Insights: Embracing flexible working

New ways of working are here to stay. Flexibility is a priority not only for employees but also employers, who see the benefits it brings to the bottom line. Human Resources spoke with three organisations to learn more about what flexibility looks like in practice and what advice they would give HR professionals when seeking to make a difference.

Southern Cross

Flexible working at Southern Cross means that every one of its 800 employees can choose to work where they want within New Zealand. Staff can’t choose the number of hours they work (this is contractually agreed) but they can choose when and where they work those hours. Contact centre employees are rostered to cover the call centre’s opening hours, which they can choose to do at home or in the office. It’s a forward-thinking approach and one that appears to be working.

“There’s no need to apply,” says Vicki Caisley, Chief People and Strategy Officer at Southern Cross Health Society. “Although if someone is planning to work from a different city, we prefer they let their leader know.”

Vicki says the critical question employees should ask themselves is where they can work to get the best outcome for the business. If that means working from home, Southern Cross gives its employees the freedom to do that. If their office is at home, staff are fully equipped to work from home because everything is stored in the cloud. Goals and expectations are clearly communicated, so it’s less relevant where someone works.

The success of such a bold move has been two-fold. The organisation’s purposeful and values-driven culture means there is enormous transparency from leaders. Priding themselves on their transparency, leaders are known to give as much information to employees as soon as possible. “We expect this same transparency in return from our people,” says Vicki. “Our leaders need to lead differently, of course, with a rise in the development of soft skills to ensure they are communicating well.”

The second success factor was the introduction of an external coach for the executive team. This coach aimed to help the leadership team establish with absolute clarity the definition of what flexible working is at Southern Cross. Is New Zealand our workplace? Who pays for the travel when a team meeting is booked in Auckland and people have to travel from home to get there? The coach facilitated some of these crunchy conversations in order to answer these vital questions.

The result is a ‘playbook’, or guidebook, of principles for flexible working based on the concept of the business being ‘with’ its people:

• You’re with Southern Cross – to achieve our business outcomes

• You’re with your team – for collaboration and engagement

• We’re with you – when you do the best work of your life.

The ‘playbook’ isn’t set in concrete and will remain a live document as the business learns more about new ways of working. The company is open to change, but it’s a great start to a potentially complex area of employment.

The benefits so far have been numerous, such as younger employees being able to save money for the first time due to reduced commuter and parking expenses.

An employee engagement survey in May 2020 showed a significant lift in engagement, with the reduced commuting time fundamentally changing people’s lives.

This flexible working model has not been without its challenges. The main challenge comes with ensuring consistent application of the model by managers. “This is unchartered territory,” says Vicki. “For some leaders, getting the balance right for their teams remains a challenge, but there have certainly been more upsides than downsides.”

Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand

Before COVID-19, flexible working happened in pockets of the Coca-Cola Amatil business. The organisation wanted to take this further and make flexible working accessible to all departments, where possible. The pandemic accelerated this process and got leaders thinking more creatively about how flexible working could work for its people and the business.

So, in 2020, Coca-Cola Amatil launched Flex@Amatil, a framework that provides a simple way to access flexibility and have open conversations about how it can be structured. It focused on four

pillars of flexibility (time, location, additional leave, and hours) while acknowledging that flexible arrangements can take different forms. With the nature of the manufacturing business, various departments and role types need to be considered, so it was important to design flexibility that meets everyone’s needs.

“Ultimately, we want to create a workplace that our people enjoy and want to be part of,” says Susan Lowe, general manager of people and culture. “The new framework allows people to have balance in their lives while acknowledging the importance of our company culture and our commitment to our customers.”

The framework provides an element of flexibility to all 1,200 employees, regardless of their specific job requirements, so all people can access the benefits flexible working provides.

“At Coca-Cola Amatil NZ we recognise the value of flexibility and how it can help us shape an inclusive organisation – one that empowers our people and enhances engagement and diversity,” says Susan. “Our people are at the centre of everything we do, and a long time ago we saw that flexible working allows our people to balance work and life, and ultimately bring their best self to work.”

Since introducing the framework, the company has seen uptake of flexible working across all departments. The business has seen increased productivity and efficiency, reduced absenteeism and enhanced employee engagement. In addition, by working differently, the business has been able to reach customers in ways that work best for them.

An important challenge to introducing flexible working more widely in the business was tackling the traditional views on what flexible working is. During the early stages of the March–April 2020 lockdown, concerns over productivity were front of mind, but the reality saw productivity increase and people putting in more discretionary effort. This helped challenge mindsets, but the organisation still needed to take people on a journey and normalise flexible working post-lockdown. This included giving managers and employees the tools needed to ensure success within departments and the business overall.

Coca-Cola Amatil’s top five tips when introducing flexible working:

1. Let your vision and values guide you.

2. Ensure your systems and technology support your outcome.

3. Equip managers and leaders with the tools needed.

4. Ensure you’ve heard the needs of the business when developing a framework.

5. Evaluate success and gather feedback from both the people and the business.

Ernst and Young Una Diver, Partner, People Advisory Services at Ernst and Young (EY), knows a thing or two about flexible working. Una leads the Reward practice, who consult to clients on all aspects of financial and non-financial reward, so she has spent years working with clients around structuring their flexible work offerings.

“We’ve always had quite a progressive view of flexibility, flexitime and flexiplace at EY,” says Una. “We focus – now more than ever before – on people getting the work done in a way that works for them. If you can match the needs of the business with the needs of the individuals, you will see people who can deliver their best.”

A plethora of flexible options existed before COVID-19. For example, term-time hours, flexible parental leave, professional secondments, and sabbaticals were all on offer. The ‘when’ and ‘where’ of work was also very much a flexible approach. For a professional services firm, client visits are the norm, so it was about encouraging this partnership of office and home working.

In addition, a permanent full-time wellbeing coordinator has been employed in the Auckland office.

With an exercise room on site, the wellbeing coordinator offers stretch breaks three times a day and other exercise classes, which are also available to all EY offices around New Zealand via Zoom.

The suite of wellbeing offerings has certainly flexed with COVID-19. EY employed a catering team at the Auckland office pre-COVID-19 to provide catering for external clients who came in for meetings. Changes to the way clients interact (more virtual meetings) meant demand for their services reduced. But, not wanting to lose these staff, EY instead set up a service where the team deliver breakfasts, lunches and coffees to people’s desks. Staff are now also able to order pantry items and take-home meals using this in-house service.

“It’s all about holistic flexibility,” says Una. “With approximately 850 staff on site at our Auckland office, it made sense to be able to be responsive to the needs of staff, and save jobs at the same time.”

In its work producing COVID-19 Pulse surveys, EY has seen important trends emerging. From the 57 responses from human resources leaders it received in its latest edition of the survey (December 2020), 58 per cent of organisations noted that workforce health and wellbeing is their main challenge. This is an increase of 24 per cent from the previous survey (October 2020). Similarly, it was no surprise to see employee wellbeing as the most important people priority, reported by most respondents (72 per cent).

While flexible work has become a new standard worldwide, the challenge is ensuring it remains accessible to everyone, not just specific demographics, jobs or departments. Because flexible working is continuously evolving, it’s important to keep an eye out for what the next iteration may look like.

Una encourages HR professionals to get answers to key questions before progressing with a flexible working approach.

• What does wellness mean to you as an organisation?

• How do you get flexibility to work for everybody?

• What resources do you have available? Remember, it doesn’t need to cost a lot of money.