Striking the Balance: The Priority Ranking of Flexible Work Arrangements in Freight Forwarding Companies

Abstract

The Flexible Work Arrangements (FWA) is increasing its prominence in today’s business world. Companies are increasingly adopting flexibility to improve employee happiness and overall operational efficiency as the landscape of work patterns evolves. There is a growing research need to address the relative importance of different FWA according to specific business fields of the companies. This study aims to contribute to the field of organizational management by systematically prioritizing and ranking various FWA in the context of Turkish freight forwarding companies using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. The literature mainly suggests available FWA and their individual contributions to employee satisfactions. However, there is a research gap to identify the most relevant methods that match the specific needs of the sea freight forwarding sector. This study tries to construct a complete hierarchy of flexible work arrangements by meticulously using the AHP framework and including the viewpoints of both academics and Human Resources (HR) officials. This study seeks to establish a comprehensive hierarchy of flexible work arrangements, taking into account practices such as remote work, flextime, flexplace, and leave control, among others, through a meticulous application of the AHP framework. The findings of this study are expected to provide practical insights, assisting freight forwarding firms in making educated decisions on the implementation and priority of flexible work practices and promoting a harmonious and productive work environment.

Keywords

• Human resources management
• Flexible work arrangements
• Analytical hierarchy process
• Container shipping
• Freight forwarding

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