Flexible work arrangement initiatives and commitment outcome of selected technology-based banks

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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.

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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. http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 161 editor@iaeme.com
Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives and Commitment Outcome of Selected Technology-Based Banks 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. http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 162 editor@iaeme.com
Oludayo, O.A.; Salau, O.P.; Falola, H.O; Atolagbe, T. M.; Ogueyungbo, A.; Fatogun, T.O. 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. http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 163 editor@iaeme.com
Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives and Commitment Outcome of Selected Technology-Based Banks 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 http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 164 editor@iaeme.com
Oludayo, O.A.; Salau, O.P.; Falola, H.O; Atolagbe, T. M.; Ogueyungbo, A.; Fatogun, T.O. 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). http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 165 editor@iaeme.com
Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives and Commitment Outcome of Selected Technology-Based Banks Continuance Commitment (CC) Continuance commitment is the third type of commitment, which is characterized by a false desire to remain with an organization routed in consideration of fear of the high cost associated with exiting the organisation such as uncertainty of securing another employment (Meyer & Allen, 1997). Employees in this commitment category remain because it is needful as there is no ready viable alternative employment; thus they possess very high exit intension, which they implement as soon as opportunity shows up. 2.4. Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives in the Banking Industry Research have been able to identify that employee develop a positive perspective towards engaging in prospective work-life initiative that has enabling and empowering environment provided along with the policies which enables organisation adopt a work-life culture (Thompson et al. 1999). The identified Work-life balance initiatives such as flexible work arrangements, parental leave have been found to be significant for employees‟ retention and engagement particularly in a business environment that shows support for the family (Baruah, 2013). According to Baruah (2013), there are low rate turnover among employees that make use of the child-care initiative provided in the organisation and are more likely to stick to established date of return for approved leaves (Kossek and Nichol, 1992). Customers and regulators over the years have been demanding modification and increase in service quality and delivery in the Nigeria‟s banking industry. This modification (Ojo, Salau, & Falola, 2014), has its influence in the banking world and have raised the challenges of work-life balance among employees. Prominent in the Nigerian banking sector is its late hour work culture and high work loads of employee in the sector resulting in a lag in other personal affair of the workers life. This thus, has a negative effect on the family system which significant value is placed on in Nigeria‟s society. The Nigerian banking sector is characterised by long work periods, pressure in the workplace and rigorous managerial supervision. Maximizing customer‟s satisfaction in relation to organisational behaviour might lead to more demand on the part of the workers to satisfy such demands (Ugwu, et al. 2017). Meanwhile, research conducted by Adekola (2010) attempted to identify and relate work demand to work-life conflict and it was discovered that career salience, hours of work and work involvement were associated with work interference and family conflict (Ugwu, et al. 2017). Work-life according to (De Bruin and Dupuis, 2004) propose the importance of maintaining a balance in an employee work-life which has spanned over 20 years and have recorded measurable changes that has direct impact on the issue. Another is the demographic nature of the workforce has been notably modified from the predominant norm of been occupied by man. In recent times, an influx of the female gender are debunking the acclaimed notion of male dominated work zone. 2.5. Theoretical Synthesis The segmentation theory was adopted and it assumes that work and family are two distinctive domains, indicating that work and family are separate spheres (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000). This theory facilitated understanding of establishing influence of flexible working schedules on employee productivity). Invariably, it explains further the needs to ensure moderate freedom is given to both the employees and the employers in discharge of their roles. This affords each party to have total control and plan its activity in line with convenient time to have the roles performed. http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 166 editor@iaeme.com
