An Investigation into the Practicalities of a flexible working policy in the Intellectual Disability Sector: A Case Study

Tyrell, Pamela (2008) An Investigation into the Practicalities of a flexible working policy in the Intellectual Disability Sector: A Case Study. Masters thesis, National College of Ireland.

Preview

PDF Download (4MB) | Preview

Abstract

The research paper focuses on assessing the impact of a pilot flexible working/reduced hour’s policy provided for employees in a service driven client focussed environment.
While the findings will be of interest to primarily to organisations within the health care setting, the issues identified within it may have relevance for other non-health
organisations.

The research concentrated on one organisation where the Pilot Part time/Flexible working (reduced hours) policy is currently under review. In order to ascertain the impact of a flexible working/reduced hour’s policy on this organisation, the research adopted a qualitative approach to collate the necessary data. This included the analysis of a management questionnaire and employee interviews.

The findings were unequivocal regarding the benefits of the policy derived by employees who availed of the policy. The policy benefited these employees immensely by giving them more family time and contributing to a greater work life balance. However, it had a less than positive impact on employees that were not availing of the policy by increasing their workload. In addition it led to difficulties in finding replacements and had a negative impact on service provision in some cases. Management thought that the policy was meeting employees needs but in some cases it was impacting on staffing arrangements negatively, i.e. relief cover being used which wasn’t the original intention of the policy and sometimes positions were left unfilled. All three groups had suggestions on how the policy could be improved and developed to make it work better.

It also presents an opportunity for further research to be conducted into the possibilities of other types of flexible working within the organisation. Given the sensitive environment in which this organisation operates, the author has chosen not to disclose the name of the organisation in the content of this dissertation.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work > Employment of People with Disabilities H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > Issues of Labour and Work > Quality of Work Life / Job Satisfaction
Divisions:	School of Business > Master of Arts in Human Resource Management
Depositing User:	Clair McAuley
Date Deposited:	28 Aug 2012 10:23
Last Modified:	28 Aug 2012 10:23
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/677

Actions (login required)

View Item