According to the latest
changes in the Zambia Labour Laws-Employment (Amendment) there is an
introduction of Flexibilisation. According to the Employment (Amendment) No.15
of 2015 “Flexibalisation” means an employment trend that is characterized by
different aspects of human resource management, such as—
(a) pay flexibility, which is focused on performance related pay and
pay bargaining;
(b) contractual flexibility, which is focused mainly on non-permanent contracts of service, sub-contracting and outsourcing;
(c) task flexibility, which allows employees to perform various
activities; and
(d) working hours’ flexibility, which focuses on part-time working, job
sharing and flexi -hours of work; “full-time” means employment under a contract
of service that stipulates the maximum number of statutory or conventional
hours prescribed for a week, month or year, but excludes overtime work.
Flexibalisation
is a new human resources management practice introduced to the Zambian Labour
market and its yet to be fully implemented in Institutions and the Public
Service at large.
WHAT FLEXIBILISATION ENTAILS
Flexibilisation‟
comes from the word Flexicurity – flexibility for the
Employer whilst providing Security for the employee hence the term
FLEXIBILISATION. It aims at stopping “rigid‟
forms of employment relationship.
In a flexible labour
market firms/Companies are under fewer regulations regarding the labour force
and can therefore set wages (i.e. no minimum wage), and change their hours. It
means that workers should have the right to request “flexible work arrangements
from their employers.” Flexible work arrangements are arrangements whereby a
worker deviates from a standard workforce.This deviation might include:
1. Decrease
in working hours
2. Shift
in hours (flexi-time)
3. Shift
in location of work
4. Compressed
days
5.Negotiated
salary and wages based on agreed performance
For example, it means
that an employee could choose to alter their start and end times on given days
during the week, completing required hours of work but doing it from maybe
10:00am to 18:00pm instead of the traditional 08:00am to 5:00pm Zambian time.
This however, has to be agreed upon with their respective employers who may
also refuse based on their business needs.
SOME BENEFITS OF FLEXIBILIZATION: FLEXI-TIME
In this demanding
economy, workers are facing daily challenges with work life balance. Workers
are finding it increasingly difficult to take time off or reschedule work in
order to spend time with families or take care of Children, pursue studies etc.
and this affects everyone especially working women, no wonder Zambian women
utilizes Mothers days to accommodate all kinds of errands.
Thus, Flexibilisation particularly
flexi-time, to a large extent can be a panacea to the challenge of work life
balance especially the women who undergo a lot of family pressure such as
preparing for school children, nursing patients, attending to family issues and
many similar justifiable demands. Equally, some employees are doing
self-sponsored studies, some are students who need to finish project,
assignments, attend classes in the evening, thus flexible working arrangements
can be benefit both employees and employers who want to meet their targets and
focus on personal development. It will also reduce on stress to meet work and
family demands. In the Zambian case, it can even reduce traffic on the roads
due to rushing to offices at the same time for the entire Zambia. Some benefits
to employers:
1. Increase
productivity: Focus is on outcomes/results not hours spent in the office;
2. Reduced
turnover: Employees will find that employer to be the best;
3. Healthy
workforce: Reduced stress and fatigue
4. Gives
a competitive advantage;
5. Attract
and retain skilled workforce; and
6. Greater staff moral and reduced absenteeism.
INGREDIENT
TO ACTUALIZE FLEXIBILISATION.
For Institutions and
Companies to actualize this, there must be a total mindset shift whereby there
will be mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual trust from employees
and employers. Work deliverables should not be compromised and flexi-time
should be used for real issues and not just to use this for running away from
real work. Employers therefore should trust their employees while employees
should show integrity and respect their employers by meeting their performance
targets and even exceeding so that it is a win-win situation.
CONCLUSION:
Flexibilization is a
good practice if well implemented and managed as focus by employers should be
on results/outcomes not the rigid policies as in this dynamic times, it requires
adaptability to the prevailing situations.
Contributions are very welcome!
God bless .
