Malcolm Turnbull wants businesses to aid work-life balance with more flexible hours

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has encouraged businesses to be more flexible and family-oriented — saying one of the biggest barriers’ to work-life balance is employers’ lack of imagination.

Malcolm Turnbull launches Mia Freedman's book entitled Work Strife Balance in Surry Hills yesterday. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has encouraged businesses to be more flexible and family-oriented — saying one of the biggest barriers’ to work-life balance is employers’ lack of imagination.

Companies do not need to tie employees down to a 9am to 5pm regimen, Mr Turnbull said. Workplaces should focus on what employees produce — not the hours of face-time they have in the office.

“You know, so much of that challenge to find the ideal balance or get closer to it, depends on having more flexible workplaces,” he said.

Mr Turnbull said workplaces can be “much, much more flexible with all the technology we have today”.

“All of us can lead more flexible lives that enable us better to get that work-life balance, that family balance, family-work balance to achieve that more easily nowadays.”

The Prime Minister said companies should make more use of technology such as Whatsapp and Google Docs.

“I mean workplaces can be much, much more flexible with all of the technology we have today,” he said.

“But often employers are lacking in imagination, fail to realise that with all of the collaborative tools that we’ve got, whether it’s Whatsapp or Google Docs or just simply the ability to be connected everywhere and at any time, we don’t need to be tying people down to the standard 9 to 5 regimen. So imagination is the key.”

Speaking of his own time as an employer before entering politics, Mr Turnbull said he and his wife Lucy had a “very, very flexible family-oriented approach” when they ran their own businesses.

The Prime Minister was speaking at the launch of businesswoman Mia Freedman’s new book. Reaffirming his commitment to feminism, Mr Turnbull said it was up to both men and women to achieve a work-life balance.

“I think the important lesson here for men, speaking as a man, as your local member, is the reminder that all of us are in it together. All of us, men and women, owe it to each other to support each other,” he said.

Business Council of Australia Jennifer Westacott said companies had “incredible imagination and flexibility” to accommodate families. But Ms Westacott argued the industrial relations system and enterprise agreements limited their flexibility and should be cut back to focus on wages and conditions.