Flexible Work Hours and Productivity: Some Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry

Flexible work hours potentially influence productivity through effects on absenteeism and turnover, organizational attachment, job attitudes, work‐related stress, and other areas. Prior studies suggest positive effects on productivity but are inconclusive because of small sample sizes, failure to ap...

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Published inIndustrial relations (Berkeley) Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 123 - 139
Main Authors III, EDWARD M. SHEPARD, CLIFTON, THOMAS J., KRUSE, DOUGLAS
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.1996
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Absenteeism
Cooperation
Economic models
Employees
Flexibility
Flexible hours
Hours of work
Human resources
Job satisfaction
Labor Productivity
Manufacturing
Manufacturing Industries
Pharmaceutical industry
Production functions
Productivity
Response rates
Studies
Work organization
Workers
Working Hours
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Summary:Flexible work hours potentially influence productivity through effects on absenteeism and turnover, organizational attachment, job attitudes, work‐related stress, and other areas. Prior studies suggest positive effects on productivity but are inconclusive because of small sample sizes, failure to apply direct productivity measures, or failure to account for other associated changes. We apply alternative fixed‐ and random‐effects models to estimate production functions using panel data, with controls included for firm effects, time effects, capital quality, autocorrelation, and specification error. The results suggest that flexible work schedules contribute to improvements of about 10 percent in productivity.
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The authors' affiliations are, respectively, Economics Department, Le Moyne College; Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management Department, Le Moyne College; and School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University. We would like to thank Jean Clifton and J. Adam O'Hara for providing outstanding research support for this project. We would also like to thank the human resource professionals at the pharmaceutical companies for taking valuable time to respond to our survey. Three anonymous referees for
Industrial Relations
provided excellent comments and suggestions that significantly improved this article.
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ISSN:0019-8676
1468-232X
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-232X.1996.tb00398.x