Future in flexibility
Make your job a good fit, writes Melanie Burgess
FLEXIBLE work arrangements have become a top priority for so many Australians that they are now even a feature in traditionally non-flexible sectors.
Workers may be surprised by the adaptability of their boss if they simply ask, and Expert360 marketing vicepresident Hamish Grant says digital technology has enabled businesses and workers to think differently about productivity.
He says people are attracted to flexible work arrangements, including freelancing and consulting, for many reasons.
While Millennials typically want freedom, Generation X seeks to balance family and career commitments, and Baby Boomers enjoy working on their own terms.
IAG (Insurance Australia Group) has introduced phone app Switch through which its contact centre workers can earn “Flexicoins” by taking on extra shifts then spend them to make shift changes of their own.
Meanwhile, real estate agency Upside Realty lets agents work from home or structure around lifestyle.
Founder Adam Rigby says travelling to an office every morning only to leave again does not make much sense for agents.
“Agents have control over when they are available, easily blocking out the hours of the day where they aren’t able to have meetings,” he says.
Tradespeople are also able to work around life commitments, with early starts leading to early finishes that allow them to pick up children from school or pursue outdoor hobbies.
Some also negotiate four-day weeks.
SEEK resident psychologist Sabina Read says the first step to establishing a flexible arrangement is to create a proposal and schedule a one-on-one meeting with the boss.
“Bring in a full, focused suggestion,” she says. “Don’t bring the problem in, bring the solution.”
Read suggests keeping the organisation’s needs in mind, as well as their own, and detail how flexibility allows them to perform their best.
“We are trying to meet the needs of the organisation and the way we do that best is when we feel we honour our own needs,” she says.
If the idea is met with resistance, a trial is a good option.
“Often we don’t want to ask because we think we will be judged,” she says. “But if we don’t ask, we will never know.”