Oludayo, O.A.; Salau, O.P.; Falola, H.O; Atolagbe, T. M.; Ogueyungbo, A.; Fatogun, T.O. 3. METHODOLOGY The population of this study comprises staff of selected Deposit Money Banks (DMBs). These technology-driven banks were selected based on several indicators such as international reckoning, branch networks, profitability index, total assets and earning and customers‟ deposits. The banks were Zenith Bank Plc; Guaranteed Trust Bank; First Bank; Access Bank Plc; and United Bank for Africa Plc. The research was conducted in Lagos as it serves as the central commercial nerve of Nigeria and where 85% of the DMBs are headquartered. The population of the selected banks is known as 33,027 and using Kriejie sample size determination table, 339 was selected as the sample size which formed the basis of our analysis. The need for primary source of data was employed in collecting data through the use of a structured questionnaire. The items in the questionnaire were adapted from previous works. The instrument for flexible work arrangement was categorized into formal and informal initiatives. Data gathered were analysed using variance-based model (structural equation modelling/SPSS version 21). 4. SCALE VALIDATION AND MEASUREMENT MODEL Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to confirm the development of the measurement scale as established and ensure the validity/reliability of the constructs. The CFA helps to measure the consistency of variables which is composed by several items. As Pablo Valencia mentioned, CFA makes sure that all the items included in the analysis belong to a pre-assumed factor. It can be observed that the use of CFA warrants that the results obtained are reliable, independent from the instrument's validity. The result of confirmatory factor analysis is displayed in table below. The study followed the conditions as recommended by Fornell and Larcker (1981) and Bagozzi and Yi (1988) to assess convergent validity. Measurement Loading Indicator Error Compose Ave. Variance Reliability Variance Reliability Estimated > 0.7 < 0.5 > 0.8 > 0.5 A. FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENT Flextime: In my bank …. FT1 0.802 0.643 0.357 0.957 0.859 FT2 0.865 0.747 0.253 FT3 0.925 0.855 0.145 FT4 0.810 0.656 0.344 FT5 0.883 0.779 0.221 FT6 0.889 0.790 0.210 FT7 0.882 0.778 0.222 FT8 0.805 0.649 0.351 Flextime_Off: In my bank …. FTO1 0.698 0.789 0.211 0.947 0.800 FTO2 0.792 0.626 0.374 FTO3 0.776 0.602 0.398 FTO4 0.789 0.623 0.377 FTO5 0.669 0.448 0.552 FTO6 0.762 0.581 0.419 FTO7 0.801 0.641 0.359 FTO8 0.885 0.783 0.217 FTO9 0.796 0.634 0.366 FTO10 0.888 0.788 0.212 Flex_Location: In my bank …. FL1 0.765 0.585 0.415 0.810 0.826 http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 167 editor@iaeme.com
Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives and Commitment Outcome of Selected Technology-Based Banks FL2 0.883 0.780 0.220 B. COMMITMENT OUTCOMES CO1 0.997 0.993 0.007 0.923 0.869 CO2 0.788 0.621 0.379 CO3 0.827 0.683 0.317 CO4 0.922 0.851 0.149 CO5 0.630 0.397 0.603 CO6 0.972 0.944 0.056 It can be observed from the above that the values of factors loading were above 0.70 while those below were not included in the computation. For the composite reliability, this indicates that the values met the requirements as recommended by Hair, et al., (1996) that the values are considered fit if they are above 0.8. The same is also applicable to average variance extracted whose values were also above the recommended thresholds of 0.5. After determining the normality of the data, Pearson correlation test was used to measure the relationship and the degree of correlation between the variables as shown in Table 4. Table 4. Results of Pearson correlation test Measures Mean Standard 1 2 3 4 5 6 deviation Flexible Work 3.6871 .47007 Arrangements 1. Flexitime_Off 3.5630 .74553 1 .354* .311** .229** .424** .278** 2. Flex_Location 4.1929 .61145 1 .408** .352** .310* .408* 3. Flex_Time 4.0249 .49107 1 .416* .384** .322* Commitment 3.8862 .33071 Outcomes 4. Continuance 3.9685 .67983 1 .360** .331* 5. Affective 4.0682 .63292 1 .320** 6. Normative 4.0026 .62196 1 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 4.1. Structural Equation Modelling To support the normality and measurement model, structural model was also conducted to establish the degree of association among the variables as presented in Figure 2 and Table 5 respectively. Table 2: Model fit index of Flexible Work Arrangements and Employee Commitment Outcome http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 168 editor@iaeme.com
Oludayo, O.A.; Salau, O.P.; Falola, H.O; Atolagbe, T. M.; Ogueyungbo, A.; Fatogun, T.O. Table 5. Results of the structural model Independent Independent Standardized Standard Results Coeeficient Error C.R p Variable Variable Flexitime_Off Comm_Outcome 0.173 0.027 2.069 * Supported Flex_Location Comm_Outcome 0.144 0.039 2.175 ** Supported Flex_Time Comm_Outcome 0.294 0.087 4.052 ** Supported The figure above explains the co-efficient path and estimates of the variance-based model. This indicates a significant and close direction of relationship between and among the constructs. The regression weights indicate that when flexible work arrangements go up by 1, commitment outcome goes up by 30%. It indicated that flexible work arrangements play a vital role in facilitating employee commitment outcome. The result is consistent with previous studies. Variation in the significant role of demographic characteristics on Employee Commitment Outcome Test Statisticsa,b Gender Age Marital Highest Religion Job Years Spent in Grade Status Education Position the Bank Chi-Square .527 6.183 6.814 7.357 4.853 9.621 8.672 Df 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Asymp. Sig. .632 .039 .046 .416 .233 .032 .013 a. Kruskal Wallis Test b. Grouping Variable: Commitment Outcome Using employee commitment outcome as the dependent variables and the demographic characteristics of the respondents (gender, age, marital status, highest education, religion, job position, and years spent in the bank) as the independent variables. Kruskal Wallis Test was carried out. The test showed that difference in the perception of staff and management on the relationship between flexible work arrangement initiatives and job commitment outcome by gender (λ2 = .527, education (λ2 = 7.357, df=2, P>0.05) and religion (λ2 = 4.853, df=2, http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 169 editor@iaeme.com
Flexible Work Arrangement Initiatives and Commitment Outcome of Selected Technology-Based Banks P>0.05) are not statistically significant. This means that the difference in the perception of job commitment outcome are not due to gender, education and religion. While their perception of job commitment outcome by age (λ2 = 6.183, df=2, P
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