Chapter 4: Watering the Organizational Landscape: Meeting Employee Needs through HRM Flexibility

Today’s human resource professionals are tasked with meeting the needs of an increasingly complex and diverse workforce. Socio-demographic changes such as an aging workforce (Morris & Venkatesh, 2000), increased ethnocultural diversity (Ng & Johnson, 2015), more women in the workforce, and an increasing number of dual-career households (Baltes, Briggs, Huff, Wright, & Neuman, 1999) require that companies remain ahead of legislative mandates with HR-initiated diversity and inclusion programs (Kelliher & Anderson, 2010). Growing expectations and felt pressure for work-life balance (Allen, Johnson, Kiburz, & Shockley, 2013), moreover, suggests that to remain competitive, firms need to be responsive to workforce needs (Matz-Costa & Pitt-Catsouphes, 2010). Rapid technological advancements have led to a greater reliance on technology in business while drastically shifting the organizational landscape and the conditions in which work is completed (Parker, Wall, & Cordery, 2001).