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SHORT REPORT

Motivators for and barriers against workplace flexibility: comparing nonprofit, for-profit, and public sector organizations

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Pages 487-500 | Received 09 Apr 2011, Published online: 31 Oct 2012
 

Abstract

Despite growing interest in workplace flexibility, relatively little is known about how the dynamics of flexible options might differ in for-profit, nonprofit, and public sector organizations. This short report evaluates the relative importance of various barriers against and motivators for flexible options in the public, nonprofit private, and for-profit private sectors using two similar surveys of private sector (2006 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development Survey) and public sector (2008 States as Employers-of-Choice Survey) organizations in the USA. While there are some differences in what motivates organizations in each sector to adopt flexible work options, the differences in barriers to flexibility are more noticeable. For instance, the three groups of organizations differ significantly in the importance of implementation costs, employee pressures to adopt these policies and programs, and the extent to which more pressing issues prevent a focus on workplace flexibility. The results of this short report, while preliminary, suggest that understanding both what motivates organizations to adopt flexible work options and what prevents them from doing so should help advocates of workplace flexibility to design policies and programs better suited to each sector.

A pesar del interés creciente en la flexibilidad en el lugar del trabajo, se sabe relativamente poco sobre cómo las dinámicas de las diferentes opciones de flexibilidad podrían ser distintas en las organizaciones con fines de lucro, sin fines de lucro y del sector público. Este breve informe analiza la relativa importancia de varias barreras en contra de y las motivaciones a favor de estas opciones de flexibilidad en los sectores público, privado sin fines de lucro, y privado con fines de lucro, utilizando dos estudios similares de organizaciones del sector privado (2006 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development Survey) y del sector público (2008 States as Employers-of-Choice Survey) en los Estados Unidos. Aunque hay diferencias en lo que motiva a las organizaciones en cada sector a adoptar opciones de trabajo flexibles, las diferencias en los obstáculos a la flexibilidad son más evidentes. Por ejemplo, los tres grupos de organizaciones difieren significativamente en la importancia de los costos de implementación, las presiones de los empleados para adoptar estas políticas y programas, y el grado en que asuntos más urgentes evitan concentrarse en la flexibilidad en el lugar del trabajo. Los resultados de este breve informe, aunque son sólo preliminares, sugieren que entender lo que motiva a las organizaciones a adoptar opciones de trabajo flexibles y también lo que les impide hacerlo, debería ayudar a defensores de la flexibilidad en el lugar del trabajo a diseñar políticas y programas más adecuados para cada sector.

Notes

1. While Hill et al.'s (Citation2008) broad definition of flexibility is used here, other definitions differ in the types of flexibility included (e.g., Kossek & Michel, Citation2010).

2. Principle factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed one factor for motivators (mean loading of 0.75, eigenvalue of 7.99) and a second factor for barriers (mean loading of 0.68, eigenvalue of 7.15), without clear divisions within each category. Certain variables, such as union concerns (.52 loading), were less well-captured in the factors than were others.

3. The use of a single informant generally yields accurate data, but can be problematic for certain organizations (Huselid & Becker, Citation2000).

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