One of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the way it has served as a catalyst for businesses to experiment with and embrace forms of workplace flexibility that millions of workers have been craving for decades. While many are celebrating what they see as the most significant change in workplace norms in nearly a century, others are more cautious and note that the benefits of a shorter workweek and greater flexibility aren’t likely to be universal.
Flexibility Isn’t Necessarily for Everyone
In an article for BBC Worklife, Bryan Lufkin shares insights from Abigail Marks, professor of the future of work at Newcastle University Business School in the United Kingdom. “Marks is among the experts who say it will be a challenge in 2022 to navigate the gulf between those who can take advantage of flexibility versus those who can’t – especially as calls for increased flexibility and shorter hours only get louder,” Lufkin writes.
Marks argued to Lufkin that the 4-day workweek and other forms of greater flexibility are likely to favor a limited group of white-collar workers, while others may realize no benefit from this flexibility whatsoever.
One important reason for this is that shorter workweeks are really only attractive if workers are paid on salary—such that their annual compensation isn’t reduced along with hours worked—or, for hourly workers, if their hourly wage rises by enough to offset the decrease in hours.
Conflict Between Salaried and Hourly Workers
For companies that employ both salaried and hourly workers, it’s easy to see the potential for resentment among the latter group toward the former. Moreover, to the extent salaried and hourly workers need to work together directly, greater flexibility and shorter hours for one group may make regular collaboration more difficult if only from a scheduling perspective.
As companies consider embracing greater flexibility and shorter workweeks in coming years, the challenge will be to determine whether and how to extend those changes to those outside of the white-collared, salaried cadre. For those that determine to leave hours and conditions static for the rest of their workforce, there will be a need to communicate that rationale or seek to compensate the remaining workforce for this disparity in other ways.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.
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