Business Report: Flexible Work System Implementation at AKC Firm

This report examines the feasibility of implementing a flexible work system at AKC Architectural Firm, a mid-sized company in Melbourne, to address high staff absenteeism. It assesses the necessary software and access requirements, potential cost savings, acceptable working hours, and taxation benefits of home offices. The report also identifies essential processes to prevent abuse of the flexible system and potential issues that may arise during implementation. Furthermore, it discusses strategies to ensure adequate staffing on-site and the need for varied arrangements for different staff members. The analysis concludes that while flexible work arrangements can reduce absenteeism and office expenses, careful planning and monitoring are crucial for successful implementation.

Running Head: Business Report
Business Report

Business Report
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Appropriate software/access............................................................................................................3
Additional purchase.........................................................................................................................4
Cost savings to the firm...................................................................................................................4
Acceptable working hours for a staff member to work home from................................................5
The benefits of using a home office in relation to taxation.............................................................6
Essential Processes required stopping staff from abusing the flexible work system......................6
Issues occur while implementing the flexible working system in organization..............................7
Firm ensure that there are adequate staffs on site............................................................................8
Numerous arrangements may need to be in place for different staff...............................................8
Flexible work hours work for administration staff......................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
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Business Report
Introduction
The report is based on the information for the fictitious company that is AKC Architectural Firm
which is a mid-size based in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. The majority of the staff employees
at AKC are married with young or teenage children. Accountant of the company reviewed that
there is high staff absenteeism because the employees have to stay at home to look after sick
children or school-related activities that staff need to attend. The management of the AKC knows
that their staffs are excellent and focused towards their work. The culture of the organization is
flexible considering the requirements of the staff. The report investigates the aspect which shows
whether the firm should support the staff work from home. The staffs of the company cover both
the architectural and administration staff.
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Appropriate software/access
AKC is an Architectural Firm who deals with the interior design, landscape, town planning and
mainly the construction of buildings. Every firm needs appropriate software and access to allow
the employees to perform the work from home. AKC has the access to provide work from home
to their employees depending on their work and designation. The company has the software
Hivedesk which helps the company in tracking the time and the software adds the everyday
information to weekly time sheet (Boris, 2013). Through, this app the workers can check in by
selecting their project from the central hub in which they are looking to work. The firm can
provide the access for the particular number of days in a month to employees.
(Source: Heathfield, 2017)
The company should make use of the Work snaps or Time Doctor App through which the
company can evaluate the productivity of the employees. Time Doctor App helps in tracking the
time and this app has the option for screen capture, required work hours and many other aspects
(Gerber, 2017). On the other hand, the Worksnaps tools take the screenshot in every 10 minutes
and log keyboard strokes and mouse movement. This helps the managers of AKC Architectural
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Firm in identifying that architectural and administration staffs are working or not. Through this,
the managers can analyze there are working on excel or in a word document.
Additional purchase
The firm needs to purchase additional resources if they allow for the work from home to their
employees and these resources include laptops and software. AKC architectural firm has to
provide the laptops to their employees if they are working from home. The technical team of the
company will discuss the need for the resources with an accountant so that they can manage their
requirement for the resources in the particular budget. The accountant can discuss the budget
with the technical team so that they can identify the software’s that are cost-effective and are
beneficial for the firm.
Cost savings to the firm
 The accountant analyzed that if the firm allows for the work from home to their
employees then the company will be able to save the cost of expenses incurred by the
company for example; Electricity bills, internet charges, conveyance charges. Along with
this, the work from home eliminates the high cost of the office space and the requirement
of the support services. In this situation, there is an opportunity in which an employee of
the company takes less salary due to the freedom and lack of community costs (Lewis,
2018).
 Most of the company offers the travel cost to their administrative and architectural staff.
AKC also offers the provide travel cost to their employees in case they allow work from
home then the firm doesn't have to bear travel cost.
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 The accountant would inform technical team to search for the software that meets the
requirement of the firm and also saves the cost of the firm.
Acceptable working hours for a staff member to work home from
The standard working hours are 38 hours if the employees are doing work in the office but if in
case the staff member work from home then it might vary. AKC Architectural firm provides the
task and projects to the architects and administrative staff for the work so many times they won't
be able to calculate the work hours required for the employees (Australian Government, 2018).
Along with this, at work from home, the employees can work according to their convenience so
it's difficult to calculate the number of working hours (Fair Work Ombudsman, 2018). AKC
would accept the time in which the staff will be able to achieve the assigned task or target for
that particular day irrespective of the number of working hours.
(Source: Jaffe, 2014)
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The benefits of using a home office in relation to taxation
AKC firm should educate their staff on the benefits of using a home office in relation to taxation.
In Australia, there are many companies who encourage their employees to the home office and
also make them aware of the benefits of using a home office. If the employees put the office at
their home place then they can ask for the expenses bear by the employees for setting office at
home. This will help the employees in reducing their tax obligations as they could ask for the tax
