There’s been a lot of discussion about flexible working arrangements and it started a long time before covid. In fact, under the Fair Work Act, some categories of employees have a legal entitlement to request flexible working arrangements. (You can find the eligible categories here.) But the Fair Work Ombudsman also says it’s best practice to provide flexible working arrangements to all employees – even if they don’t have a legal entitlement.
What does flexible work look like in a real business?
The simple answer is flexible working arrangements will be different for every workplace and possibly each employee.
Here are a few examples:
- A parent may need more flexible hours for the first few weeks of a new school year if they have a child attending school for the first time. Therefore, flexible working arrangements may be temporary and/or for a specified period of time.
- Young or entry level employees may request earlier start and finishing times because they need to care for younger siblings after school. This type of flexible working is an adjustment to your workplace’s standard working hours.
- An employee may have a spouse suffering from a significant medical issue and needs to work from home to care for their spouse. In this case, their flexible working arrangement would be the ability to work from home every day or several days each week.
- What about the sandwich generation? They are the adult children who need to care for elderly parents as well as their own children. This group of employees include the bulk of the Australian workforce and have multiple demands for their time. They may need unplanned leave to take their elderly parents or children to medical appointments or be on-call to attend to emergency situations. Their flexible working needs will be varied and unpredictable.
Have you noticed? These flexible working examples are not gender specific.
In progressive businesses, flexible working arrangements are easy for men and women of all ages to discuss and organise with their manager or employer. Progressive businesses also recognise:
- Flexible working arrangements can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach
- The importance of offering highly flexible working arrangements to attract the best candidates in the marketplace
- Being open to discussing flexible working arrangements in all its nuances means employees will be honest about the time they need away from work and this will result in lower levels of unplanned leave
- Happy employees feel in control of their conflicting work and family demands and this leads to improved retention rates
- Lower stress levels for employees will lead to greater productivity and greater job satisfaction
Do you feel in control when handling flexible working requests?
According to a report released by Randstad in February 2023, 83.2% of Australian workers consider flexibility working hours important. So if you are ill-equipped to handle employee requests for flexible working arrangements, you could be missing out on a large proportion of the Australian workforce.
The team at End2end Business Solutions can help you elegantly, efficiently and compliantly manage staff requests for flexible working in all forms. We do this by providing you with policies, procedures and/or expert advice. We also have a new dedicated jobs board that focuses of qualified people looking for employers who recognise the importance of balancing work and family demands.
If you would like to feel in complete control when faced with any flexible working requests, get in touch with End2end Business Solutions on 02 8977 4002.