What’s the fuss about workplace flexibility?
15 November 2019 at 4:47 pm
We sit down with the experts to find out the best way to do it.
Offering flexible working arrangements is an attractive incentive to not only bring in new staff from diverse backgrounds but retain staff. We sat down with Shane Donohoe from SD Talent to find out why it’s important, and the best ways to do it.
Hey Shane, so firstly, why is offering flexibility in your job important?
We are currently facing a critical skills shortage in certain areas of work, and we need to look at ways of attracting these people to the business, but also making it possible for them to participate in the business flexibly, and stay in the workforce.
Can you tell me about a time where flexible work has worked really well?
MYOB recently added five flex leave days for their employees to use on top of their 20 normal leave days. They saw that as an investment on commitments from the employees based on that additional five days of leave. MYOB’s now saying it has less staff turnover and a more committed workforce.
What does an organisation need to consider before they offer flexible working arrangements?
In a team of staff, each member of that team is impacted by any one of those members taking flexible options. So it’s not so much about the individual and what needs to happen for them, it’s about how the team can deliver with one person using the flexible work arrangements.
What I’d suggest is some kind of agreement from the team or some form of charter and commitment for flexible delivery of work.
What are some of the flexible work options organisations should be thinking about?
Working from home is obviously a big one, but they need to think about if the person has to physically be at the organisation with the questions on hand, and are they prepared to invest in the technology that enables that person to do their particular work from home?
Flexible work arrangements can also cross over with wellbeing programs such as getting a physio to come in and give staff back massages, or letting staff take time off to go to doctors’ appointments.
I used to work for an organisation which offered flexible work arrangements – work from home for all staff with different levels and percentage. This worked really well for front line staff and as a management staff member I had to learn to put boundaries as I had the tendency to work over the 8 hours, which meant work never ended. Overall I ended up being very strong in my priorities and boundaries to separate work life and home life so that I looked after my self care, too. I must say that it saved me hours on travel and this was very positive.