Yours in Flexibility

Once a practicing lawyer at Blake Dawson, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, recalls one conference where she first saw the depth of emotion that ”flexible work” issues can evoke. At a Law Society event some years ago, Broderick recalls, one man who interrupted her session from the back of the room: “No sooner had I mentioned the term ‘part time lawyer’ than this gentleman stood up and said: ‘You’re not suggesting a part-time lawyer are you? Who is going to look after the family?’” These days, the Commissioner is more concerned with pushing better opportunities for working families but the experience isn’t an isolated event. “There’s this issue of ‘I did this the hard way and so should you’,” says Broderick.

Recently, a number of events saw flexible work pushed into the headlines. Broderick released her report on her Listening Tour of Australia and daily papers pushed the issue well into the spotlight with saturated coverage across the spectrum. Meanwhile in Sydney, the 19th Women, Management and Employment Relations Conference put flexibility as a central theme affecting women in the workplace.

Broderick told the conference: “It’s like someone has handed us this construct called ‘work’ and said that we can’t change it. We need to have a transformation about what work actually is.”

At Mallesons Stephen Jaques, chief executive partner Robert Milliner says the firm is moving to alter this construct. “Work interferes with family, family interferes with work,” he says. And he’s looking to do something about it by altering the firm’s cultural attitude to flexible work. It’s easier said than done though, because Milliner has found that given the nature of a global law firm, there are a number of competing pressures involved, from technology to travel, and the fact that somewhere in the world there’s always a market switched on.

But technology is also making flexible work a reality. No longer is it necessary to get to the office – the office can easily, and cost effectively be set up at home. As well, technology can be a curse – leaving an employee eternally online. Milliner says a flexible working arrangement can only be built on effective communications in the workplace and at home. In the community, says Milliner, “we still have a long way to go in terms of the rhetoric.”

Then there is the need to overcome the psychological factors, often engrained in us by the way our parents and grandparents worked. Milliner explains: “There is this fear that people have they will be replaced. It gets into complex psychological issues.”

A study released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Network put flexibility at its heart in examining the state of diversity in Australian workplaces. The survey of 48 diversity practitioners representing 250,000 employees found that flexibility is being hindered by a lack of knowledge in understanding what the arrangement means and how it’s done. More than half of managers, the study found, simply don’t have the knowledge to know why flexibility is important, and many of them are concerned by how such arrangements could impact on the business.

Commenting on the survey, employment lawyer Juliet Bourke from Aequus Partners, says managers don’t have the confident to open the perceived Pandora’s box on the issues they believe may emerge by promoting flexible working arrangements. Bourke finds that a number of concerns are holding managers back; and that the “What do I do if everyone wants flexible hours, what if it’s not working?” worries are particularly daunting.

But, says Bourke, by focusing on the benefits to the business, such concerns can easily be avoided. The business bottom line could actually be boosted through flexible working arrangements, she says. Productivity – often a concern of managers – is coming into focus as a spin-off of flexibility, by reducing absenteeism, and improving commitment as well as the health of employees. This year’s study from the Forest University School of Medicine in the US of 3193 employees found that health and wellbeing over time is the beneficiary of flexibility. By analysing data from health risk appraisals, the researchers concluded on how an increase or decrease in flexibility from one year to another could impact on the health of an employee. A decrease in sick days was found from increased flexibility, with work-related impairment limited and an overall improved commitment to the job cited.

Kate Rimer, executive director people and development at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, believes the mindset that once confronted Broderick on flexible work practices is still very much alive today. Despite applying for jobs where she was asked if having a child had “hindered her ability to work”, Rimer overcame such stigmas to now be working a flexible arrangement that allows her to forgo pay for additional holidays.

Rimer finds that a significant barrier to flexible work practices is the lack of managers taking up the cause. “Im yet to see a critical mass of females in senior roles saying their jobs can be adjusted,” she told the audience at the Women, Management and Employment Relations Conference. “So I’m cautiously optimistic about how far we’ve come.”

She says that her ability to ask for flexible arrangements has come directly from her mentors, but at times, some so-called mentors may hold employees back. “There are still some women in organisations who I call the ‘queen bees’ who don’t support the flexible work practices,” says Rimer.

Today, the once part-time lawyer and now full-time politician Elizabeth Broderick says she would be keen on having the opportunity to lead by example by incorporating flexible work practices. “If we’re going to get change, we need leaders to model the change,” she says.