Two broad categories of flexibility have been identified, those of internal and external flexibility, which refer to an organization's ability to adapt to change by making modifications to the internal and external labour markets respectively. External flexibility strategies include use of temporary, part-time and fixed term contracts. Internal flexibility strategies include use of alternative work scheduling,
functional flexibility and multi-skilling. Flexibility in the management of labour is advocated as a means of utilizing labour more efficiently, by means of matching the supply and demand for labour more closely.
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Functional flexibility refers to the ability of the firm to deploy workers between tasks as demand for different types of labour changes. Flexibility of this nature depends on two factors. First,
functional flexibility depends on the range of tasks workers can perform. Secondly,
functional flexibility is related to the ability of firms to deploy labour to different tasks to meet changes in demand. Changes associated with how jobs are defined and the nature of demarcation between different categories of workers, and work organization in general, affect this second dimension of
functional flexibility."
(Wailes, N., & R., Lansbury,
Collective bargaining and flexibility: Australia, 2000, International Labour Organization (ILO), visited 2009-28-10)
There is a positive relationship between
functional flexibility and skills development:
- There is a direct relationship between functional flexibility and long-term skills retention.
- Functional flexibility is positive for skills development, because it is related to several positive working conditions, such as greater autonomy in directing one's skills, involvement in decision-making and access to training. This relationship leads to an indirect impact on long-term skills retention.
Promoting the ‘flexible firm' — one focused on
functional flexibility — may lead to an improvement in the quality of working life through the enhancement of skills. But, in doing so, care must be taken to achieve a balance between job demands and job control in order to prevent burn-out among employees.
(European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO),
Functional flexibility good for skills development, 2004, visited 2009-28-10)
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Functional flexibility allows workers to be re-assigned to different tasks across job boundaries according to demand levels […]. The purpose is to improve utilisation of labour by moving workers away from areas where the demand is low and into areas where the demand for labour is higher, thereby reducing slack or idle time. As a result, at one level at least,
functional flexibility is almost by definition about the intensification of work."
(Kelliher, C. and J. Gore,
Functional flexibility and the intensification of work:
Transformation within service industries, Centre d'études de l'emploi, 2002, visited 2007-03-10)