Many assert that individuals allowed to work flexible schedules at home will be both more productive and happier than colleagues working under more traditional arrangements. But others assert that the close supervision of an office workplace is necessary to ensure productivity and quality control and to maintain morale.

Which argument do you find more compelling?

Here is my essay:

Although there are many advantages attributed to flexible working hours, some would argue that flexible schedules negatively affect employee productivity or quality of work. To be able to make an informed decision on whether flexible schedules benefits or hurts a company's productivity as well as the employees' satisfaction and morale, we have to first explore each approach's pros and cons.

Flexible working hours usually decreases stress among working fathers and mothers because they have more time to take care of their children. Even in those employees who do not have such responsibilities, flexible schedule would benefit morale. Many people are not able to spend some time on their favorites just because they have to work a predefined amount of hours a day in an office. However, when they have the opportunity to schedule their work hours, they would be able to put time for those favorites that are not possible on a fixed schedule. Running in the morning or going to gym in the afternoon would be some examples.

On the other hand, although flexible working hours benefits individuals, it would hurt employers. In this approach, people have less time to interact with each other. Therefore, they would not be able to do their assigned job effectively. As an instance someone needs a peer to get input on his work but his colleague is not available at work. Moreover, managers generally have less time to supervise their employees, to evaluate their performance, to mentor and coach and to provide feedback.

Regarding the above mentioned points, I have to put forward another point which is really important on deciding whether to use a flexible schedule approach or not. The type of work itself is crucial on making such a decision. If the employees are required to spend and interact a lot to undertake their responsibilities effectively and efficiently, for example in software development companies in which professionals need to exchange information and ideas with each other, flexible schedules would be counterproductive. However, if the job involves less interaction with other peers and one can deliver his or her job's outputs without communicating with others, flexible working hours would be recommended.
To conclude, no one could prescribe a remedy for such an issue and the final decision depends on the type of work and amount of interaction needed among employees.