COVID-19大流行前和大流行期间的弹性工作制、部门层面的离职率和绩效

Variable Work Schedules, Unit-Level Turnover, and Performance Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

——原载美国《应用心理学杂志》2022年107卷第4期——

<Journal of Applied Psychology>, 2022,107(4)

   【摘要】使用弹性工作制(variable work schedules，VWS)——改变员工每天或每周工作时间的数量和时间——是一种日益普遍的人力资源实践，旨在增加人事的灵活性。然而，很少有研究考察弹性工作制的使用在部门层面是否以及如何影响一个组织的离职率和财务绩效。尽管人们普遍认为，使用弹性工作制有助于企业取得更高的绩效，特别是在COVID-19等危机期间，但本研究却证明了其实不然。本研究结论显示，更多地使用弹性工作制会导致更高的离职率，而且这种影响在大流行病期间更加明显。研究结论还显示，管理层对弹性工作制的依赖不仅会降低大流行病期间的财务绩效水平，而且会降低绩效恢复水平——以部门层面的离职率作为中介机制。利用美国一家连锁快餐店的1,678个部门在COVID-19大流行的不同阶段（2019年10月至2020年12月）的数据，研究发现这些预测得到了支持。结果表明，学者和从业者应该重新考虑人事灵活性有助于组织适应不确定环境的一般假设。

    【关键词】弹性工作制、人员配备灵活性、部门层面的离职率、组织绩效、COVID-19

   [Abstract] The use of variable work schedules (VWS)—altering the number and timing of employees’ work hours on a daily or weekly basis—is an increasingly common human resource (HR) practice designed to increase staffing flexibility. Little research, however, has examined whether and how the use of VWS affects an organization’s turnover rates and/or financial performance at the unit level. Despite the common assumption that their use helps firms achieve higher performance by matching the supply of labor to demand fluctuations—especially during a crisis such as coronavirus disease (COVID-19)—this study demonstrates otherwise. I propose that greater use of variable schedules can lead to higher turnover rates and that this effect has been more pronounced during the pandemic. I also argue that managerial reliance on VWS can decrease not only the level of financial performance but also performance recovery during the pandemic—with unit-level turnover as the mediating mechanism. Using data from 1,678 units of a U.S. quick-service restaurant chain across different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic (October 2019–December 2020), I find support for these predictions. Results suggest that scholars and practitioners should reconsider the general assumption that staffing flexibility helps organizations adapt to uncertain environments.

  [Key wards] variable work schedules, staffing flexibility, unit-level turnover, organizational performance, COVID-19

  论文原文：Chung, H. (2022). Variable work schedules, unit-level turnover, and performance before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(4), 515–532.

    https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001006  

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