Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1   Introduction

The research aims to evaluate the role of flexibility in sustaining employee engagement within the retail sector of the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employee motivation and engagement are major factors that enable employee productivity within the organization. Employee productivity is crucial in meeting organizational objectives and goals. The COVID-19 pandemic had caused countrywide lockdowns in the UK including border closures to contain the rapid spread of the virus. Organizations had to close down and the entire work base had shifted to the digital medium. It became extremely challenging for organizations especially in the retail industry to sustain employee engagement and make the work base more flexible. The organizations have been coerced into making changes to maintain employee productivity as well as organizational profitability. The revenues of the organizations had gone down during the pandemic due to the cessation of international trade activities and most organizations decided to cut down on the workforce, which affected employee engagement to a significant extent and challenged the notion of sustainability within the organizations. Remote working culture has induced the need for facilitating flexible timings to enable employee performance and help them to accommodate both their home lives and work. The research aims to explore the impact of flexibility on sustaining the engagement of the employees and maintaining their flexibility.

1.2   General background

The COVID-19 pandemic has been harrowing for people and organizations all over the world. The pandemic has led to the entire work basebeing shifted to the virtual medium because the offices were closed down. The sudden shift has made it challenging for organizations and individuals to adapt to remote work, affecting employee engagement. Only a tenth of the employees feel engaged at work and 21% are actively disengaged (Gyton, 2021). The profitability of the organization involves the performance of the employees. Employee performance is crucial to the success of the organization and enhancing employee engagement while maintaining organizational productivity is often a matter of concern for organizations. Employee engagement has become a strategy and the greatest resource for any business organization (Dinh, 2020). The retail industry employs almost 3 million people all over the UK.

The retail sector has been facing skilled labor shortages posing challenges to meeting organizational objectives. Employees in the retail industry have flexible working hours however, the flexibility is confined to mostly the support managers and sales assistants. Flexibility is however thin for the store managers. Employees can get trapped by their need for flexibility which limits their opportunities for skill development, lack of engagement ultimately leading to an absence of skilled employees and limiting their income opportunities, especially for low-income workers (Timewise.co.uk, 2022). Pandemic has further challenged employee engagement in the retail industry of the UK due to the remote working culture and a change in the consumer purchasing culture as well. This has led to an overall change in organizational policies, changes in the leadership structures which have had a significant impact on employee engagement and sustainability.

1.3   Rationale of the research

What is the issue?

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the retail sector of the UK, introducing numerous changes in the working culture, where the entire medium of work has shifted to the virtual medium. The employees have been working from home which has resulted in a lack of engagement. Organizational productivity is determined by the efforts of the employees and their engagement (Larasati and Hasanati, 2019). Engaging the employees, introducing a flexible work culture has become challenging which is impacting the sustainability of employee performance within the organization.

Why is the issue?

The pandemic has led to a countrywide lockdown and office closures resulting in the working medium shifted online or virtual. The massive shift from office culture to remote working has had a significant impact on employee engagement. Disengaged employees are a debilitating factor for organizational performance (Adisaet al. 2021). Organizational management is finding it difficult to sustain employee engagement so the role of flexible working hours and employee flexibility would be analyzed to sustain employee engagement, especially within the retail sector in the UK.

Why is it an issue now?

The organizations find it extremely challenging to implement policy frameworks that would be able to support employee engagement and help them be more productive whilst maintaining their work-life balance (Sekhar et al. 2018). Remote working has led to a culture of overworking, disengaged employees which could be mitigated by flexible working hours and employee flexibility. However, the change in the work culture poses a problem in the implementation of policies that would be able to sustain employee engagement within the organization.

What does the research shed light on?

The research sheds light on the importance of flexibility in sustaining employee engagement because employees are the backbone of an organization (Como et al. 2021). The retail sector has faced mammoth losses due to the pandemic. The research would analyze the factors which have affected employee engagement and suggest ways in which it could be enhanced. The role of flexible working hours in increasing employee engagement would also be explored to provide recommendations to manage the changes posed by the change in the working culture and employee engagement.

1.4 Significance and purpose of the research

The organizations need to manage employee productivity and organizational productivity. The pandemic has led to numerous changes in the work culture, including changes in the organizational framework which has proliferated a need for sustainability in the working environment of organizations to maintain employee engagement which would, in turn, lead to organizational profitability. The research is significant because it aims to analyze and evaluate the impact of workplace flexibility on sustaining employee engagement which would be crucial in increasing organizational profitability and productivity.

The purpose of the research is to understand the role of employee flexibility in organizational profitability, and enabling employee engagement. Consumer behavior has drastically changed due to the pandemic so enhancing performance and engagement has become challenging for organizations. Flexibility, according to researchers, is key to innovation in organizations and a well-timed adaptation is crucial to sustenance (Jena and Memon, 2018). The research will be studying the role of leadership, changes in organizational policies, and the impact of flexibility on organizational profitability as well as employee engagement.

1.5   Aim of the research

The research aims to evaluate and analyze the role of sustaining flexibility in employee engagement within the retail sector in the UK during the pandemic.

1.6   Research objectives

The objectives of the research are as follows:

• To explore the role of sustaining flexibility in employee engagement within the retail sector in the UK during the pandemic.
• To analyze the impact of the reduction in labor cost during the
• To identify challenges in sustaining employee flexibility during the
• To make an analysis of the theoretical aspects of management of an organization and employee flexibility.
• To make a recommendation of policies and strategies for management of the challenges faced by the organizations in engaging the employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1.7   Research question

According to the significance and purpose of the research, the following research question has been considered.

‘ What is the role of flexibility in sustaining employee engagement within the retail sector of the UK during a pandemic?’

1.8   Problem statement

Employee engagement has always been a major challenge for organizations. Flexible working arrangements have become popular in the organizational framework of businesses. Researchers conducted show a positive effect of the flexible working arrangements on employee productivity ( Weideman and Hofmeyr, 2020). However, the pandemic has affected work timings, employee schedules and overall human resource management in organizations, including a change in leadership. The pandemic has impacted the retail industry of the UK severely so the role of work flexibility in mitigating employee issues as well as sustaining employee engagement contributing to organizational profitability would be evaluated and explored.

1.9   Overview of the methodology

The researcher would be conducting qualitative research where a systematic literature review would be conducted. The research philosophy which has been chosen is interpretivism and the research design chosen is descriptive design. The researcher has chosen a deductive research approach. Secondary data analysis has been chosen by the researcher, where the researcher has referred to journals authored by scholars, to understand and delve deeper into the topic. The researcher has referred to news articles, magazines, government records, scholarly journals and books as secondary data. The researcher has also tested the reliability and validity of the data (Williams et al. 2020). The sampling method used has been purposive sampling under non-probability sampling. The researcher has conducted a thematic analysis to analyze and draw patterns from the data collected.

1.10    Organization of the dissertation

Figure 1: Organization of the dissertation

(Source: Created by self)

1.11    Summary

The employee engagement has largely been impacted by the shift to the remote culture which has given rise to a culture of overworking, leading to disengagement of employees. Flexible working culture would enable innovation and organizational productivity which would sustain employee engagement.