Companies urged to assess staff based on output when flexible work arrangement guidelines kick in
HELP TO IMPROVE HUMAN RESOURCES PRACTICES
To aid employees in using FWAs better, more help will be given to firms to upgrade their human resource (HR) practices.
“For any flexible work arrangements to be sustainable. It is important for companies to also relook at their HR policies,” Ms Yeo said.
From next month, targeted training programmes will be rolled out progressively to help companies ease into the change in December. This ranges from masterclasses for business leaders to hands-on workshops for supervisors and HR practitioners.
The focus will be to develop critical FWA implementation skills like performance appraisal and job redesign. If done right, these are expected to boost productivity of companies.
OPPORTUNITY FOR FIRMS TO IMPROVE
The FWA guidelines can be an opportunity to improve their internal HR practices because they stipulate a structure in which requests are made and are to be evaluated, said Mr Aslam.
“When you have such structured processes in place, it’s very clear for everyone – the managers, the employees, as well as the employers – how to navigate such requests, and anything with such clarity, increases the standards,” he said.
The guidelines also provide an opportunity for companies to look at job redesign, he added.
“While it encourages flexibility, it also opens the door for many companies to really ask: ‘Do we need to change workflows? Do we need to change processes to support these FWAs?’ And how can that translate maybe to greater productivity as we redesign the job to support this?” he said.
He said that one important and immediate thing that organisations need to do is raise the standard of communication.
While stakeholders believe FWAs will bring about several benefits, employees who spoke to CNA had mixed views.
While some said that this would help workers, especially if they have additional caregiving responsibilities, others said they expect to face challenges.
“It’d be harder to communicate because in the office, when you need something then it’s easy to see someone and I say, ‘hey, help me with this’,” said one employee.
