Flexibility At Work provides leading edge training, coaching and consulting services in workplace wellness, work/life and diversity strategies; flexible work practices(fwp); relationship capital and organisational culture change.

Our innovative coaching programs apply a unique tool that enables the insights, motivation and vision for successful behavioural change. We recognise that each organisation has a unique culture and requires customised solutions to achieve successful outcomes. Our whole of organisation approach considers the strategic intent, systems, processes and people/behaviour aspects of high performing workplaces. This approach is highlighted in our organisational Change Model.

Fallon Horgan Change Model © (2004). A phased approach to change:

Working with you to achieve sustainable flexible work practices we provide assistance with each of the areas outlined in the Fallon Horgan Change Model including:

We apply a unique, internationally award winning coaching tool in our training and coaching programs that facilitates the engagement, insight and motivation needed for successful change.

Our solution will give you:

CASE STUDIES adapted from our e-book "Time On, Time Out! Flexible work solutions to keep your life in balance"
download Time On, Time Out! here

Each organisation is a unique community made up of people with individual needs. In our knowledge-based organisations, without the people there is simply no organisation. Many employers, realising that people are their most important asset, are providing individual solutions to ensure that both employees’ and business needs are being met. Organisations tend to be at different stages in relation to developing flexible work practices, ranging from those organisations that allow no flexibility to those that see it as necessary to business effectiveness and have flexible practices wholly integrated in their organisational culture. Most organisations are moving through transitional stages, from the introduction of a particular practice to overcome a specific need, to the development of more integrated policies and practices, and ultimately to these issues being integral to the success of mainstream organisational objectives.

The following cases studies provide examples of how two best-practice organisations, AMP Financial Services and the Body Shop, are dealing with the implementation of flexible practices.

AMP was recognised for its leadership in the field of flexible work practices as an Australian Financial Review/ACCI Corporate Work and Family Gold Award winner. In setting the direction for the organisation at that time, the CEO said that ‘part of the AMP’s vision is to be an employer of choice—the place to work and the people to work with’. To achieve this, flexible work practices have become an integral part of AMP’s business strategy. HR Executive Rilla Moore said that as a result of workplace flexibility:
“our rate of turnover has dropped dramatically and our return from maternity leave has increased dramatically. In 1992 the return rate of women from maternity leave was 50 per cent; it is now 90 per cent. Those benefits have a big dollar value to the business so we certainly encourage them”

She also considers that their practices enhance employees’ loyalty and support for the challenging goals of the business. Moore sees further advantages for AMP in the future competitive edge, flexibility will give the business. In particular, its ability to adapt readily to market changes, such as having a flexible workforce to be available to customers for longer periods of time. She says that:
“having flexible practices in place now is going to make it easier for us to manage the transition of business change into the future . . . rather than saying it all happens between 8 am and 6 pm, you can actually staff according to the workflow. You could have people on contracts to work 10 hours a week, from say 12 till 2, and it’s that sort of flexibility that gives you great dollar incentives. You can find many people who want to work 10 hours a week—students, mums, retired people—you just have to be flexible and creative in the way you find them."

AMP employs 5000 people in Australia and offers a range of flexible options such as part-time work, home-based work, job sharing, casual work and flexible leave arrangements. This flexibility is accessible to all employees, and people at most levels of the organisation participate in job sharing or home-based work. Many access this flexibility for family reasons but it is also used for people wanting to pursue community, academic and sporting interests or for reasons of health. For example, four employees are participating in AMP’s Olympic Job Opportunity program, in which they are given paid time off for their training. In another case a lawyer is job sharing in order to have time to write a book. Rilla Moore says that having the flexibility to work from home when the need arises is the practice that most enhances their executive recruitment. Women employees find the ability to be able to work part-time and in a flexible way particularly appealing. An example of this practice is two lawyers currently on maternity leave, who have arranged that when they are able they will work one day a week from home and gradually phase back into the workplace. Moore says
“We have simply backfilled with contract labour. So their jobs are still there, the work’s done, they have maintained their professional sense of being, and the business is not suffering at all.”

