The business case versus the moral case for flexible working arrangements

Laurent Taskin

Chapter 9 in A Research Agenda for Flexible Working Arrangements, 2025, pp 139-154 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: From a business standpoint, flexible work arrangements appear – in the short term – to be bearing fruit for employers and employees alike. These arrangements facilitate the sharing of management and decision-making functions; offer more flexible work schedules to allow reconciliation of professional and private roles; and consolidate office space to be more productive and responsive, among other advantages. In the medium and long term, there is a moral case for such fluid arrangements, which we argue in this chapter. In this chapter, we use a conventionalist approach to explore the forces (and their consequences) that make this moral case emerge – i.e., the shaping of a new ideal worker as well as Human Resource Management (HRM) practices fostering individualisation and psychologisation. We identify the absence of anthropological roots as the key element of the moral case for flexible work arrangements and sketch out a research agenda to further investigate this employer-driven flexibility.

Keywords: Individualisation; Dehumanisation; Isolation; Community; Flexible working (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035317615
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