Workplace Flexibility
Implementing flexibility is a challenge and may require some "hand-holding", especially for managers who have not gone through their own flexibility experience.
Flexibility – just do it! That’s the message I hear from the "converted". As though managing a flexible workforce were the easiest thing to do, and not the challenge that it is.
A little acknowledgement that flexible work practices require a new way of thinking about work, and some assistance with making practical changes, would go a long way.
Yesterday I heard a senior leader express his commitment to embedding flexibility into his business (it was one of Australia’s leading banks), his acknowledgement of the demographically driven economic imperatives of flexibility (read here: the increased number of women in the workforce and ageing population) AND an acknowledgement that managers may need some hand-holding when entering this brave new world. What a relief. Now managers in his business can ask for a helping hand.
When we acknowledge that implementing flexibility is a challenge, especially for managers who have not gone through their own flexibility experience (eg working in a job-share – and frankly, how many people have done that?), we can create a space for a more open conversation about what managers need to implement flexible work practices.
Flexibility – just do it! That’s the message I hear from the "converted". As though managing a flexible workforce were the easiest thing to do, and not the challenge that it is.
A little acknowledgement that flexible work practices require a new way of thinking about work, and some assistance with making practical changes, would go a long way.
Yesterday I heard a senior leader express his commitment to embedding flexibility into his business (it was one of Australia’s leading banks), his acknowledgement of the demographically driven economic imperatives of flexibility (read here: the increased number of women in the workforce and ageing population) AND an acknowledgement that managers may need some hand-holding when entering this brave new world. What a relief. Now managers in his business can ask for a helping hand.
When we acknowledge that implementing flexibility is a challenge, especially for managers who have not gone through their own flexibility experience (eg working in a job-share – and frankly, how many people have done that?), we can create a space for a more open conversation about what managers need to implement flexible work practices.
Fortunately there is some recent research (see the 2008 Flexibility and Diversity Survey at http://www.eeona.org/) that gives us strong insights into what managers will be looking for:
1. Information – ie what does flexibility look like, who wants it, who’s doing it;
2. Confidence – ie the deal with potential problems that might arise, and to know which points of resistance to flexibility are real, and which are in the nature of myth (eg "people who work part-time are not committed to having a career": wrong. Just like people who work full-time, some people want a career and some don’t).
3. Implementation skills – eg to establish a flexible work arrangement, to have a conversation with an employee about the options, and how to measure whether the arrangement is working or not.
I am looking forward to hearing sophisticated conversations about flexibility than the "Just do it" (or "here is our flexibility policy"). For organizations to really get on top of this flexibility story we need to give managers the space to talk through their concerns, and the practical skills that will make implementation easier.
Juliet Bourke (BA, LLB, LLM Hons) is a partner at Aequus Partners. Juliet participated in the 2020 Summit and has received numerous awards for her leadership and achievements. Aequus Partners is an organizational change group which specializes in diversity and flexibility. Drawing on their knowledge of psychology, law and management, Aequus Partners recently launched flex-e, a range of e-learning tools to assist managers with implementing flexible work practices.
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sally.rose
August 28, 2008 at 3:05 am
Here Part-time, here for an effective time
We really do need to change attitudes towards part-time work.
Not long ago, an employer advised me to never admit to to a client that I worked part-time. As, in his opinion "perception is everything", and the perception that I didn't return their call because I was slack was somehow preferable to the perception that I worked part-time.
At that stage I was working part-time whilst studying full time. I was interested in building my career.
Often those working part-time are doing so precisely because they are committed to having a career, rather than the other way around.
For many people, after the cost of childcare, travel and disincentives in the taxation and welfare systems are accounted for the main reason they do work part time is a personal choice. This choice should be afforded due credit as a commitment to the job.
Sally Rose
Owen Thomas
December 16, 2008 at 5:16 am
More on part-time work
Here here Sally Rose.
I think Part-time work often doesn't get the due it should.
Of course, an employer would want to squeeze it's workforce for any ounce of productivity it is able to get away with.
With this maxim in mind, did the industry consider work as a passion or a chore?
If as a passion that one wants to immerse one's self in as far as one is able to, then go for it. If as a chore that one does to concentrate on other pursuits, then those people should equally get a fair deal too. If as something in-between, these people should be equally catered for.
If an industry is going to work, it will have to cater for a range of differences in work style that fit with the life styles of the individuals concerned.
Owen.
camelot72
January 7, 2009 at 11:28 am
Workers of the Future
Juliet, I will try and honour your request for "sophisticated conversation" on your post.
There has been a silent revolution going on in the business of work which is now beginning to gain voice.
Workplace regulations have traditionally been based on the idea that employment is inherently a master-servant relationship. That is, employers have the power to dictate the type and conditions of work, and thereby exploit workers.
The response, both here and abroad, has been to regulate the contract of employment separately, and differently, from other commercial contracts.
In Australia, this has led to the formation of special laws and courts to adjudicate employment contracts, and special negotiating rights to third parties such as peak employer groups and unions.
The focus of general contract law is to allow individuals freedom to contract; bolstered by competition law to guard against monopolies or unfair advantage.
In employment law, the rights of individuals to enter into contracts for work are greatly restricted and co-operation and collusion between employees and employers are promoted while competition between workers is inhibited.
Some types of workplace and employee, for which the master-servant paradigm clearly does not fit, have long been allowed to operate outside the formal industrial relations system — family owned and operated businesses, the professions and senior managers.
The home building industry has also been uniquely successful in keeping itself based on a system of individual contractors and therefore outside the industrial relations system.
Nonetheless, most other workplaces have traditionally been forced into the master-servant system, whether it fitted or not.
The situation is, however, changing. The master-servant paradigm fits a shrinking proportion of workplaces — in particular, it is often not appropriate for many of the fast-growing service industries such as IT, communications, personal, finance and householder services.
It also no longer fits the expectations of a growing number of younger and older people, who place a high priority on maintaining flexibility, control and independence.
The simple fact is that in the world of work, where brains and individual skills are paramount, these days workers are more often the master than the servant.
As a result, more people are operating outside the industrial relations system by being independent contractors. Indeed, 25 per cent of the private sector work force is now independent contractors.
In contrast, only 17 per cent of private sector workers are members of a union. Importantly, the movement to independent contracting is being driven in the main not by businesses seeking to avoid the restrictions of the formal system, but by people seeking an arrangement that best fits them.
Moreover, the movement to independent contracting is gaining force despite change in the formal system which allows greater personal choice such as individual contracts.
The problem has been that aside from the Housing Industry Association, independent contractors have not had a voice in policy circles.
That is, until the recent formation of Independent Contractors of Australia. This has become an influential voice for contractors across industries and issues.
This represents a potential sea change in the world of work.