Job Turnover Reduced at Flexible Workplaces

One of the biggest problems affecting businesses today is a high turnover rate, which means that numerous workers pass through a certain position each year, with very few of them remaining on board for a long time. But turnover rates can be reduced, especially by implementing a flexible schedule.

According to a new study, employers who provide their workers with flexibility in both work schedule and work location fare better in retaining their workforce than those who employ a more strict regime.

The data indicate that being employed in such a company reduces the conflict between family and work – which is a staple of modern civilization – allowing employees to ultimately become more efficient.

At such companies, emphasis is placed on the overall result, not on a particular time and place of work. This enables each individual worker to complete the task alloted to them in their own time frame.

This helps minimize stress at the workplace, and allows people more free time to spend with their families. Sociologists at the University of Minnesota say that this contributes to a more pleasant atmosphere at home, which reduces stress even further.

Studies have shown conclusively in the past that people who are less stressed out perform better at their jobs than those whose attention is divided in between numerous problems, PsychCentral reports.

In the research, UM experts Dr. Erin Kelly and Dr. Phyllis Moen analyzed the effects of introducing the “Results Only Work Environment” (ROWE) workplace initiative at the retail giant Best-Buy.

The experts surveyed company records and the testimonies of more than 600 employees of the store chain. This was done both before and after ROWE was introduced. The results were surprising.

“Previous research has not been able to assess whether workplace policies or initiatives succeed in reducing work-family conflict or increasing work-family fit,” Kelly explains.

“The study points to the importance of schedule control for understanding job quality and for management policies and practices,” Moen goes on to say.

For Best-Buy, the implementation of the ROWE initiative means that employees could change their work schedules unimpeded, without even having to consult their managers. They also did not need permission to do so. However, they needed to carry out the work charted out for them.

“With these changes in the workplace, employees gained control over the time and timing of their work in ways that benefited them and, by extension, their families and communities,” Kelly explains.

“It is feasible to broaden access to schedule control and thereby relieve work-family conflicts and improve work-family fit for more workers,” Moen concludes.

Details of the new work appear in a paper published in the latest issue of the journal American Sociological Review.