New Models of High Performance Work Systems - Equality Authority

new models of high performancework systemsTable 3.4Flexible Working Practices in Irish CompaniesItemScoreWhat proportion of your total employees are afforded the opportunityto reduce working hours? 20.85%What proportion of your total employees are afforded the opportunityto increase working hours? 25.05%What proportion of your total employees are afforded job sharing schemes? 11.00%What proportion of your total employees are afforded flexi-time? 14.59%What proportion of your total employees are afforded ability to change shift patterns? 20.35%Average scoreFWS 16.55%34 >3.5.3 Flexible Working SystemsFindingsCharacteristics of FWS organisationsFigure 3.14 to Figure 3.17 reveal someinteresting results regarding the frequencywith which flexible working systems arefound in the survey sample. While theaverage usage of FWS is 16.55%, there issignificant variation between companiesdepending on the sector that they operatein. Companies in the personal servicesindustry reported the most use of FWS(41.67%), while those working in the manufacturingsector, and the services sector(excl. personal services, finance services,and health services) are least likely to useFWS (8.25%).Those organisations that afford employeesopportunities to increase or decreaseworking hours tend to be in the servicessector rather than the manufacturing sector,tend to be larger multinationals rather thanindigenous Irish companies, tend to placean emphasis on workplace partnership andemployee involvement, and tend to pursuea product differentiation rather than lowcost strategy.In terms of country of origin, the subsidiariesof foreign companies reported slightlyhigher adoption of FWS than Irish indigenouscompanies (18.92% vs. 14.31%). The use ofFWS was linked with workforce size, withcompanies with more than 500 employeesbeing more likely to use FWS thancompanies with less than 500 employees.Table 3.5 presents an overview of thefrequency with which flexible workingpractices are found in the sample ofcompanies surveyed.3.5.4 Additional flexible work practicesThis section highlights information on anumber of flexible work practices additionalto those included in the FWS Index.