Employees reward bosses with more overtime for flexible hours

There’s a common misconception that employees who ask for flexible hours do so in order to work less. But new research shows staff are more likely to work overtime if they’re given the freedom to decide their working hours.

It has been reported that around a third of UK employees have flexible hours with the freedom to determine their own schedule, while a fifth work from home. Researchers Heejung Chung and Mariska van der Horst have found that those employees are more likely to ‘reward’ their bosses with overtime.

Chung and van der Horst’s findings match an earlier study Chung conducted in Germany with Yvonne Lott.

Chung theorises one reason for this trend could be the concept of the gift exchange theory, in which employees gifted with the freedom to choose flexible hours return the favour by going above and beyond to help the company, in turn proving they can be trusted to work autonomously.

She says another reason my be company incentives whereby employees can earn more by doing more work or performing better. She warns that this factor brings with it the risk of self-exploitation, where a person sacrifices their work-life balance when usual regulations on hours don’t apply to them.

Read the original article from the Daily Mail at dailym.ai/2bdHpxs