Application of Flexible Working Conditions in South Bohemian SMEs Operating in Service Sector

Abstract

Provide information on the use of flexibility tools in flexible working arrangements implemented especially as a benefit for employees. Find out to what extent these flexibility tools are used by the small and medium-sized employers in the region of South Bohemia, in which the employers use the tools more often, whether the use of tools corresponds to the offer of specific forms of flexibility and whether the more tools used by the employer, the more flexible jobs are offered. Find out whether the use of specific tools for flexibility depends on the characteristics of the managers. The results of the research should be used by the organisations which try to increase the number of flexible jobs in South Bohemia (i. g. non-profit organisations helping mothers and people with handicap at the labour market, the social departments of regional authorities, the unions) and HR departments in SMEs looking for qualified employees. These steak holders of research results get information with the potential to train managers and help them with implementing FWA into personal strategies of the organisations. The research confirms that the more flexibility tools are used by the employers, the more flexible jobs are available at the employees. The most common flexibility tool under the flexible working arrangements is the “responsibility for independent fulfilment of the projects / tasks in a pre-agreed term”. It was also found that some tools are often used by managers with specific characteristics, e.g. the tools of direct control of employees are most often used by the managers who are the oldest siblings. Flexibility instruments in the form of mandatory participation in regular meetings (needed for building team atmosphere and for sharing common ideas and goals), are more often used by the employers who have more active experience of part-time employment than those who offer work from home and flexible working hours. The use of the largest number of flexibility tools is reported in relation to work from home. In contrast, allowing flexible working hours does not show a statistically significant dependence on any of the flexibility tools in the analysis. Next result of the statistical analysis is related to the finding that mandatory participation in meetings, in which the employee is given tasks to complete until the next meeting, does not show a statistical dependence on work from home and flexible working hours.