About 70 staff work from home on a permanent basis, of which there are an equal number of men and women; at management level there are more men than women. There are also about 1000 employees who are equipped to work from home on a casual basis when circumstances require this—for example, if child care fails or home maintenance is needed. AMP employee surveys have found that the benefits expressed by home-based workers included a reduction in stress, more sleep, more time with their children and for non-work activities, and enhanced effectiveness and productivity due to fewer distractions. Some managers also said that their communication and team management skills have improved as a result of home-based work, because it has forced them to focus on the issues of managing performance and communication in a new way. Diversity manager Belinda Curtis said:
“It is easy to establish the business case for flexible practices, for example, it costs us on average about $1500 to set someone up at home and if we double the tenure in the job then we know we’ve got value for money, let alone the 20 per cent increase in productivity.”

She also sees the benefit of people developing new skills, interests and capabilities that can then be applied in the workplace, for example by those employees who are using flexible practices to do community work. As Curtis says:
“The single-tracked workaholic is probably not your best model for a creative, flexible thinker who really brings the innovation that we need to be successful”.

Belinda Curtis describes the success of the Advisor Technology Helpdesk team, who have been working effectively from home for the past four years:
“half of the team are at home one week and the other half of the team are at home the second week. So each person works a week at home then a week in the office. That team has reported a 20 per cent increase in productivity. No one has resigned from that team since they started this practice, and that is quite unusual, this kind of work tends to have about an 18 month turn around. I have actually surveyed most of the people working in that team and they all say that they find it extremely valuable, they wouldn’t give it up for anything. They’ve got a very good team spirit and it’s working very well both for them personally, for the advisers and for the company.”

The team manager, Garry Rogers, explains how their work from home team operates
“ We have organised ourselves into two groups. While group one works from home, group two works in the office. On alternate weeks they swap. On Fridays everyone comes in to the office for a team meeting and training.
We provide a service to our customers until 8 p.m. every day. The people working from home cover the phones until then. This initiative has also helped us save money in taxi fares home for those working late. Each person at home has a ‘buddy’ in the office who does anything for the work-from-home person that can only be done in the office. A direct, priority telephone line into the office gives work-from-home people immediate access to assistance.
When someone calls in to the help desk they can’t tell whether they’re talking to someone in the office or home. Some people feel isolated with long periods at home, so occasionally they will come into the office on a home day. It’s also important to make everyone feel a part of the team, and that’s something we constantly work at. We are very conscious of maintaining the team’s morale and dynamics. We use a call logging system with a broadcast facility. When someone types in a message it pops up on everyone’s screen. It is used for passing around work information as well as keeping in touch with one another. In my opinion it is the single best thing we have ever done in our team that has benefited AMP and the staff. They see working from home as a real benefit of working at AMP. I know a number of key staff would have moved on without it.”

AMP also provides employees with a range of flexible leave arrangements. These include five days of personal emergency leave per year and the use of sick leave to care for sick dependents. Annual leave can be taken in short blocks, such as one day or a few hours for up to five days a year, and unpaid leave can be taken for family purposes. AMP was the first private sector company to introduce six weeks’ paid parental leave for men. In the first two and half years of its inception 60 men took parental leave the average time taken was five weeks but some took more than six weeks, topping it up with unpaid parental leave, which is available for up to 52 weeks for the primary carer. Many of these men prefer to take the leave when their partner re-enters the workforce. Belinda Curtis advises:

The men are saying that they really get a lot out of it. One of our senior managers has taken 6 weeks’ paid parental leave twice. He found the experience fantastic and has strongly encouraged the men reporting to him to take the paid parental leave because it’s just so good for the relationship with the family . . . they’re also finding out that it’s not impacting negatively on their careers. Our CEO has expressed the view that people need to have balanced lives and that your workaholic, 70 hour a week manager is not the ideal manager, and it’s not to him an indication of someone who’s ready for the next promotion.

AMP has a keep-in-touch philosophy, encouraging managers or someone from within their team to keep those on parental leave up to date with the business. To bridge the gap between home and work life AMP hosts family picnic days and in 1997 a ‘Kids to Work’ day. Periodically, parents and children are invited in for lunch and a business update from senior managers. A private room has been equipped and made available at the main office for women who want to return to work while they are breast-feeding. Similar facilities are being considered at other AMP offices.

