Component 1: People in organisations (human resources) – Changes in working practices — Eduqas A-Level Business
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Component 1: People in organisations (human resources) – Changes in working practices explained
A flexible workforce is one a firm can expand, shrink and redeploy quickly.
Read the full explanation
Flexible hours let staff vary start and finish times around core hours; home working moves the job out of the office; part time contracts buy fewer hours a week; temporary and fixed term contracts cover peaks and absences; job sharing splits one full time post between two people; multi skilling trains staff to cover several roles so cover is internal; zero hours contracts guarantee no minimum hours and pay only for work done; hot-desking gives no one a fixed desk, cutting office space per employee, and zero hours suits retail peaks while attracting criticism. Handy's shamrock organisation is the model to name, with a core of permanent staff, a contractual fringe and a flexible labour force. The trade is always the same, lower fixed cost against weaker commitment, loyalty and firm specific skill.
Explain the impact of new technology on working practices
Technology changes where work happens, how fast it happens and who is needed to do it. Video conferencing and cloud systems make remote and hybrid patterns workable; robotics and computer aided manufacture replace repetitive tasks and raise labour productivity, measured as output per period divided by the number of employees; scheduling and monitoring software lets managers staff to the half hour; self service and artificial intelligence tools absorb routine customer contact. The consequences run both ways: fewer low skill jobs but more technical ones, higher training and capital costs before any saving appears, tighter surveillance that can damage morale, and blurred boundaries between work and home. Because the change is felt as loss of control, Kotter and Schlesinger's approaches to resistance, and Lewin's unfreeze, change and refreeze, are the models that earn application marks.
Evaluate the impact of changes in working patterns on employees and employers
The same shift reads differently from each side of the contract, and the marks are in holding both. For the firm, flexibility cuts fixed wage cost, matches staffing to demand, widens the recruitment pool beyond commuting distance and can shrink property costs; against that sit weaker supervision, slower informal learning, harder team building, extra spend on equipment and technology, and reputational risk where contracts look exploitative. For workers, autonomy, saved commuting time and fitting work around caring responsibilities are real gains, while insecure income, isolation, always being contactable and thinner promotion prospects are real losses. The judgement turns on who the workers are, what the work is and whether the change was imposed or negotiated, and it is tested with evidence such as labour turnover, absence rates, productivity and recruitment cost.
Your focus
- Explain what is meant by the flexible workforce including flexible hours, home working, part time, temporary, job sharing, multi-skilling, zero hours contracts and hot-desking
- Explain the impact of new technology on working practices
- Evaluate the impact of changes in working patterns on employees and employers
Component 1: People in organisations (human resources) – Changes in working practices exam tips
Marking Points
- Define the specific form the case uses rather than flexibility in general, for example zero hours as no guaranteed minimum hours with pay only for hours worked
- Link the form to the business problem it solves, such as seasonal demand at a seaside hotel, or a shortage of office space in a city centre
- State the cost to the employer as well as the saving, for example higher training spend for multi skilling or weaker team cohesion under home working
- Name Handy's shamrock organisation when describing a mix of core, contracted and flexible staff, and say which group the case workers belong to
- Identify the specific technology in the case and the working practice it alters, for example handheld stock scanners replacing paper counts and allowing smaller shift teams
- Quantify the effect where data allows, such as labour productivity rising from fifty to sixty five units per worker per week after automation
- Give both a benefit and a cost, for example lower unit labour cost set against capital outlay, retraining and possible redundancy payments
- Name and use a change management model, such as Kotter and Schlesinger on education, participation or negotiation to reduce resistance, and say which fits these employees
- Argue both sides explicitly, giving a developed chain for the employer and a developed chain for employees rather than a list for each
- Use case evidence to decide which effect dominates, for example turnover falling after hybrid working was introduced, or output per worker slipping in the same period
- Recognise that employees are not one group, so a parent and a graduate wanting promotion value the same change differently
- Apply a motivation theory with judgement, for example Herzberg treating flexible hours as a hygiene factor that removes dissatisfaction without itself motivating
- Conclude with a supported decision that depends on a stated condition, such as whether staff were consulted or whether the work needs close teamwork
Examiner Tips
- 💡The command is usually explain or analyse, so give the definition in a clause and spend the rest of the paragraph on effects for the named firm
- 💡Match the practice to the sector in the case, because examiners credit a choice that fits seasonal, skilled or customer facing work
- 💡Keep one employee side point ready, since these questions often develop into an evaluation of staff reaction
- 💡Data response questions here often pair a productivity figure with a staff survey, so use both types of evidence
- 💡One named model used properly beats three models mentioned, so develop Kotter and Schlesinger or Lewin rather than listing
- 💡Say what the model does not capture, such as the cost of the technology itself, to reach the evaluation band
- 💡Twelve and twenty mark questions here reward a conclusion that names what it depends on, so plan the condition before you start writing
- 💡Use quantitative evidence from the appendix at least once, because a wholly qualitative answer rarely reaches the top band
- 💡Counter your own strongest point once, since balance inside a paragraph reads as evaluation rather than as contradiction
Common Mistakes
- Using flexible hours and zero hours as if they mean the same thing, when one varies timing for a contracted number of hours and the other guarantees none
- Claiming flexible working always motivates staff, ignoring workers who want guaranteed income and a predictable rota
- Describing job sharing as part time working, when job sharing splits one defined post and its duties between two people
- Treating hot-desking as a way to motivate staff rather than mainly a property cost saving
- Writing about technology in society rather than about working practices in the named firm
- Assuming automation always cuts costs, forgetting maintenance, downtime, training and the payback period on the investment
- Saying staff will resist without explaining why, when the reason is usually fear of job loss, lost status or lack of skill
- Ignoring the skills the new technology creates, which is where redeployment and retraining arguments come from
- Answering only from the employer's point of view because the case is written about the firm
- Asserting that flexible patterns always demotivate or always motivate, with no reference to the type of worker or job
- Confusing evaluation with a summary, so the conclusion repeats the paragraphs instead of weighing them
- Ignoring costs of implementation such as laptops, software, insurance and redesigned supervision