Flexible employment

The University is committed to providing a working environment which is sufficiently flexible to meet the operational requirements of the University and workload demands while accommodating, where possible, the needs of its staff members.

Quick links

Flexible Working Hours Procedures

Conversion of Appointments to Part-time for Family Care Purposes policy

Part year employment policy

Discussion questions

Use the following information to reflect on your job and work area and to help prepare a proposal for negotiating with your supervisor around flexible employment practices.

Self reflection

1. How well do you understand your job – how does it fit into the wider university operation?

2. What are the current negative things about your work/life?

3. What are the current positive things in your work/life?

4. What things can you do to make a difference to your work/life balance?

5. What changes at work are you considering and what do you hope to achieve?

6. Do you have the ability (skills, knowledge, self-discipline, positive work habits) to perform with reduced support and supervision, if that is what you are considering?

7. Are there positive things that you will miss out on because you’re not in the office?

Checklist

8. Have you analysed your options among the range of possible flexible arrangements?

9. Do you have a clear understanding of the benefits to both yourself and the university?

10. Have you identified your and the university’s needs?

11. How will your proposal impact on work unit goals?

12. What effect will it have on service delivery?

13. Is it workable?

14. How will your performance be assessed?

15. What impact will it have on your work/life balance and health and wellbeing?

16. How will it affect colleagues and clients?

17. Financial assessment – what are the costs and benefits?

18. Have you considered how your proposal would be implemented?

19. How will you allow for interaction with supervisor and coworkers?

20. Does your proposal allow for training and development?

21. How will you participate in team work?

22. Is there a need for workload or job design amendments?

23. Are you suggesting a trial period? If so, what would be a fair length of time?

24. How will success and outcomes be measured?

25. What will happen if this arrangement is unsuccessful? Will you return to your previous arrangements?

26. Is there an end date for this arrangement, when you wish to return to previous arrangements?

Example request for flexible employment

Outline the proposal:

Sue works 4 days, reducing current hours from full-time to 0.8 (9:00am to 5:00pm) for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
On Wednesday, Sam, who has been providing relief in the office and has experience with all counter (student-related) and telephone duties, would work (9:00am to 5:00pm)

Possible challenges

New PD has new duties Sue needs to learn
Sam would need to expand her current range of duties to include the full range in the PD – this would mean on the job training and FLO and Student One courses
Mary, who also knows the job, would need to undertake whatever duties Sam had not yet been trained on in the interim
On the rare occasion that a task wasn’t completed on the day she was at work, Sam would need to leave details of what was done and what needed to be done for Sue the next day

Most of the challenges are actually learning and development opportunities. The exception to this is the need for Mary to complete duties Sam has not yet trained in, and this is the current situation when Sue is not present.

Proposed ways to overcome challenges

Mary has been included in discussions and has agreed to carry out duties Sam has not yet been trained in, and to assist with Sam’s training wherever possible
Sam is very keen to learn the new duties and is prepared to be available on an increased basis (e.g. three days in a row) to do some ‘intensive’ training. She is also aware that she might need to come in on a different day depending on course availability (FLO, Student One)
Both Mary and Sue need to update training and learn the new tasks in the new position description
Mary, Sue and Sam would work as a team who shared knowledge and understanding and filled in for each other whenever necessary – in particular where there were tasks that needed to be held over from a Wednesday to a Thursday, Sue and Sam would have a system (book or register, plus email) to leave necessary instructions. Telephone (mobile) contact would be available if needed.

Benefits of proposal

experienced staff retained
customer service is more efficient, as there are always two staff in the office, except for lunch breaks
increased student satisfaction
further development provides more flexible and effective staff
increased possibilities for staff to cover for holidays, sick days etc
improved teamwork, especially collaboration and knowledge sharing
reduced absenteeism and staff stress
reduced costs because less back-fill required