What is more important, working hours or delivery?

What is more important, working hours or delivery? Companies insist on employees being in offices from 8am to 5pm, but isn’t work delivery more important? Why don’t companies let employees work flexible hours and only insist on delivery? Peter

Dear Peter,
Both arrangements are actually a mechanism of guaranteeing delivery. The traditional eight to five job is a work culture that was adopted from American labour unions of the early 1900s.
The rationale behind this arrangement was to create equity among workers. That was then, but circumstances are now different. Giving all employees exactly the same schedule and equal number of hours may seem like a fair system, but it’s ultimately illogical. Many companies are beginning to discover the flaws in such an employment model. Also, while many leading companies boast of having flexible work arrangements, this practice has not filtered down. Some employers do not wholly support the practice itself because they do not trust their employees to be as productive at home as they do at the workplace. Flex-time has an ambiguous definition, but in most cases it involves employees scheduling their own hours. They work as they see best fit sometimes that means working earlier, later, shorter, and longer.
There is no single schedule that is right for everyone. Advances in technology, telecommuting, and automation, are making it easier for employers to look at their employees as individuals and work out systems that make sense for their unique circumstances.

Solomon Muhiirwa
Human Resource Consultant
[email protected]