One in three employees want more flexibility but don’t ask for it: Study

One in three employees would like more flexible workplace practises but are too concerned about their career prospects to ask, a study by the University of South Australia has found.

Professor Barbara Pocock, director of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia, has called on small to medium enterprises to allow more flexibility for their employees, saying a heavy-handed approach can have a damaging impact on workforce participation and employee satisfaction.

Under current laws, employers cannot reasonably reject a request for flexible work hours by a parent with preschool-aged children or a disabled child.

Pocock says this group of employees is the right one to target first, because it has the most pressing need for flexibility.

But she says parents with children aged between five to 18, for example, and those with aged care responsibilities would also like greater freedom to ask for flexibility.

A study of 2,960 workers by Pocock and fellow researcher Natalie Skiller has found that one in five respondents receive flexibility at work, but one in three would like more flexibility but fail to ask.

This group, dubbed the “discontent non-askers”, are concerned that requests will be interpreted as a lack of commitment.

And according to Pocock, these concerns – particularly among men or workers in male-dominated industries – are justified, because there is still a negative perception about such requests.

“Men don’t ask because they believe it will send a signal to the boss that says, ‘I’m not a serious worker’,” Pocock says.

“And people think it’s okay for a mother to ask.”

Pocock warns that even though some women have greater prospects of asking for flexible workplace arrangements than other workers, for many the work/life balance is simply too hard and they drop out of the workforce while raising children.

The research also found that women were much more likely to want fewer hours, and younger workers outnumbered older workers in seeking flexibility.

Hall & Wilcox Partner Alison Baker says the idea behind requiring employers to grant reasonable flexibility requests from certain workers was to generate discussions on workforce arrangements.

Baker notes that there is nothing in place to police the employer’s response.

She expects more action in this area, to reflect the needs of women in the workforce and those looking after aged relatives.

The study comes as Pacific Brands chief executive Sue Morphet, one of Australia’s higher-profile female business leaders, calls for a “go-home-for-dinner culture”.

In a speech yesterday, Morphet said ensuring that people go home for dinner – even if they continue working after dinner from home – would allow more women to work in corporate roles.

“The upside of being a working mother is that it forces you to go home for dinner,” Morphet said.

“You do literally pack up, put stuff in your bag, go home and have dinner and then when the kids are doing their homework, you do yours, too.”