Consultation
QUALITY FLEXIBLE WORK
Discussion paper
What is this paper about?
The Department of Labour wants your views on what will best help employees achieve quality flexible work and meet the needs of businesses. Having quality flexible working arrangements is becoming an important part of our workplaces. A pressing issue for many New Zealanders is trying to balance work with other things in their lives such as caring for children or older parents, or playing sport or working in the community. We are also working longer hours and taking longer getting to and from work.
New Zealand’s healthy economy means that there are more people in the workforce and employers are finding it more difficult to find the skilled workers they need. Many employers are offering flexible working arrangements such as flexible start and finish times to attract and retain employees and support them to continue to do other things in their lives that are important. However many employees say these arrangements are not available to them.
A number of countries have legislated for employee rights to request flexible working arrangements. Other countries have relied on education and promotion to increase availability and take up of flexible work arrangements. We need to find out the best approaches that will work for New Zealand.
The Department of Labour wants to know what you think are the issues for you and your workplace. We want to find out how quality flexible work arrangements can be supported in New Zealand’s workplaces and work for everyone. On the separate response form you will find some questions about quality flexible work that we would like you to answer. This paper provides information that may help you think about the issues.
Why do we want to hear from you?
Directions from the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee of Parliament
In 2005 this Committee heard from a wide range of people on the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Hours) Amendment Bill.
If passed into law, the Bill would allow employees who care for children under five years of age or children with a disability under 18 years of age, the right to request flexible working arrangements (such as changes to their hours of work) in their workplace. It would also require employers to consider a request and would limit grounds on which the request may be refused.
After hearing evidence, the Committee agreed that there was a need for flexible working hours, but did not agree on the best mechanism for delivering flexible working hours. The Committee noted that some employers have already introduced flexible working practices, but many employees say that they are not sufficiently available to them.
The Committee set the Bill aside for one year and asked the Department of Labour to find out more about what was happening in New Zealand workplaces and to consult widely on the mechanisms to deliver flexible working hours.
Support for quality flexible work across government, business and unions
The Department of Labour has been working together with the business sector, unions and workplace leaders to come up with practical ways to introduce and manage flexible work in workplaces. Your views on what works, what doesn’t, the reasons why and what would help will be important to guide our future decisions