Equip your business with BOQ Erina

There is no question that for a lot of Australians, the working day will have changed in shape and form since the onset of the pandemic. Noticeably, along with flexible working arrangements such as job sharing or part time work, workplaces have embraced swaths of technology which allow for remote working. The days where a full complement of employees would arrive on site or in the office for a day’s work is a thing of the past.

However, as Dolly Parton once said, “we cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails”, and it appears that business have done just that. Back in pre-COVID 2019, only 35% of employers reported having a formal working from home policy according to research by the Australian Governments Workplace Gender Equity Agency. This number had increased last year to 71% of employers. In total, less than 2% of organisations who engaged with the research did not offer their employees any kind of formal or informal flexibility.

This modern reality has been galvanised by new Australian workplace laws. The “Secure jobs, better pay” Act has amended to the Fair Work Act regarding, among other things, flexible work entitlements. Previously, employees could request flexible work hours, but there was little recourse available to them if the request was refused. Now, in certain circumstances where flexible work has been requested and no agreement has been reached, employees are able to take an employer’s refusal to the Fair Work Commission as part of a dispute resolution process. There, an effort will then be made to reach agreement by conciliation and, where that fails, parties may receive a binding decision through arbitration.

The new legislation applies to employees which fit certain categories, such as people who are over the age of 55, and parents of school aged children or younger. Employers will be legally required to take consultative steps to reach agreement with eligible employees who request flexible work hours or arrangements.