Mums returning to work - how flexible do I need to be?

I had three children in three years – mad I hear you say! Quite possibly, but you don’t realise this when you are in the thick of it. I was very lucky to work for a progressive, professional services firm and I was able to return to work when the kids were a couple of months old; I worked two days per week from home. This was the best outcome for me as we needed the money, but I was physically close to my kids and still able to breastfeed. We had a nanny too (as anyone who has attempted to work at home with children will be aware that there is no other way!) I was part of a global team so a lot of my time was spent on global conference calls at 9 - 12pm or 5am - 7am in the morning, when my husband could cover the kids while they were ‘technically’ asleep.

Some ABS statistics that did surprise me in 2001 showed that men accounted for 65% of the full-time workforce and women 35% but, surprisingly, in 2011 the percentage breakdown remains the same. The story is different when you look at the part-time workforce in 2001; men accounted for 28% of the workforce and women 72%. In 2011, men accounted for 30% of the part-time workforce (more Dads sharing the raising of children) and women 70%. So I read into this that more women are returning to full-time work, when what I expected to see was an increase in part-time work available to women. I think that these statistics are disappointing when technology makes it so easy to work both remotely and flexibly.

With the introduction of the Fair Work Act in January 2010, all employers in Australia now have a formal process to follow concerning the timeframes relevant when responding to requests for flexible working from a parent with a child under 6. This does not mean that you have to grant their every desire but you do need to see whether working from home or reducing their hours is an option, even on a temporary basis. If you refuse, you must do so on reasonable business grounds. If you insisted that they return to their role on a full time capacity you may well be hearing from the FWA Ombudsman. You would need to prove that your business will suffer financially, without this individual returning to their full-time role.

Some examples of flexible working arrangements are:

·         Changes to hours of work; i.e. part-time or flexi-time

·         Changes in patterns of work; i.e. a compressed working week, or adjusted start and finish times

·         Working from home

·         Job sharing with another employee

·         Bringing a child to work

·         Office transfer

·         Self rostering
 

·         Leave variations; i.e. extended unpaid leave

Please let me know your thoughts and experience in the feedback section below.  I would love to hear from you.

In my experience, most employees who receive this type of flexibility work even harder for your organisation. So if you show your employees that they matter to you they will respond in kind!

Natasha Hawker owns Employee Matters Pty Ltd; an HR Consultancy that assists small to medium businesses with their HR functions to make them more efficient and profitable. Their offering includes HR Management, Recruitment, Training, Coaching, and Exit Management – find them at www.employeematters.com.au