For parents, especially women, juggling the conflicting demands of work and family, workplace flexibility has long been a holy grail.
We recognize that women bear the burden of childcare responsibilities. Despite ongoing discussion on the subject, we’ve made little progress toward actual and significant change in how we operate.
COVID-19’s arrival, on the other hand, may have unintentionally solved the issue for us. Employers have been compelled to dramatically rethink their workplaces due to government-imposed lockdowns. For the last two years, working from home and making flexible arrangements have been a part of our daily routine. Many Australian employees, especially women, found themselves combining work and home-schooling their children during the height of the 2020 shutdown. Many had to beg their employers for flexibility in their working arrangements to handle both.
We researched what employees wanted in terms of flexible work schedules. The results have been published in the Forum of the UNSW Law Journal.
The survey was aimed at all professionals balancing family duties, although women made up the large majority of those who responded.
Changes in the start and finish times, temporary reductions in hours so they could home-school, and flexibility when they did work, such as working late or on weekends to make up hours, were among their demands.
Some professionals could better combine work and family commitments by not having to travel to work or drop off and pick up children from school. Others needed to make temporary adjustments to their work schedules, such as an earlier start or end time.
Fortunately, many participants reported that their employer’s reaction was positive. As a consequence of the epidemic, a growing percentage of employers believe they are more likely to accept flexible working arrangements in the future.
According to recent statistics from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, four out of every five businesses have a written policy for flexible working arrangements, and 65 percent believe that both men and women will be permitted to use them in the future.
According to the Productivity Commission, working from home and flexible work has become considerably more prevalent, acceptable, and anticipated by firms and individuals.
Making those temporary, flexible work arrangements permanent is front of mind as the epidemic diminishes, and Australia’s record-low jobless rate is assisting.
Employees with demonstrated ability to produce even while working from home are gaining negotiating leverage as the competition for talent heats up. Many companies would not have contemplated such agreements before the epidemic in most situations.
While the previous two years have been challenging for both employers and employees, they have allowed us to reconsider how working circumstances may be improved to better fit women, and we should seize the opportunity.
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