Be Prepared for Flexible Work Requests

The right to request flexible work arrangements was introduced in January 2010. This new employment law means that employers now require more formal processes around working flexibly.

‘Flexible working arrangements’ is fast becoming a common term in the Australian workplace. Some businesses love talking about it; others are actually practicing it. Businesses experiencing success from offering flexible working arrangements to their staff have three things in common:

• Senior management support and champion flexibility;
• A flexible work arrangements policy exists with associated procedures; and
• Team leaders and managers are continually guided on how to successfully introduce and manage flexible work arrangements.

Visit www.fairwork.gov.au for more information on the right to request flexibility.

The right to request flexibility means that businesses require more formalised processes and procedures to explore the feasibility of a proposed flexible work arrangement. Importantly, staff should be given a business case template and managers should be given guidance on how to assess a flexible work arrangement.

‘Right to request' flexibility checklist:

What can employers do to embrace the introduction of ‘right to request’ flexibility for the benefit of all?

When introducing the right to request flexibility in your organisation:

• Ensure your organisation has an up-to-date flexible work policy that is clearly documented and communicated to all employees;
• Make flexibility the ‘norm’ and an entitlement for all employees, not just your working parents. This avoids conflict issues between other employees and means everyone has a equal opportunity to work flexibly;
• Make available a flexible work proposal ‘template’ or ‘form’ that provides clear instructions to employees and managers on how to plan, negotiate and implement a flexible work arrangement;
• Be willing to trial a flexible work arrangement before refusing the employee’s request e.g. for 3 months;
• Train managers on the benefits of flexible work and what they can do to overcome barriers and implement a flexible work arrangement successfully such as how to assess a flexible work arrangement;
• Ensure you have a panel to assess flexible work arrangements. This may include the manager, an HR representative, and someone from senior management or the executive committee;
• Educate employees on the type and range of flexible work arrangements that are feasible for your organisation to accommodate and avoid confusion about what’s possible and what’s not;
• Publicise good examples of flexible work arrangements that are working in your organisation.

Game plan to successfully integrate flexibility

• Research – find out who you employees are. Do you know who works for you? Are they happy? What would make them more productive? Managers at PepsiCo Australia asks their staff the following question once each year: “What is the one simple thing I can do as your manager to improve your work-life quality”?

• Policies and procedures – do you have a teleworking policy, a flexible work policy and a parental leave policy? Are they accessible to all staff? Have they been updated lately?

• Cultural change - Do senior level management support flexible work practices? How many senior managers work flexibly? Is flexibility only being offered to parents?

• Regular training and workshops - Managers are continually named and shamed as the roadblocks to flexibility – help them. Look at the trends within your organisation. Do some teams seem to have more flexible workers than others? Why? How do you design flexible roles? How do you assess if a flexible role will work or not?

• Technology is the solution to harness the future workforce. Simply having access to email and the intranet isn’t enough. Technology now needs to consider 2 things; maintaining productivity of workers in and out of the office, and connecting team members when they are not in the office together.

• Recruitment channels - Be open to hiring flexible workers. Look at other channels. Recruiters tend to charge fees based on a full time employee so if you are able to provide flexibility in terms of reduced hours, the fee structure is not in line with this and will encourage employers to go for a full time person upfront. Let us help you.

Flexible Work Proposal Toolkit

Our cost effective Flexible Work Proposal Toolkit delivers a simple and convenient business case tool that enables employees and managers to thoroughly research, negotiate and implement a flexible work arrangement. It has guidelines for managers and employees, as well as a business case proposal template for employees wishing to work flexibly. The Toolkit can be viewed as a plug-in resource to complement your flexible working arrangements policy.

View the brochure for the Flexible Work Proposal Toolkit  or contact us for a quote.