Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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
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.
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.
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.
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).
Table 2: Model fit index of Flexible Work Arrangements and Employee Commitment Outcome
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<0.05), marital status (λ2 = 6.814, df =
2, P<0.05), job position (λ2 = 9.621, df = 2, P<0.05), and years spent in the bank (λ2 = 8.672,
df=2, P<0.05) are statistically significant.
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