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Flexible working is here to stay. Everyone, including Australian employers, knows it. But the nation’s bosses are asking for an employee trade-off in order to maintain its presence.
New research from recruiter Robert Half found Australian employers are growing increasingly warm to flexible working and its benefits, but many are requiring certain concessions from their employees, including increasing the frequency of their office visits.
This closely aligns with findings from KPMG’s 2023 CEO Outlook report which indicated nearly two-thirds of global chief executive officers expect hybrid working’s death to occur by 2025. However, the inability to fluctuate between working from home and the office doesn’t necessarily spell the end of flexible working arrangements, which extend beyond working location into alternate working hours or extra days off.
According to Robert Half, the most commonly employed flexible benefit by Australian bosses is allowing work to be conducted within flexible working hours, as opposed to the traditional nine-to-five slot, which 49 per cent of respondents said they offered.
This is followed by access to additional leave days, such as mental health days (45 per cent), allowing hybrid working for three or more days per week (44 per cent), and allowing staff to choose which days they come into the office (42 per cent).
Moving forward, and as the age of dying hybrid working nears, nearly two-thirds of employers plan on introducing shortened working weeks, with 37 per cent intending to allow staff to complete the same number of hours in four days as they traditionally would in five, while 35 per cent plan on implementing a nine-day fortnight.
Australian employers aren’t introducing these flexible working arrangements without expectation of employees coming to the table and offering something in return.
Nicole Gorton, director at Robert Half, said while “flexibility in the workplace unlocks new doors”, it doesn’t exist without employers “giving something up”.
“Employers are re-establishing their ‘normality’ and are rethinking their policies around flexible work”, she added, noting many Australian business leaders are “striving to find a harmonious middle ground between staff autonomy and the face-to-face contact they have with employees”.
As such, the survey found 71 per cent of employers expect their staff to engage in some give and take in order to receive flexible benefits, with spending time in the office the most commonly required trade-off.
Of this portion of employers requiring a trade-off, 37 per cent expect employees to work from the office most (four to five) days of the week, 25 per cent require staff to work from the office more often than they do now, while 23 per cent admit to lowering salaries to those dished out when the traditional nine-to-five weekly hours are worked.
“While flexibility breeds contentment, companies also know that these options are essential to attract and maintain talented individuals,” Ms Gorton said.
At the end of August, recruitment company Hays indicated a sustained talent shortage, as well as reshaped retention strategies, would be one of the dominant workplace trends throughout the 2023–24 financial year.
She stated trade-offs for flexible benefits are all good and well but “something needs to balance that compromise if businesses want workers back in the office more often”.
In her eyes, “providing reasons that are framed with purposeful attendance is one way to make commuting to the office worthwhile”.
“For example, some companies are offering training and development opportunities to upskill and reskill, giving the office environment a real sense of purpose while also satisfying staff desires to keep pace with change.”
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