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Expert opinion

Flexibility - just do it! posted by Juliet Bourke - 27 November 2008

Flexibility - just do it! That's the message I hear from the "converted". As though managing a flexible workforce were the easiest thing to do, and not the challenge that it is.

A little acknowledgement that flexible work practices require a new way of thinking about work, and some assistance with making practical changes, would go a long way.

Yesterday I heard a senior leader express his commitment to embedding flexibility into his business (it was one of Australia's leading banks), his acknowledgement of the demographically driven economic imperatives of flexibility (read here: the increased number of women in the workforce and ageing population) AND an acknowledgement that managers may need some hand-holding when entering this brave new world. What a relief. Now managers in his business can ask for a helping hand.

When we acknowledge that implementing flexibility is a challenge, especially for managers who have not gone through their own flexibility experience (e.g. working in a job-share - and frankly, how many people have done that?), we can create a space for a more open conversation about what managers need to implement flexible work practices.

Fortunately there is some recent research (see the 2008 Flexibility and Diversity Survey at EEONA) that gives us strong insights into what managers will be looking for:

1. Information - i.e. what does flexibility look like, who wants it, who's doing it;

2. Confidence - i.e. the deal with potential problems that might arise, and to know which points of resistance to flexibility are real, and which are in the nature of myth (e.g. "people who work part-time are not committed to having a career": wrong. Just like people who work full-time, some people want a career and some don't).

3. Implementation skills - e.g. to establish a flexible work arrangement, to have a conversation with an employee about the options, and how to measure whether the arrangement is working or not.

I am looking forward to hearing sophisticated conversations about flexibility than the "Just do it" (or "here is our flexibility policy"). For organizations to really get on top of this flexibility story we need to give managers the space to talk through their concerns, and the practical skills that will make implementation easier.

Juliet Bourke is a partner at Human Capital, Deloitte.

Extract from Open Forum.