benefits on their expenses of running the individual office. Along with this, they get to know
different taxation sessions and implementation of taxation in their salaries. Hence, the staffs need
to be aware of the benefits of using the home office in relation to taxation. The employer will
also get the benefit of generating awareness as they will be able to connect more employees with
them who can work from home office.
Essential Processes required stopping staff from abusing the flexible
work system
Most of the employees in the firm take the undue advantage of the flexible work system such as
taking long breaks, leaves without permission, shifting of their weekly offs and many others. The
manager of the company can take the step to stop the staff from abusing the flexible work
system. Some of the actions are discussed below: -
 Cancelling the employees shift last minute which might affect the employee and they will
no ask for shifting off on last time (Smith, 2018).
 Making the schedule for the employees in advance
 Fixing the break time
 Taking leaves without the permission should be marked as the leave without pay.
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The accountant of the company can keep the record of the time with the help of biometric and
should deduct the amount from their salaries.
Issues occur while implementing the flexible working system in
organization
If the flexible working system is put into the place there are many issues which might arise some
of them are discussed below: -
 Employees who thrive in an office environment find it very challenging to work when his
colleagues don't hold the same sort of schedule. This might affect the productivity of
some employees and affect the profit of the company (Heathfield, 2017).
 There is lack of delineation between home and work. When the employees make use of
the flexible schedules for the work that means they can work all the time. The managers
can also call the employee for the work after the shift timings.
 The flexible working system not only raise the issues for the employees of the company
but it also raises the issues for the employers such as some employees in the team take
the advantage of the flexible environment and use that as an invitation for the work from
home facility. The managers of the company have to listen to the demand of every
employee for work from home (Lewis and Humbert, 2010). If in case the manager
approves the request of any particular then it is going be considered as the partiality in the
eyes of remaining employees.
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Firm ensure that there are adequate staffs on site
The firm ensures that they are able to manage the workforce on site with the help of human
resource management team. The team can distribute the number of employees on the basis of
time duration so that they can provide work from home to every employee at a different time so
that they can ensure that there are adequate staffs on site (Tanlamai, 2017). The accountant
manager decides the availability of the adequate staff of administration on site according to the
number of tasks or projects. So, the manager of AKC can manage the workload effectively with
the help of staff available on site.
Numerous arrangements may need to be in place for different staff
A different arrangement may need to be in place for different staff in the organization and some
of the arrangements are discussed below: -
 Flextime: - This is the system where the employees select their starting and quitting times
for the range of available hours. In a firm, flexible working hours for the different staff is
one of the arrangements which are maintained. A firm appoint different staff some who
wants to do part time job, one who wants to do a full time job and the firm can appoint
employees for work from home as well (Queensland Government, 2018).
 Flexplace: - This term encompasses various arrangements in which the firm permits the
employees to work from home or from any other non-office location.
Flexible work hours work for administration staff
The flexible work hours work for the administration staff depending on the type of the work.
AKC architectural firm offers the flexible work hours to their administration staff because the
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employees of the firm are excellent and focused towards their work which helps the firm to get
the work done easily due to which they provide the flexible work hours (Queensland
Government, 2018).
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Conclusion
The report includes some of the major issues faced by the fictitious company AKC Architectural
form and their recommendations how the company can resolve the problem of staff absenteeism.
The work from home facility for particular duration offered by the company can resolve the
problem of staff absenteeism along with this the company will be able to save the office
expenses bear by them. Though, the company needs to spend the amount on the software and on
tools so that they can identify that the staffs are working or not.
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References
Australian Government, 2018, Flexible working arrangements, Viewed on 7th February 2018,
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employee-entitlements/flexibility-in-the-workplace/flexible-
working-arrangements
Boris, C., 2013, 3 Web Tools for Managing Employees Who Work From Home, Viewed on 7th
February 2018, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226996
Fair Work Ombudsman, 2018, Maximum weekly hours, Viewed on 7th February 2018,
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/how-we-will-help/templates-and-guides/fact-sheets/minimum-
workplace-entitlements/maximum-weekly-hours
Gerber, S., 2017, 11tools for tracking your remote staffs productivity, Viewed on 7th February
2018, https://www.business.com/articles/11-tools-for-tracking-your-remote-staffs-productivity/
Heathfield, S.M., 2017, Advantages and Disadvantages of Flexible Work Schedules, viewed on
7th February 2018, https://www.thebalance.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-flexible-work-
schedules-1917964
Jaffe, E., 2014, How Flexible Hours Can Harm Employees As Much As It Helps Them, Viewed
on 7th February 2018, https://www.fastcompany.com/3032310/how-flexible-hours-can-harm-
employees-as-much-as-it-helps-them
Lewis, M., 2018, 13 Ways to Cut Administrative Overheard Costs in Your Business, Viewed on
7th February 2018, https://www.moneycrashers.com/cut-administrative-overhead-costs/
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Lewis, S. and Humbert, L., 2010. Discourse or reality? “Work-life balance”, flexible working
policies and the gendered organization. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International
Journal, 29(3), pp.239-254.
Queensland Government, 2018, Business Queensland, Viewed on 7th February 2018,
https://www.business.qld.gov.au/running-business/employing/employee-rights/managing-
flexible/different-arrangements
Queensland Government, 2018, Types of flexible working arrangement, Viewed on 7th February
2018, https://www.qld.gov.au/jobs/balance/arrangements/pages/types
Smith, M., 2018, Sick Leave Abuse: A Chronic Workplace Ill?, Viewed on 7th February 2018,
https://www.thebalance.com/sick-leave-abuse-a-chronic-workplace-ill-1918577
Tanlamai, I., 2017. Flexible Working Arrangements: A Case Study of IT-SMEs in
Thailand. JITAM, 24(3), pp.23-49.
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