Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Management

Advisor

Sarah A. Matthey

Abstract

Flexibility in the workplace is no longer perceived as a benefit to employees but as a requirement for organizations to remain competitive. Financial compensation alone may be insufficient to encourage employee retention. The purpose of this qualitative, single case study was to explore the strategies that corporate accounting and finance leaders implement to promote workplace flexibility for increasing accountants' retention. The conceptual framework for this study was Karasek's demand control support framework. The research sample consisted of 6 corporate accounting and finance leaders who had a history of successfully implementing a workplace flexibility program. Data analysis consisted of compiling the data, coding for emergent and a priori codes, disassembling the data into common codes, reassembling the data into themes, interpreting the meaning, and reporting the themes. The major themes from the findings of this study were leadership support and commitment, organization-wide tailored flexibility, clear communication of expectations, trust and cooperation, employee evaluation based on results and deliverables, and the use of technological advances to enhance team collaboration. Organizations and business leaders can use the findings from this study to create competitive advantage by enhancing their existing flexibility policies or to implement formal workplace flexibility policies that may help to reduce the stress and strain that employees experience in attempting to balance their personal and professional life. The implications for social change include creating a balance between employees' jobs and other responsibilities that allows employees to contribute positively to their family and the local community.

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