With recent political discussions bringing this topic back on the agenda, it’s prompted interesting conversations within our office and had us pondering, “what can we learn from this?”
Our Role in the Conversation as Trusted Advisors and Business Partners
As Management Consultants, our desire to build long term strategic partnerships with our clients enables us to influence business outcomes in unique ways. As a trusted advisor, our clients rely on us to challenge them to think outside the box. To do this requires a deep understanding of the business operations, culture and leadership capacity. We often find ourselves asking questions like “could this role be performed part time?”
The Untapped Talent Pool: Return-to-Work Parents
Skilled professionals—particularly mothers—are exiting the workforce at alarming rates. This exodus represents a significant loss of talent, experience, and leadership potential, with ripple effects that extend beyond individual businesses. Cost-of-living pressures are affecting most of us, and many families have had to give up their inner-city living dreams and relocate to the suburbs. Consequently, the commute is sometimes just not feasible in a full-time capacity. For working parents, these constraints can become insurmountable, particularly when layered with the demands of caregiving, making flexible or remote work not just a perk, but a necessity to retain this critical segment of the workforce.
BUT it’s not just parents who have legislated rights to request Flexible Work options. Did you know that recent changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 have increased the scope to now include:
- Employees caring for family members over the age of 55
- Employees experiencing family and domestic violence situations
As a result of this expanded definition:
- More employees are now eligible to request flexible work arrangements
- Employers must provide clear and reasonable explanations when refusing a request
- The Fair Work Commission has increased authority to arbitrate disputes related to flexible work requests
Practical Implementation Steps for Leaders
The most common feedback we hear from our clients is that having their team available together on-site allows for those moments of impromptu problem solving and collaboration, rather than waiting for the next opportunity where everyone is ‘in one place’. For flexible work to be successful, leaders and business owners need to consider:
- Creating clear performance metrics focused on outcomes rather than presence
- Training managers to lead effectively across various working arrangements
- Setting clear expectations around days where team members are required to be in the office for meetings, project work and networking opportunities (and hold their team accountable to this).
- Clearly communicating boundaries about when work from home is appropriate and when it is not and establish well communicated policy guidelines for how team members can request flexible work practices on an informal or formal basis. The legislated changes mentioned above highlight the need to handle such requests with greater transparency and care.
Flex Work – it’s a Win-Win
In our experience speaking with candidates daily, organisations that can design business processes in a way that accommodates flexible working practises, will likely set themselves apart. Flexible work practices, when managed appropriately, offer a real win-win. As a business owner/leader, how have you been able to incorporate more flexible ways of work into your organisational culture and what were the outcomes? Would love to hear your insights!
Author: Melisah Collins