International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume V, Issue XII, December 2021|ISSN 2454-6186 www.rsisinternational.org Page 245 The Relationship between Flexible Work Arrangements and Organisational Performance in Higher and Tertiary Education Institutions in Mashonaland Central Province during the Covid-19 Period in Zimbabwe Regis Muchowe 1 , Dumisani Mawonde 2 and Chomunogwa Pande 3 1,2 Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe 3 Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe Abstract: This study examined the relationship between flexible work arrangements and performance of higher and tertiary education institutions during Covid-19 period. A quantitative method was used and a sample of 277 employees was chosen from a population of 900 employees working for 3 higher and tertiary education institutions who responded to questionnaires. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) IBM version 16 was used to analyse data collected using questionnaires. The findings were thatflexi-time; tele-working, remote working and compressed work weekshad significant positive effect on organisational performance. The study concluded that flexi-time, tele-working, remote working and compressed work weeks improveorganisational performance in higher and tertiary education institutions during the Covid-19 period in Zimbabwe. Therefore the study recommends higher and tertiary education institutions in Zimbabwe to implement flexible work arrangements during the Covid-19 period because they improve organisational performance. Keywords: flexible work arrangements, organisational performance, Covid-19 pandemic. I. INTRODUCTION he coming of the Covid-19 pandemic into the world impelled governments to put in place measures to reduce the further spread of the virus (Jones, 2020). Accordingly, governments of countries worldwide implemented measures such as national lockdowns, social distancing and encouraged both private and public sector organisations to decongest workplaces. Since both private and public sector organisations were not immune to the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, they adopted some strategies to survive the difficult situation(Paaulson and Hyden, 2020). One such strategy has been the use of flexible work arrangements to protect employees from being infected with the virus and at the same time keeping the operations going. For that reason, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has made the practice of flexible work arrangements trending in present-day issue in human capital management. Essentially, the idea of flexible work arrangements is a phenomenon that has become trendyin Zimbabwe because of the scourge of Covid-19 pandemic. Purposely, the higher and tertiary education sector in Zimbabwe endeavoured was encouraged to change its labour deployment traditions to embrace the flexible work arrangements strategy because of the pandemic. Mainly, institutions of higher learning in Mashonaland Central province such as Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University and Madziwa Teacher’s College constitute this context. In the past, only the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) has been using flexible work arrangements for its academic staff for a decade mostly before the coming of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the coming of the Covid-19 pandemic has impelled the government to direct employers to operate on a skeletal staff and encourage staff to work from home as a measure to reduce the spread of the virus. Universities and colleges in Mashonaland Central province were not excluded to this directive; hence this encouraged the researchers to examine the relationship between flexible work arrangements and organizational performance in this unique context. II. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 flexible work arrangement Many scholars have used multi-faceted angles to define flexible work arrangement. To start with, Torrington et al., (2011) define flexible work arrangements as mechanisms to introduce technology to the business world. As well, Sullivan and Lewis(2016) define flexible work arrangements as practices that cover when and where staff would provide service to the employer regardless of their employment contract. In the yester-years, flexible work arrangements were introduced willy-nilly as per organizational needs and policies. However, nowadays flexible work arrangements have become an integral part of today’s work culture because of pandemics, but organizational needs are still the major driving force (Legge, 2014). The workforce has to cope with T