Aussie firm dumps 9-5 grind, lets staff choose their own work hours

The Australian company announced in an email this week a radical policy that involves staff ditching the brutal 9-5 work week for good.

The Australian branch of financial services company Deloitte has introduced a radical policy that involves dumping the 9-5 work week for good.

Under a new “flex” policy announced in a company-wide email on Wednesday, staff at Deloitte can design their work week by setting their own hours.

In all, there are 12 new “flex rules”, which includes employees getting one paid wellbeing day off per year and being able to swap public holidays for cultural or religious days.

More paid leave options are available for Deloitte workers who “support local communities” by doing things such as donating blood, helping not-for-profit organisations or volunteering in the emergency services.

Mid-level manager Max Dedekind, 29, from Sydney, is already making the most of the policy, by going surfing in his lunch break.

“When you’re into a sport like surfing, it’s dependent on tides,” he told news.com.au.

“You have to line things up a bit more than a sport such as running when you can go at any time. It’s great to be able to work flexibly.”

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Deloitte has implemented the change Australia-wide.

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Mr Dedekind’s typical work day starts at 9am, if it’s a surfing day.

Then he clocks out at 11am to head into the surf in Sydney’s eastern beaches, at either Bondi or Tamarama.

He jumps back on his computer by 1pm and works into the night until 7 or 8pm.

“It does allow you to break up your day,” the audit manager said.

“I struggle to concentrate for nine hours straight and I think we all do.

“It’s great for your productivity and great for your mental health.”

On days where Mr Dedekind isn’t surfing, he makes an effort to come into the office.

“Certainly I feel some benefit to being in the office and connecting with colleagues, I make sure I work that in (to my schedule) too,” he said.

He first asked his boss if he could surf during Australia’s nationwide lockdown in March 2020.

“Lockdown was the catalyst, at which point you started to be able to ask the questions,” Mr Dedekind said.

“It started the conversation. I think it’s great, seeing people go back into the office. They’ve applied the same principles.”

Max surfing when most people are at work.

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Deloitte’s Chief HR Officer, Tina McCreery, said the company’s decision to ditch the 9-5 work day was only possible because they trusted their workers.

“Many offices made it mandatory to work 60 per cent in the office (but) we decided not to do that and to trust our employees,” she told news.com.au.

“Only a small minority of people do the wrong thing.

“For us it’s all about outcomes. If they’re delivering what they need to do for their job, then there’s no issue.”

That said, employees must still time sheets, especially if they need to charge clients for hours worked.

Ms McCreery is herself a mum of three, and plans to make the most of the new working arrangements.

When asked if these changes were bad for young workers just starting out in the industry who might lack mentoring or socialising opportunities, Ms McCreery disagreed.

“Part of our culture is connection,” she said.

“This (policy) isn’t just designed for parents, it’s designed for all of our people.”

News.com.au also contacted a 23-year-old graduate at Deloitte who said the company put in “a lot of effort” to ensure young workers were meeting colleagues and senior members of the firm.

COVID-19 has fast-tracked the work from home revolution.

Deloitte introduced the flexible changes after a global survey found that women were overwhelmingly adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of their work and home life balance.

The Woman @ Work survey interviewed 500 Australian female staffers and found that their workloads increased by 77 per cent because they had to care for children, do housework and also work during the coronavirus pandemic.

While the pandemic fast-tracked Deloitte’s flexible working arrangements, many of the “flex” policies were already in place unofficially.