Mastering Flexible Working Arrangements: Ensuring Compliance and Nurturing a Positive Company Culture

Most companies want to do the right thing.

You want to provide flexible working arrangements for employees who need them, but still ensure that you maintain a positive company culture and can meet your operational requirements.

The rules for responding to flexible working requests change to be more complex from next Tuesday. To keep doing the right thing, employers will need to ensure that they consider requests from eligible employees (including those who are pregnant, carers, or experiencing family and domestic violence) and provide a written response within 21 days. If you can’t provide the working arrangement your employee wants, you’ll need to say why and explain whether there are any work changes you can accommodate. You also need to explain to employees that they can dispute the business’s decision and how!  If the parties can’t sort things out themselves, the FWC can now arbitrate eligible flex work requests and order employers to make changes to employees’ working arrangements.

We can help you with this. Workable Law & IR can review your policies & templates, provide advice and training, or assist your business resolve disputes. Reach out for more information.