[Australasian Law Management Journal,Marketing & Business Development,People Management(HR),Strategy & Leadership] November 17, 2017

It has become a buzz term in modern professional services firms, but workplace flexibility must be properly understood and implemented if it is to deliver results for employees and law firms, writes Leonie Green.

In many quarters, workplace flexibility is increasingly seen as the ‘new norm’.

What does this mean, however, for your firm and what do you need to consider when it comes to ‘stretching’ your workplace model to accommodate more flexible options? In any case, is it worth it?  Flexibility can mean many different things (it is by name, and nature, flexible). It can refer to non-standard hours; working from home; working part-time; taking extended leave to study, to care for children, to travel; or simply returning emails on your smartphone on your way home. The list goes on.

It is not surprising, given the length and breadth of options when it comes to flexibility, that many firms find themselves asking: are we really meant to be stretching this far?

Three factors to contemplate

The initial question to consider is: why stretch in the first place? Let us be clear, flexibility can involve a significant adjustment to the way we work, the way we manage our employees and the way we plan for the future – it requires new ways of thinking about how we work. So why do it?

Well, the first reason to consider a ‘stretch’ is legislative. Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), certain categories of employees have the right to request flexible working arrangements. Importantly, this is a right to request, not to get, but it is incumbent upon the employer to respond to such flexible work requests within 21 days – either by accepting the request and working through how it will operate in reality, or by refusing the request, on the basis of reasonable business grounds. So, in some instances, if you cannot come up with sound and appropriate (reasonable) business grounds, flexibility will be something you will need to accommodate.

The second reason to consider a stretch is on the basis of fairness and equity – that is, extending the ‘right to request’ to all employees, rather than restricting it to those with a legislative right to request. Why do this? Well, by providing the legislative right only, you risk alienating employees who have other reasons for seeking flexibility, and who can otherwise feel they are carrying the load of employees who can access such flexibility.

Sadly, it is not an uncommon complaint from those working full-time without access to flexibility. This may be about how work is assigned and managed across the team, including those working flexibly, but in my experience it is usually more about employees feeling they cannot access the flexible option themselves. That is, flexibility is not a shared right, but rather a restricted access right within the workplace.

The third, and related, reason to consider a stretch is to ensure you are tapping into what might matter most to your employees, and thereby engaging them sufficiently so they work as productively as possible – giving you their (sometimes elusive) discretionary effort. Ever-increasing numbers of employees are indicating that flexibility is a key benefit they are testing out with prospective employers. If firms do not provide an element of flexibility, they risk being able to attract star performers, or fully engaging with key players.

Changing expectations – for firms and workers

Critically, flexibility is connected to the way work has changed over time. Most employees have the ability to be connected to work 24 hours a day via smartphones. Many employees recognise that they have been stretched beyond the norm through the various technological changes, and they see workplace flexibility as a means of really evening up the load. It enables them to work on their terms, but still deliver the end product expected of them.

Many firms have benefited from employees’ access to around-the-clock technology, so employee-focused flexible work options are a way of ensuring it is a win-win. This leads us to the key to any flexibility model – the need for consistency of expectations and measurement of performance (not just for employees working flexibly, but for all employees). Team and individual budgets for firms are the easiest, but not the only, measures worth considering.

Think more broadly about what you expect each of your team members to contribute to the firm, whether it is mentoring, business development, people management and so forth. Set clear and reasonable expectations and then, regardless of how flexibly or inflexibly an employee works, hold them to those expectations.

Key things to consider when implementing flexibility:

• Design: consult with your employees as to what flexibility means to them, and consider what approach best works for your firm – design a win-win approach.
• Detail: outline expectations around budgetary, behavioural and business contributions for all employees.
• Document: capture any formal arrangements in relation to flexible work practices to ensure clarity of the arrangement for all, and document by way of policy (designed above) what flexibility means for your workplace.
• Dialogue: flexible working arrangements should never be a set and forget. There should be open dialogue about how it is working, what needs tweaking and what is working well. Don’t shy away from the conversation – if it is going well, acknowledge this. If it is not, open the dialogue to determine what might need to change.

Workplace flexibility, as with muscle flexibility, is about stretching ourselves, but stretching to improve our collective strength and ability to deliver to our clients. It is not about flexibility that risks business, but rather flexibility that builds a better business.

Leonie Green is a co-founder and director of the Corvus Group, a workplace and legal advisory firm with more than 20 years of senior legal and HR experience working in Australian and international companies. She practised as an employment and industrial relations lawyer for a number of years prior to moving into management roles in industrial relations, shared services and human resources. She can be contacted via email at leonie@corvusga.com.au.