Flexible Work Arrangements and Just Culture

Flexible work arrangements have become more common in recent years, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, when remote work became the default for many workplaces. Flexible work arrangements are essentially departures from the traditional 9-5 office hours or from whatever the ‘normal’ work arrangements are for that industry. They can take many forms including job sharing, changes to work hours, or remote work. They have proved popular with many employees as it can enable them to fit work around caring responsibilities such as the school drop-off, spend less time commuting to the office, and attend appointments only available during business hours.

In Australia unless there are reasonable business grounds to refuse it, there is a legal obligation on employers to accommodate requests for flexible work arrangements from employees with more than 12 months standing. So, for many businesses there is a positive legal requirement to facilitate flexible work arrangements, including remote work, where it is reasonable and practical to do so (airline pilots can’t practically work from home, at least not yet!). Quite apart from legal requirements, many employees today are actively choosing job opportunities with flexible work options, so employers who want to attract the best talent will need to grapple with this.

Some employers have been very supportive of flexible work arrangements, while others have been more cautious, particularly in relation to remote work. Concerns have been raised around organisational culture, effective mentoring of junior employees, and team collaboration. So how can we navigate the question of flexible work arrangements consistently with having a just and fair workplace culture?

Supervision and Accountability

A common question is around supervision and accountability, how can I ensure my employees are actually working during the work hours if they’re not in the office? One way to approach this issue is to have work expectations based on outcomes rather than activity. Instead of expecting a certain amount of hours to be spent at the desk, expectations can be based on completion of work tasks. If an employee’s task in a given week is to draft a report on quarterly sales performance, the critical objective is that the report is completed to the required standard by the deadline, not the precise number of hours the employee spent on the task. If the employee is highly efficient and completes the report “early”, shouldn’t a fair workplace culture reward that skill and dedication?

Some employers have resorted to software and other solutions to monitor employee activity such as by tracking mouse movements and key presses. The message this sends to employees is, “we don’t trust you, we think you’re likely a bunch of thieves that given half the chance will steal from us by fraudulently pretending to work.” I can’t think of a quicker way to create a toxic and repressive workplace culture. Will there be some small subset of employees who might take advantage of flexible workplace arrangements, yes, but this can be substantially addressed by taking an outcome rather than activity approach as mentioned before. But even if it couldn’t, the losses due to reduced trust, lower productivity, lower employee engagement, and higher employee turnover resulting from a toxic workplace culture generated by use of employee monitoring software far outweighs any compliance gain.

Discussing Expectations

Having a discussion around expectations goes a long way to ensuring a flexible work arrangement functions well, just as it does in other areas of employment. Communication is a really important topic to have discussion and agreement on, particularly in the case of the remote work, so that both the employer and employee are clear on how things are going to operate. This includes things like:

• How communication will be done (phone, email etc)

• When there will be communication (availability times for meetings, timeframes for replies to email, frequency of progress updates etc)

• What will be communicated (What’s important and what’s not)

The discussion should look at communication in both directions, for example when will a manager be available to answer questions, or the timing and manner in which feedback will be given. If it is a hybrid arrangement, discussion of when the employee will be in the office (2 days a week, just for the monthly staff meeting, etc).

Workplace Culture

One of the major challenges for organisations with staff working remotely or across different work hours is how to maintain a strong workplace culture where everyone feels like part of a team working towards a shared goal. I spoke to a senior manager recently who told me one of their staff, who works remotely, was leaving their company. The manager said the employee had told him they didn’t feel like they belonged there. The manager replied, “well of course not, you’re never here.”

These kinds of challenges have led some organisations to require all employees to come back to the office, either full time or at least multiple days per week. This can often come from a genuine place of wanting to improve team collaboration, communication, and to provide better mentoring for junior staff. Remote work has been criticised for lacking the spontaneous often casual conversations where people network, share ideas, and build professional relationships. Nevertheless, the debate over these kinds of measures is a quick way to blow up the comment section of a LinkedIn post.

One approach that some organisations are adopting is providing extra annual leave for employees who spend a certain amount of time in the office each week as an incentive. It acts to compensate employees for the time they spend commuting. Certainly providing incentives is generally a more positive approach than mandates.

Other businesses, such as accounting and consulting firm Grant Thorton, have moved to a nine day fortnight. Employees who meet their objectives can take an extra day off each fortnight with full pay. Businesses that have trialled shorter work hours, such as 4 day weeks, have found increased productivity, staff retention, and profit. A shorter week or fortnight has made it easier for businesses to encourage staff to come to the office on work days as they have more time off to attend to personal tasks.

Whatever approach is taken, once again clear and genuine communication and engagement is critical. Two-way discussions of where an organisation can and can’t be flexible, and importantly, why, helps to build and maintain trust. Employees are much more likely to accept decisions, even if they ultimately disagree with them, if they feel heard, understood, and valued.

Mutual Responsibility

At the end of the day, it isn’t always possible to have our cake and eat it, sometimes there are choices with trade-offs that cannot be escaped. If an employee chooses to work remotely, there are both positive and negative consequences for that choice. As human beings we are embodied creatures, and virtual communication, even over video, doesn’t fully capture the experience as being in the same physical space as another person. The flexibility of being out of the office, with all the benefits it brings, also entails a loss of presence which no amount of accommodation can completely ameliorate. Choosing that flexibility means accepting the positive and negative consequences of that choice.

Having said that, organisations that want to build a positive workplace culture can think about and enact measures to help keep remote workers connected and engaged. You might not be able to sign a physical birthday card for a remote staff member’s birthday, but there are plenty of virtual card options around these days. Informal “water cooler” conversations without set agendas over video chat can be encouraged or even scheduled so people can “drop by” for a chat in the virtual lunch room. The organisation should also make sure that remote staff are treated fairly and equitably when considering performance, promotions and work assignments. The precise measures will be different for each workplace, but what is important is that both office and remote based staff do their part to build and maintain connection.

By extending trust, discussing and setting clear expectations, being thoughtful around communication, and fostering mutual responsibility, you can help build a just and fair culture in the organisation, helping employees and employers get the most out of flexible work arrangements.

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DISCLAIMER: This blog provides general information only, and is not intended as advice specific to your circumstances. Please contact us if you have any particular questions.