Choosing When to Work: The Productivity Effects of Flexible Scheduling

Rakesh Banerjee, Tushar Bharati, Adnan Fakir and Yiwei Qian
Additional contact information
Rakesh Banerjee: University of Exeter Business School
Tushar Bharati: Department of Economics, University of Western Australia, http://www.web.uwa.edu.au/person/tushar.bharati
Adnan Fakir: University of Sussex Business School, Brighton, UK
Yiwei Qian: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, China

No 26-06, Economics Discussion / Working Papers from The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics

Abstract: Do flexible working hours benefit or hurt productivity? To answer this question, we conducted an experiment on a major online freelance platform. We began with three data entry job postings that were identical except for the level of flexibility in work hours. For each job, we invited a randomly selected group of freelancers to apply, and we hired all freelancers who accepted the job offer. Next, among the freelancers hired for jobs with no or limited flexibility, a randomly chosen subset was later granted full flexibility. We find that, compared to freelancers hired for the flexible job, those who had no flexibility in choosing work hours produced 25% fewer correct entries. Around 40% of this effect is explained by selection - more productive workers are more likely to choose flexible jobs. The remaining 60% is a direct effect of reduced flexibility in choosing work hour

Keywords: work-hours flexibility; online freelancing jobs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J22 L86 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30
Date: 2026
Note: MD5 = 3c40194a128f381ba5979038cc15d557
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