The paradox of flexibility: Exploring the dichotomy of employer-initiated flexible working arrangements and return-to-office directives on knowledge workers’ motivation in the contemporary workplace post-Covid-19

Abstract

The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated a substantial transformation in business operations. With the imposition of lockdowns and social distancing measures, organisations across the globe were compelled to transition from conventional office-based work to adopt flexible working arrangements, prominently featuring working from home. This adaptive response was critical for sustaining business continuity and meeting organisational objectives within a complex and restrictive business environment. This qualitative exploratory research aims to explore the paradox of flexible working arrangements as initiated by employers to circumvent business challenges during COVID-19 and the new emerging concept known as return-to-office directives, where employers are now mandating employees to adopt pre-COVID-19 office centric setups. Managers are confronted with the paradoxical dilemma of whether to continue with flexible working arrangements or implement return-to-office directives. Each alternative presents significant unintended repercussions. This study aims to establish the effect of these concept on employees’ motivation, specifically knowledge workers. The primary research question sought to examine the impact of management’s decision to implement return-to-office directives, which mandate the physical presence of knowledge workers in the office, on their motivation level and attitude towards their work. To fully address the primary research question, managers were also asked to provide recounts of their perception of their staff’s motivation towards work after implementing return-to-work directives in addition to data obtained from knowledge workers. A qualitative research approach was considered appropriate, the researcher adopted interpretivism philosophy to complement it. Given the exploratory nature of the study, the theory development was inductive. Due to time constrains the study was cross sectional and used semi-structured interviews to collect data from participants purposefully drawn from researcher’s professional network. The findings showed that implementing return-to-office directives does not affect employees’ motivation, even thou the elements of discomfort, inconveniences were noted as well as challenges of dealing with transition was experienced, the level of motivation remained unaffected. Flexible working arrangements were found to enhance employees’ motivation. This finding corroborated the literature. Consequently, a framework was developed to elucidate the effects of flexible working arrangements and return-to-work directives on organisations to help business leaders make informed decisions about workplace policies and their repercussions on employees’ motivation, productivity and workplace effectiveness.