeholders
demand of capital appreciation, increasing market share, survival in the industry and
successful retention of valuable workers among others, workers too are in a stiff competition
to utilize their time among competing needs such as attending to family affairs, social and
political events as well as other personal activities which sometimes conflict with
organizational goals. This particular situation always makes it difficult for some workers to
have time for their private life once their office work takes most of their time. Similarly,
organizations sometimes suffer from incessant absenteeism or inefficiency of some workers
who engage in other social activities which affects their efficiency at work.
Scholars from different disciplines, including human resource management,
organizational behavior, psychology, economics, and sociology, have contributed to the
theoretical development of our understanding of workplace flexibility. Despite the increasing
attention given to workplace flexibility, previous studies such as Muchiti & Gachunga (2015)
and Syed &Akhtar (2014) have emphasized on managing work-life balance in relation to
employees‟ and the organizational performance, the study has discovered that most studies
have not delved into how flexible work arrangement iniatives, a strategy for promoting work
life balance, affect commitment outcomes of workers.
In Nigeria, flexible working arrangement is increasingly embraced as a result of unstable
economic conditions and ever changing demographics have pressurised organizations to adopt
flexibility in retaining skilled individuals and preventing them from longer period (Mukururi
& Ngari, 2014). The nature of work available sometimes also calls for more flexible work
arrangements such as flexi-time, job sharing, maternity and paternity leave, and child care
amongst others (Rabinowitz, 2016; Muli, Muathe, & Muchiri, 2014). Studies have revealed
that managerial response to issues of flexible work arrangement (FWA) has become very
crucial especially in the banking sector which contributes to 37.6% to Nigeria Domestic
product (GDP) (NBS, 2016).
The interest in and importance of flexible work arrangement is increasing especially
among the banks‟ staff who have been found of using more time at office and on the road in
cities making them arrive home lately and leaves early in order to beat traffic. Over the years,
the substantial restructuring of the Nigerian banking sector has resulted to the increase in the
demands from supervisors (managers) and customers with reference to the availability of
employees and quality of service delivered (Ugwu, Amazue & Onyedire, 2017). Research has
been able to identify various factors that influence work-life balance in a fast growing change
of business in Nigeria. Lingard and Francis (2004), identified these factors to include work
life conflict, workloads, weekend work and irregular hours.
The competitiveness of the Nigerian banking sector has also contributed to the harrowing
experience that the employees are subjected to in a bid to realise individual and corporate
targets. Chief of these demands are overwhelming workload culture and long hours which
often result in the neglect of other areas of life. Fapohunda (2014) affirms that the imbalance
in the workplace follows a critical result on the society as a whole, the organisation as well as
the individual employees. These demands have had negative impact on employees‟ family life
leading to increase in marital conflicts, separation, divorce, and ineffective parenting amongst
other issues (Vlems, 2008). It is against this background that this study examined whether
flexible work arrangements has any effect on employee commitment across the commercial
banking sector in Lagos state.
Oludayo, O.A.; Salau, O.P.; Falola, H.O; Atolagbe, T. M.; Ogueyungbo, A.; Fatogun, T.O.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 163 editor@iaeme.com
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Flexible Work Arrangements defined
This concept is interchangeably used with flexible work pattern initiatives. There is no
universal definition of what constitute FWA. Flexible work Arrangement (FWA) are
programmes designed by employers to show greater scheduling freedom for employees to
perform the obligations of their positions. FWA simply explains „when‟, „where‟, or „how‟
much one works. This implies that with FWA, employees have superior control over the
choices of time or location (place) in which they work. It is different from some work
arrangements that refer to employers‟ ability to change work schedules and lay off employees
(Edward et al., 1996). There are three major forms of FWA: flexibility in arranging work
hours, the location of the workplace, and the amounts of work hours. The flexibility in the
scheduling of hours usually includes flexi-time, compressed workweek, and scheduling of
breaks and overtime. Unlike employees who use flexi-time, compressed workweek, or
working from home, employees who use reduced work hours and job sharing often change
their employment status from full time to part time.
2.2. Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives Measures
There have been dramatic changes in workforce demographics overtime. These changes have
amplified greater demands for workplace flexibility. Hence, the major measures put in place
by organisations to promote flexible work arrangement initiatives include:
2.2.1. Flex-time
This allows staff to decide or be involved in the decision pertaining to the start and end times
of their working day, provided a set number of hours/days worked (Lazar, Osoian, Raţiu,
2010). This provided enough space to attend to personal commitment and circumstances as
the case maybe.
Compressed Work Weeks
This requires the ability to work for longer hours every day to lessen the number of days in a
work cycle. Here, employers extend the daily operating hours of staff with less need to turn to
overtime. This gives staff added advantage in having extra days off work such as lengthier
weekends and abridged commuting time (Shagvaliyeva & Yazdanifard, 2014).
Flexible Working Hours
This gives staff the opportunity to determine and vary their start and stop times as long as
they work the equivalent of a full work week. This approach permits staff to select the period
they commence and complete day by day task, provided they finish in a stipulated number of
hours (Perrin, 2001). According to (Perrin, 2001), flexible work hours can further be
categorised into three which includes Part-time work (where workers work not as much as the
full customary weekly or monthly hours, or less than an entire year, and is qualified for work
benefits, such as, yearly and health leave), flexitime (flexible scheduling i.e. allows
employees to choose, within set boundaries, when to begin and conclude work), and
teleworking (This enables employees do their work without physical barriers).
Banking Time
This is a pragmatic and evidence-based strategy that focuses on the ability of the organisation
to offer work flexibility by varying the work hours through job sharing and reduction in work
hours.
Shift Swaps
Swap permits shift-workers to exchange shifts with each other, enabling them the flexibility
to meet both their work duties and individual needs without sacrificing one or the other.
Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives and Commitment Outcome of Selected Technology-Based Banks
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Swaps happens automatically when a demand complement a cancellation between two
employees (TalentCorp, 2013)
2.2.2. Flexi-time off
Flexibility in the place of work allows employees to perform tasks at places other than their
primary workplace during their work schedule.
Reduced Hours
This refers to a situation in which an employee works less than a full work week with
compensation adjusted accordingly.
Extra Vacation
Vacation to employee‟s provides merited time off from work. It is regarded as leave from
work (or pay in lieu of time off) giving on a yearly basis and typically taken in specific of
days or weeks. It has been discovered to increase mental and physical well-being as well as
profitability and focus which includes taking time off responding to e-mails and work related
issues. Matos (2014) describes vacation as taking time form work and work related activities
for other planned purpose or objectives which is usually planned for in advance.
Personal Days
This is also referred to as general purpose leave (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009).
Personal days is designed as a “catch-all” to provide the worker with time off from work for
random purposes that might possibly be covered by other sorts of leave designs. It can be
used for any purpose the worker chooses.
Annualized Hours
Annual hours operate by dividing hours worked over the year as opposed to the week or
month. A yearly compensation is paid all the time however hours worked can differ, as
required by the season or demand. The structure is designed such that employees work simply
when they are required, thereby decreasing frivolous time (White and Wallace, 2008).
Long-term Time off
The motivation behind this strategy is to enable a worker give considerable or full time care
for a spouse, partner, civil partner, parent or other relative who lives with and relies upon
them.
2.2.3. Flex-Location
Telecommuting
Telecommuting is a type of flexible work arrangement that can be formal or informal in
nature that is, it can be stated in the organisational policy or be made through liaising with the
manager. It is becoming a trend for work to be done from the comfort of the home instead of
the regular form of going to the office which is referred to as „telework‟ or „telecommuting‟.
(Lazar, et al, 2010). This is of great advantage to the employee by allowing them: coordinate
their work day around their personal and family needs; to lessen work-related expenses; and
to work in a less stressful and disordered environment.
2.3. Commitment Outcomes
Commitment is very important human resource behavior as it is tied to performance and
achievement of corporate goals, even though defining commitment seem to prove a difficult
task (Ahmad, 2013). Commitment can be applied to various areas which include occupation,
and organization, supervisor and team, customer and association (Daneshfard & Ekvaniyan,
2012). All the same, many definitions of commitment abound - some are similar in definition,
while others differ. While commitment can be looked at either from the organization or
employee perspective; this study focuses on the employee perspective, which covers three
Oludayo, O.A.; Salau, O.P.; Falola, H.O; Atolagbe, T. M.; Ogueyungbo, A.; Fatogun, T.O.
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areas – work commitment, career commitment and organisational commitment (Khan,
Ziauddin, Jam & Ramay, 2010).
Commitment is seen as the process whereby an individual is bound to some behavioural
acts; thus one definition of commitment is “the degree of an employee's intention to stay in an
organization (Meyer and Herscovitch, 2001). Commitment is also defined as employees‟
devotion to the organization (Akintayo, 2010); while Ongori (2007) defines commitment as
the degree of employee‟s affective response and loyalty to the whole organization. On the
other hand, employee commitment is simply defined as employee‟s attitude toward the
organization (Zheng, 2010). Commitment is when an employee continues to work in that job
and feels psychologically bound to the organization, regardless of whether it is fulfilling or
not (Iles, 2005). A committed employee increases value to that organization and has tendency
to be more determined in their work. Committed employees show positive behavior towards
the organization.
The significance of employee commitment cannot be over emphasized because high
employee commitment leads to high levels of favourable work outcomes, especially if the
conditions are right. This infers that there are antecedents of employee commitment, which
leads to higher employee performance (Ali, 2010; Ajila and Awonusi, 2004); this is the
reason why the subject of commitment has attracted much research as organisations depend
on employees to gain competitive advantage and achieve excellent performance (Akintayo,
2010; Tumwesigye 2010). Employees provide the intellectual capital base of the organization
and are the primary asset of the organization: hence they must be motivated to enable them
wholeheartedly contribute their time and energy to achieve organisational goals (Hunjra,
2010). However, there are antecedents of employee commitment; these include leadership
style (Lo, 2009); organizational fairness (Ponnu and Chuah, 2010); and corporate social
responsibility (Ali et al, 2010); also job enrichment (Salau, Adeniji, & Oyewunmi, 2014),
employee empowerment and compensation (Ongori, 2007) as well as educational level,
personality and position (Camilleri, 2002).
Affective Commitment (AF)
Affective commitment, which is the best and most desirable commitment type for
organisational benefit, has to do with employees‟ emotional attachment to an organization.
Affective commitment is characterized by employees‟ acceptance of organizational values
and willingness to remain and contribute meaningfully to the achievement of corporate goals.
Employees that are affectively committed identify with organization in as much as
organisational goals are congruent with theirs‟. Identification with the organization and
internalization of organisational values are elements of the developmental stages of affective
commitment (Muhammad & Basharat, 2011). It is noteworthy that certain factors influence
affective commitment; among these are job challenges, clarity of roles and goals; also
management response, dependability, feedback as well as equity, team cohesion and self-
worth (Allen, 1997).
Normative Commitment (NC)
Normative commitment is the second commitment types and it is characterized by a feeling of
personal conviction to remain with an organisation. The decision to remain is a function of
moral feeling of obligation to the organization because of the benefits derived from the
organization; irrespective of the effect of actual experience. An example of normative
commitment is unwillingness to exit and work for a competitor in consideration of all that the
present employer has done for the employee (Meyer & Allen, 1997).