Paper Title
Flexible Work Arrangement Options and Employee Engagement in the IT Sector: Findings from India�s Silicon Valley

Abstract
Purpose �Organizations have been employing flexibility in the workplace to maintain employee motivation and performance. Engagement is of importance in relation to flexibility in the workplace since the aim of flexible work options/arrangements is to achieve a balance between work obligations and private obligations through work employees can stay and become engaged in their work. This paper contributes to research on employee engagement and the role of flexibility in the workplace by exploring an active state of employees, namely employee engagement, rather than passive work states such as commitment or organizational support Methodology � A survey was completed by 504 employees working in 11 different information technology organizations in Bengaluru, India. A majority of the respondents were from the 26-30 years age group and 87.90% of them were male. The survey included measures of flexible working arrangements and employee engagement along with control variables (demographic).Data were obtained from 504 participants (443 males, 87.90%); 61 females, 12.1%. Most participants were aged between 26-30 years (233 participants). Most participants had worked in their current organization for less than 2 years (219 participants) while most of them had a total work experience of 2 � 5 years (259 participants). Findings � All respondents had availed of at least one type of flexible work arrangements in their current organization. 81.74% of respondents had availed of flexible working hours, 23.21% had availed of flexi-shift arrangements, 39.29% of them had availed of work-from-home/satellite office/telecommuting options, 2.2% had availed of part-time employment, 2.77% had availed of job sharing option, 15.48% had availed of extended leave option and 14.88% had availed of parenthood leave. A weak positive linear correlation of 0.289 between Flexible Work Options (FWO) and Employee Engagement (EE) existed. Relevance / Conclusions � This study addresses the concerns about lack of academic research on flexible work options/arrangements and employee engagement within information technology organizations in the Indian context. The study shows a positive relationship between flexible work arrangements offered by organizations and employee engagement. It is also possible that respondents who chose not to use FWA�s to ease their work-life interface problems might have ascertained that this non-use of FWA increases the perceived security of their jobs.The study clearly shows that offering flexible options to employees has potential benefits. Although this study accounted for younger employees and represents only their perceptions, organizations should be aware that flexible work arrangement options are not only important for parents with young children but also for employees who are senior in the organization who can potentially avail of flexible options. Keywords - Flexible Work Options, Arrangements, Employee Engagement, Information Technology, India