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As the new working year sets in, some Australians might be thinking about ways to better balance their work and personal lives.
Demand for flexible work arrangements has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic struck and lockdowns forced many to log on from home.
Organisations that began ordering their staff back to the office were met with some pushback, according to Dr Melissa Wheeler — a senior lecturer in business and management at RMIT University.
She says some workers were reluctant to return to the "status quo".
“They felt a little bit put off because they had been asked to shift rapidly to a different way of working, they got used to it, they accommodated their life and they showed that they could do it and despite that to go back to the status quo, to go back to what everyone was used to.”
John Hopkins, an associate professor of management at Swinburne University, says employers have become a lot more accommodating of requests for flexible work in recent years.
“I think the pandemic did an awful lot for bringing flexibility and flexible work arrangements to far more people than pre pandemic. Legally people, there are large groups of people who can request flexible work arrangements. So for instance, if you are a carer of any type, so a parent or caring for a relative, you're over 55 pregnant and have a disability, you have a legal right to request flexible work arrangements. And those flexible work arrangements are usually based around the hours or pattern of hours you work or the location you work. So for instance, if you request to work from home.”
While flexible work might feel synonymous with working from home, the term covers a much broader range of workplace arrangements.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency defines a flexible work arrangement as one between an employer and an employee to change standard working practices to better accommodate the employee's commitments out of work.
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, the country's workplace regulator, this comes in many forms related to the hours, pattern and location of work.
Mary Wooldridge, chief executive of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) — which tracks how employers respond to indicators gender equality indicators including flexible work — also says flexible work has become more normalised.
“We are seeing an increase in employers that have policies around flexible working and also an increase in the range of options that are being offered.”
The government statutory agency monitors the actions of workplaces across the country towards addressing gender equality.
One of its six priority indicators includes flexible work, which Ms Wooldridge says has a gendered aspect.
That includes women often needing to accommodate caring responsibilities, and men previously being more likely to have requests rejected.
Examples of these arrangements include flexible start and finish times, compressed hours, changing from full-time to part-time or casual work, job sharing, flexible rostering, working from home or another location, purchasing' extra paid leave, unpaid leave, and time off in lieu.
So, what are the benefits and challenges of flexible work?
Mr Hopkins says flexible work can help employees get more time back in their day, save money on things like meals and travel, and combine work and non-work-related tasks.
“Anything that benefits the employee tends to benefit the employer as well because people are happier when they have a better arrangement and work-life balance.”
Ms Wheeler says one of the biggest benefits is well-being.
She pointed to trials of a four-day work week, which she says have largely shown positive impacts on employees.
“They report feeling less stressed, needing less sick days, feeling more energised. ... All of those benefits add up in terms of retaining good employees and also reducing sick days, which can be disruptive.”
And when it comes to productivity, Mr Hopkins says studies from around the world reveal differing views on the relationship between productivity and flexible work.
“It tends to be that flexible work doesn't impact productivity in a negative way. ... Certainly, with respect to time spent in the office, once you get past that three days out of five per week, productivity doesn't go up.”
Ms Wooldridge says recent evidence from the shift towards working from home and other forms of flexible work has shown productivity is maintained in flexible work conditions.
However, Ms Wheeler argues that more longitudinal research is needed on the issue more broadly.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows 36 per cent of employed people usually worked from home in August last year.
This was down slightly from 37 per cent in August 2023 — the first percentage decrease since the pandemic started in 2020.
About 30 per cent of employees had an agreement to work flexible hours in August last year, and 61 per cent had some say in their start or finish times.
So who can request a flexible working arrangement?
According to Fair Work, anyone can request flexibility — but some employees have a legal entitlement to request an arrangement under the Fair Work Act, as Ms Wheeler explains.
“According to fair work in Australia, not everyone has the right to request flexible work. There's a list of individuals who are given that, right? And some things like caring for a child or an elderly relative or other kinds of caring responsibilities are on that list as well as a host of others. But from a legal perspective, not everyone has the right to be heard on their flexible work requests.”
As well as carers, people living with a disability, and others, those eligible to request flexibility also includes permanent employees who have worked with their employer for at least 12 months and casual employees who have had regular work over a 12-month period.
Mr Hopkins says employees who sit outside these groups can still approach their employer with a request, but it would not be covered by the current Fair Work Act.
Rules might also be contained in an employee's award, agreement, employment contract or workplace policies — but these must follow the Act.
Mr Hopkins says an informal conversation with your manager presenting a strong case for flexible arrangements is a good start.
“I would say to any individual who would like a flexible work arrangement in 2025 is to look at this and reverse engineer it. So look at why it is that you want the flexible work arrangement, how it's going to be beneficial to you, and look at it from the organisation's perspective. And is there a cost associated with this? If you were going to get this flexible work arrangement, would it impact your productivity? Are there any practical elements to it, or would there be a capacity constraint, which would mean that you wouldn't get it? So all of those things need to be considered.”
Employees who qualify for these criteria are required to make their request in writing, setting out the details and reasons.
For requests that fall under the Act, employers must respond in writing within 21 days.
According to Fair Work, an employer can refuse a request "if they have reasonable business grounds and have taken certain steps".
Reasonable grounds may include cost, capacity, practicality, inefficiency or customer service impact.
Ms Wooldridge says arrangements must be monitored, and that teams require the skills to manage a more flexible working environment.
“We certainly encourage employers to be open to the conversations about the needs and wishes of their employees. And what the evidence does show is that people want to be able to work flexibly, they want to be able to manage other responsibilities that they have in addition to contributing purposefully. And that employees do feel positive in relation to that. And that's very positive in terms of the employer outcomes, productivity, and performance of the companies overall.”
