Studies on Human Resource Management Practices for Flexibility

Flexibility is a term that recalls many different aspects in the life of organizations and employees. This thesis explores two different forms of flexibility to understand whether it can be strategically used by Human Resource Management as a tool to increase the performance of organizations. The first chapter of this thesis is conceived as an introduction to various forms of flexibility with a particular focus on numerical and temporal flexibility, which are at the core of Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. Chapter 2 analyzes aspects linked to numerical flexibility, namely the possibility of organizations to adjust workforce. The wider use of non-standard forms of employment of the last two decades and the economic crisis that characterized the last fifteen years changed the paradigm of the standard open-ended contract. As employers more frequently resort to more flexible arrangements to adjust to changing market conditions, it is crucial to understand the drivers of these choices and whether atypical contracts are distinctive to low skilled jobs or HRM practices can make a difference. Chapter 2 specifically explores the link- ages between specific characteristics of job and the deployment of atypical contracts. While previous literature highlighted the effects of single characteristics in the choice of employers towards permanent or atypical contracts, we bring together various characteristics that create configurations that can explain these choices using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). We found evidence that firms limit the deployment of atypical contracts not only in case of firm-specific and complex tasks, but also in case of simple and non-specific tasks when supported by HRM practices aimed at increasing internal flexibility. Firms can take advantage of a stable workforce by strategically using HRM flexibility practices as an alternative to numerical flexibility. Chapter 3 deals with the issue of temporal flexibility and is addressed in this thesis as a kind of flexibility that brings together the needs of both employees and employers. On one hand, the stronger request for autonomy and an increased work-family balance of employees brings organizations to increase the availability of programs and benefits to accommodate workers’ needs. On the other hand, these programs have proved to have positive effects on various job outcomes such as job satisfaction, motivation and performance and reduced absenteeism and turnover and therefore might be used by organizations to increase individual performance. Especially in a context like the public sector, that doesn’t allow great monetary incentives due to budget constraints, flexibility programs should be considered important tools to increase job outcomes. The implementation and the real effects of these programs, however, remain important topics that need to be addressed, as if not specifically tailored, these measures might not lead to the expected result. Chapter 3 deals with the effects of a flexitime program on absenteeism, overtime and hours worked using panel data from an Italian public health agency. We use a conditional DiD model and a flexible conditional DiD model to investigate how employee’s behavior changed in a four-year time period and the year right after entering the program. We found no results supporting the idea that the mere implementation of the program helps to reduce absenteeism. We argue that because individual motivational aspects might be the reason behind our results, organizations need to consider individual characteristics in order to obtain positive results from flexibility programs.