"Labor Flexibility: Too Much of a Good Thing?"

Corinne Karuppan

Industrial Management

September/October 2006, pp. 13-17

The author defines labor flexibility as "the ability to adapt to changing needs both effectively and efficiently. For the work force, it means the capacity to perform multiple tasks." This article reports the results of a study of flexibility. Supervisors' ratings of flexibility and the number of worker training certificates were combined to form one measure of worker flexibility. Job analysis records were used to assess job complexity. Quality, productivity, and production were the outputs measured.

The results indicated that more job flexibility is not always better in terms of output:

• Transfers between simple, repetitive tasks were generally smooth in terms of maintaining output
• Workers cross-trained for complex tasks performed below expectation
• The more extensive employees' training for and tenure on the job, the more efficient they were when reassigned to the job
• The longer people were away from the job, the worse they performed on complex tasks
• Labor flexibility was more effective when machine flexibility was low

The author concludes that when task complexity is low, it is reasonable to provide extensive cross-training within and across departments. When task complexity is high, it makes most sense to cross-train for different tasks within a department or for similar tasks across departments.

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