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Searching for Flexibility
with Kate Sykes
(founder of www.careermums.com.au)
Trying to ‘balance work and family’ is the catch-cry of many parents these days. Work is a necessity for most people, but they don’t want it to be at the expense of seeing their children grow up. With the national skills shortage on the rise, more and more Australian organisations are realising the need to provide flexible working hours; work from home, part-time and job-share opportunities to their employees. There has never been a better time for parents to negotiate a flexible re-entry back into the workplace.
Family friendly employers include organisations that offer their employees (both men and women) working arrangements and support services that provide more flexibility and work life balance.
Read the following family friendly characteristics & compare your employer:
1. Flexible working hours that include negotiable start and finish times and or negotiable days of work
2. Part time and job sharing opportunities
3. Provide paid parental leave
4. Offer a childcare subsidy; on site care facility or vacation care
5. Allow employees to work core or shift hours to suit their family situation
6. Offer work-from-home arrangements
7. Provide return-to-work support and training for employees eg: allow ‘phased–in’ approach to return to work
8. Provide career mentoring and coaching to retain valuable employees
9. Provide employees with more annual leave than the average 4 weeks and additional carer’s leave
10. Actively promote work life balance through company policies eg: restricted meetings; no start before 9am or after 4pm
11. Allow parents to bring children to work in emergencies or subsidise the cost of an emergency carer
12. Offer shorter, compressed working week
To assist you in your search for a flexible job, please find the following tools:
• Information on Working From Home
• How to Negotiate With Employers
• Suggested part time options that you may like to explore with your employer
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