A national Dependent Care Information and Referral Service, assists employees caring for children, the elderly or disabled dependents. AMP continually evaluates the effectiveness of its programs, and its 1997 Climate Survey revealed that 75 per cent of employees believe that managers consider their work and personal life balance. They are actively pursuing cultural change that focuses on results rather than time spent in the office, on collaboration and shared responsibility, and on supporting the implementation and maintenance of flexible practices. Their business strategy is linked to a focus on the needs of employees.

The AMP story and many other case studies of organisations and individuals that have succeeded with flexible working arrangements are now available in the e-book, "Time On, Time Out!" access Time On, Time Out! here

CASE STUDY 2 - THE BODY SHOP

The Body Shop is a global retail and manufacturing operation, with franchisees running their own businesses in over 1650 shops around the world. The very profitable business endeavours to pursue social and environmental change and to balance the financial and human needs of employees and other stakeholders. This involves acting on its values by, for example, independently auditing its social and environmental performance, supporting shop staff to become involved in their local community, creating happy and healthy work environments, and empowering employees to be responsible for creating the organisation’s culture. As founder Anita Roddick sees it, in the workplace ‘the parent has to be served, child development needs to be supported, families welcomed and values explored and protected’

The Body Shop endeavours to integrate work and personal life in response to the needs expressed by its employees. Roddick described to me the way in which flexible work practices have evolved in her organisation: Our staff said six years ago ‘We want a child development centre’ and we did it. We want to continue our personal education, so every member of our staff can spend a hundred pounds a year learning anything they want. Paternity leave is really strong. In America we do something quite radical—we give same sex partners medical insurance. For staff who don’t have access to our office daycare facilities, their childcare is subsidised.

Roddick sees the reciprocity expected for such investment in terms of support, education and training as that she wants staff to share their ideas and relationships; she says also: ‘We want them to stay, we value them’. In Australia The Body Shop has won awards for its commitment to assisting its employees balance their work and family lives. Its philosophy is highlighted in a work-life statement, which recognises there is no division made between an employee’s life at or away from The Body Shop; these two areas are a part of an employee’s whole life. Recognising this we are eager to provide assistance for employees to maintain a healthy balance between these two parts of their lives.

The organisation endeavours to respond to the needs expressed by its employees for a flexible work environment. These issues have been placed on the agenda through a ‘balancing work and family survey’, through monthly meetings of representatives from all areas of the organisation, and by giving staff permission to ask. An example of this permission is found in the ‘elder care kit’, which states, ‘as new needs arise we will consider ways in which the company can assist an employee. This might be through the provision of leave, services advice or information to assist the employee with their particular need—anything can be discussed’. The Body Shop’s flexible workplace initiatives, which support employees’ ability to integrate work and personal lives, include the following. Family supportive practices

The benefits of introducing these family-oriented practices have included a decline in staff turnover and a growing rate of return from parental leave. A Manager describes his experience of working for The Body Shop for the past 10 years:

The Body Shop has offered me a secure job, development of my skills, training in new skills, contact with the community around me, and an environment that has become like a second home. As a sole parent for all of the ten years I have had peace of mind, knowing that where the family is concerned, whether it be children or aged parents, their support and understanding has been there.

Ongoing training is encouraged for all staff. This includes internal training in courses such as customer care, management, sales and technical skills; external training in courses such as computer skills, ‘train the trainer’ and self-defence for women; a video and book library; a $200 subsidy towards the cost of non-vocational education and reimbursement of training expenses for retail support staff undertaking tertiary courses relevant to their positions. Staff on parental leave can also access appropriate training sessions. Employee wellbeing is supported in numerous ways. Their ‘health awareness plan’ aims to raise awareness and gain involvement in health issues effecting employees’ lives. Seminars on celebrating health and managing alcohol and drugs as well as a course on enhancing energy levels continue to be held for employees.

Each staff member is supported in contributing to the community by being involved in community projects during work time. Projects have included the development of a playground at Perth Zoo for children with disabilities; massages for people with HIV; child care staff working with families in crisis; and the recording of two weekly newspapers for print-handicapped readers. Through its approach to its employees’ lives, The Body Shop promotes the development of the whole person, who in return can contribute the richness of such a life to the workplace.

The full Body Shop case study and many other outstanding success stories are now available in the e-book, "Time On, Time Out!" download Time On, Time Out! here

To discuss how Flexibility At Work can partner with you to create a flexible, high performing workplace please contact us today. Email:
kerry@flexibility.com.au

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