Looking straight past a golden opportunity to get the work/life balance challenge right

| September 22, 2009

I fear we are looking straight past a golden opportunity. For years Australian employees have talked about the need for greater work/life balance (with an emphasis on getting the life side of the equation right), and employers have resisted by raising concerns about whether flexible work practices might hamper productivity and performance. As a result of changes introduced by the Federal Government in the Fair Work Act 2009, from 1 January 2010 we will have access to a National Employment Standard to help resolve these tensions in a practical way.

The “right to request flexibility” Standard (“r2r”) provides eligible employees (ie those with children under school age, or children under 18 with a disability) with the right to ask an employer to change their (ie the employee) work practices (eg to working from home). An employer is required to respond in a timely and transparent way (ie in 21 days and in writing). Moreover the r2r Standard balances employee and employer needs by viewing every request through a lens of reasonableness. In particular (and notice the onus here), an employer can only reject an employee’s request on “reasonable business grounds”.

Sounds good right? And it is. We are looking at a balanced and simple process which is centred on evidence based decision-making about workplace flexibility, rather than abstract needs (eg “I need to leave at 3pm even though the store closes at 5pm”) and knee jerk responses (eg “put this in the too hard basket”). What’s more, we are looking at a system that has already been road-tested for us: a similar provision has been in place in the UK since 2003 with positive reports from employees and employers.

So why am I worried? National research we launched last week (in partnership with CCH Australia) found dangerously low levels of knowledge about the r2r. To be more precise, the research canvassed the views of HR, legal and diversity practitioners about organisational knowledge of, and readiness for, the r2r. These survey respondents are the people who could be expected to have their finger on an organisational pulse. So when 80% of the respondents told us that managers and employees had no, or low, levels of knowledge about the r2r (eg the application process, the response timeframes and the assessment criteria), we stopped dead in our tracks. It’s as if, because of all the other changes associated with the Fair Work Act, this one has been lost: we see the Act itself, but miss the r2r Standard buried in section 65.

Notwithstanding this perceived low level of knowledge, 74% of respondents expect that the r2r will generate more requests for flexibility by eligible employees and 59% expect more requests from ineligible employees (eg employees with other caring responsibilities). The problem is that the yawning gap between projected demand for the r2r and little or no knowledge about its terms means that managers and employees will not derive the full benefit of the structured r2r framework.  Without redress, we predict that on 1 January confusion will abound, non-compliance will be a certainty and access to flexibility for eligible employees will be thwarted.

These findings are a wake-up call for employers and HR practitioners. They are also a wake-up call to those lobbyists who advocated for the r2r Standard, those unions and businesses who supported the Standard, and those in Government who saw it through to legislation: your job is not over. The r2r Standard provides Australians with a golden opportunity for employers and employees to navigate long standing work/family tensions, but value of this opportunity could be lost in the hive of activity to address other aspects of the Fair Work Act if we don’t pay attention now.

For a copy of the executive summary of the “Right to Request Flexibility (r2r) National Employment Standard Survey Report”  click here.

To listen to an ABC Radio interview with Juliet Bourke explaining the r2r click here.

This blog first appeared here on ABC Unleashed.

 

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 organisational change group which specialises in diversity and flexibility. Drawing on their knowledge of psychology, law and management, In 2008 Aequus Partners  launched flex-e, a range of e-learning tools to assist managers with implementing flexible work practices. 

 

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