Managing Reduced Working Hours: Managerial Practices and Strategies : A qualitative multiple case study about managerial practices when implementing Reduced Working Hours

Abstract: Background: The average hours per week of full-time employees have decreased since 1870, however, stayed at 40 hours per week for a long time. Now, in the early 21st century, there is a new interest of lowering the weekly hours even more. The reasoning behind the new interest is because it has been proven to increase a variety of benefits, both on an organizational and individual level.   Research Problem: Even though there is an increased interest for Reduced Working Hours per week globally, the existing research mainly focuses on the employees' side where Work-Life Balance and other benefits is highlighted. We find little research and documentation of the potential differences it entails for managers; therefore, it seems to be of lower interest to document the managers side of the phenomenon. Here we find a lack of research and a gap that needs further attention.   Research Purpose: The purpose of this study is to fill the research gap by identifying the managerial practices and strategies when reducing the weekly working hours within an organization. Thus, with the intention to create a framework for future managers to be able to make use of when implementing this strategy.   Research Question: How do different managerial practices and strategies facilitate the implementation of Managerial Innovation of Reduced Working Hours effectively for better Work-Life Balance?   Research Method: This study is done with a qualitative and inductive approach. Since our research is of this form, a relativistic ontological approach was used together with the epistemological assumptions of constructionism. We conducted a multiple case study to investigate the managerial practices that changed or had the most impact on the implementation of Reduced Working Hours. This is done in combination with grounded theory, where the aim is to develop theory that is grounded in our data.   Conclusion: Our findings show that certain practices had increased impact on the facilitation of Reduced Working Hours but the managerial focus shifts depending on the stage of implementation. We created a framework with the managerial practices that are most important during each stage of the implementation. First, planning is essential in the Pre-implementation stage with gathering knowledge and inspiration and having meetings to prepare before implementing Reduced Working Hours. The second stage, During-implementation presented manage as the essential focus. With guiding, communicating, and involving as the key practices. Lastly, in the Post-implementation stage, managers need to iterate. This is done by collecting feedback, revising the information to improve processes and practices.