QUALITY FLEXIBLE WORK

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Question 2

What do you think will help employees achieve the flexible work arrangements that they need?

The main themes raised were:

• knowledge and understanding of the issues and options,
• having a range of options available,
• access to information and resources,
• good workplaces structures and processes,
• good communication,
• leadership and
• a supportive workplace culture.

Some of these mirror the themes from question 1. Again some organisations (mainly businesses) believe that flexible work arrangements are already happening in many workplaces and therefore employees don’t need assistance. Many individuals and some organisations believe that a legislated right to request flexible work is needed to provide the environment for requests to be taken seriously.

Summary of responses from individuals

Employees need to be able to identify and articulate their needs and understand the impact of their flexible work choices on the organisation. To do this they need knowledge and understanding of what flexible work options are available. They also need to be respectful of choices and initiatives other staff members make, and they need to act in an honest and trustworthy manner.

Organisations should have a range of flexible work options and other work-life balance initiatives available, that are flexible and innovate enough to meet the diverse needs of employees. Examples cited included: flexi hours, bringing children to work, part-time work, casual work, job sharing, school term working, on site childcare or access to crèches, easy access to services such as health centres, after school care, car parking, range of means of transport to work at peak times, after hours access to worksite and better and faster transport.

Access to information and resources is important including information about the full range of flexible work options and their benefits. Best practice examples are critical to publicise and highlight how flexible work practices can work effectively in an organisation.

Information should be supported with workplace processes and structures such as flexible work policies that are well developed and defined, and include processes for dialogue and negotiation, and clear guidelines to indicate requests will be considered appropriately. Resource support such as IT and equipment to allow working from home should be considered. Arrangements need to be regularly assessed and reviewed.

Dialogue and communication is important between managers and employees to understand and discuss flexible work options and deal with different expectations that can arise.

The culture of the organisation and management practices are critical to the success of flexible work arrangements. A number of respondents mention the need to change the culture or mindset of employers and to educate them about the benefits of flexible work. Employers should be seen to be encouraging and promoting the use of flexible work practices. Managers need to be role models and lead by example.

Many respondents feel that legislating for a specific right to request flexible work is required for the issue to be taken seriously. Reasons given were that this will promote recognition of work/life balance issues, will ensure fair consideration of requests to work flexibly, will take away the fear factor for employees who are not comfortable about asking for flexible work practices, and will minimise risk of discrimination.

Summary of responses from organisations

Responses covered a wide range of issues ranging from those relating to individual employees, through to workplaces and work organisation. Many of the themes are similar to those in Question 1.

Some organisations responded that flexible work is already available and therefore employees either didn’t need assistance, they needed to choose the right role/job and/or that the tight labour market was already helping employees.

Employees need to understand and be able to clarify their needs and they may need some help to do this. Employees need to have an understanding of the organisation, the work and the workplace to fit their needs with business and organisational needs. There may be limits on the types of flexible work available depending on the nature of the business/work. Employees need to be aware that flexible work has to work for both them and the organisation.

Organisations should have a range of flexible work options available, appropriate to the work place and to suit individual requirements, with the ability to change arrangements if circumstances change.

Access to resources to assist with implementation and management, as with Question 1, is important including:

• information about best practice and practical case studies from employee and employer perspectives on solutions and management
• information about the range of options and where these may be appropriate
• policies and procedures or guidelines specific to organisations – good frameworks for managers and staff
• suggestions as to how to prepare a case for flexible work
• information about career/life choices (for example through Career Services)
• information about the existing provisions of Employment Relations Act.

Information needs to be coupled with clear workplace structures and processes including:

• clear guidelines and policies about availability and the process for requesting; trial periods and assessments
• processes for approving and timetabling by managers
• appropriate infrastructure and support such as IT to help arrangements work
• ability to design jobs and work arrangements for individuals and team
• management of specific issues for example security of staff (early morning, late at night, weekends); workloads of team; staff coverage.

Employees may need more active support including help understanding goals and work/life balance needs. External support may be helpful for employees and managers such as:

• external companies who can offer support around flexible work issues
• outside advocacy/mediation services
• opportunity for employees to seek advice and be represented by union
• support from employer organisations
• advice from other areas such as HR, employee assistance programmes or career consultants.

Along with information, effective communication is important so people know what is available and how to pursue their needs, so that information is kept up to date, and to provide the environment for open discussion between employees and managers. Consultation with management and team was raised as an integral part of the process of arranging flexible work.

Personal skills and characteristics will have on impact on an employee achieving flexible work including:

• confidence to ask, being able to express needs and confidence in process
• demonstrated reliability, trustworthiness
• demonstrated performance after arrangements have been made
• effective planning and organisational skills
• time and priority management skills
• willingness to reciprocate.

Skills and characteristics of managers are also important including:

• being supportive of employees and team
• good communication and consultation skills
• ability to collaborate with staff
• ability to measure and monitor links with productivity
• time and priority management skills.

The culture of the organisation overall, in management and in teams, is critical to conveying the importance and acceptance of flexible work arrangements, including:

• commitment from senior management down
• team support and understanding by team members
• honesty and openness between employers and employees
• practices/values modelled by senior management
• sympathetic and cooperative bosses, more flexible unions
• management being more outcomes focussed rather than time at desk
• management understanding of importance of voluntary work.

Some organisations felt that the introduction of a legislated right to request could help those on lower incomes and/or with less seniority have more confidence to approach managers to ask for flexible work.

Collective and individual employment agreements need to support flexible work arrangements for example increasing the flexibility of core hours in agreements.

Other issues raised include:

• the ability to negotiate leave and finishing times in school sector (education)
• incentives to encourage employers to employ people who have experienced mental illness and measures to address prejudice/misinformation about people with mental illness
• better childcare provisions
• day care for elderly dependents
• breast feeding facilities for mothers at work.

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