Make mine a mixture
It’s been the year when women turned a minus to a plus and the dreams of part-time, flex-time and me time became a reality. But will it last?
Susan Ditton, 37, is a geologist, recently promoted to production manager at BHP. Her workplace is the Caval Ridge open-cut mine at Moranbah, in central Queensland.
She has a couple of hundred direct reports, and, certainly as importantly, a newborn baby, Albert. And so she job shares, with flexible “office” hours, and will continue to do so, even after the COVID pandemic ends. “It is awesome, but BHP are on the front foot with this,” Ditton says.
“They were already on this journey — part-time, and flex work — and then COVID turbocharged it. They really believe in it, like: why not? Why shouldn’t we do it? As opposed to why should we?
“Maybe back in the Dark Ages, there was a bit of a stigma: can women work in the mining industry, and part time if they have a family? It’s about setting the expectations for people. If you want a face-to-face with me, these are the days I will be on site (the mine is four hours from Ditton’s home, on the Sunshine Coast) but we have technology and we should use it.”
Ditton’s experience is not unique: the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for the health of so many Australians, and their businesses, but it’s also revolutionised the way we work, in ways that may prove endlessly satisfying and productive for businesses and, in particular, their female employees.
Think about it: for years women have asked for part-time, flexitime, and work-from-home arrangements, to enable them to better manage their lives, and that of their families. But the stigma associated with part-time work saw them miss out on promotions and opportunities. Many gave work away altogether.
Now everyone has had a taste of flexibility, and the research suggests that most have found themselves no less productive and often far happier than they were before.
“COVID-19 has radically accelerated the acceptability of flexible and remote work,” says Sue Morphet, whose two-year term as president of Chief Executive Women ended earlier this month.
But flexibility was already good for business, before COVID.
For proof, see the “Flex For Success” report prepared by CEW in partnership with Bain and Company, and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
CEW’s director of policy, advocacy and research Melanie Fernandez says it clearly shows “that flexibility works, even for industries that have never considered it in the past”.
“I personally work flexibly, Sunday to Thursday, and I have a two-year-old, so that works for me because I can structure my work responsibility around the caring hours,” she says.
“What’s important is to have great leaders at the top of your organisation, who are prepared to back it, and do it themselves.”
So many female employees have long felt guilty, slinking out of the office to pick up the kids from school or childcare. Why should they have to slink? It’s absurd to think that one’s work can be done only during traditional office hours.
“Now that everyone has tried it, we can all see that flexibility suits business too,” Fernandez says. “It’s not about sitting at a desk. It’s about what you can deliver.”
It often costs less, in terms of time and money for employees not to commute to work every day. The business might also get a break on office rental or employee expenses, such as carparking.
And it seems to work best when employees are allowed to drive the flexible working options themselves. So, for example, your company might establish a computer system where employees can alter their shifts online, without layers of formal management approval.
All that is then necessary is that no area is left uncovered, an easy thing to manage on a properly designed computer program. Employees must also hit their targets, but can aim to do so in fewer, not more, hours.
The Flex for Success report includes such creative examples: Insurance Australia Group (IAG) uses an app called Switch to give call centre employees credits for taking shifts at high-volume times.
It’s also about making people’s lives easier: a woman who changes her own shift by, say, 15 minutes, makes it home for school pick-up. It doesn’t affect the business. Her stress levels plummet. It makes for greater productivity and happiness all around.
The report says IAG call centre consultants have made 6000 shift changes since the system was introduced. Employee wellbeing is up nearly 10 per cent, and absenteeism is down a remarkable 23 per cent.
The real estate group Mirvac launched the My Simple Thing initiative before COVID, but it’s really come to the fore during the pandemic. Chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz regularly and happily leaves the office early to fulfil her “simple thing” and you don’t even have to tell anyone what it is.
Telstra has trialled a program called Agents@Home that allows its customer service agents to do their work not from cavernous call centres, but from a nice quiet spot in their own home.
More than 1500 customer service agents, many in regional areas, are now on board.
Of course, it’s often difficult for women to work from home, or indeed at all, when they have small children, which is where the men come in.
Chris Mattey, a managing director and partner at BCG, says: “It’s surprised everyone how quickly people adapted to part-time, and flexible work practices, when we suddenly had no choice.
“Me, maybe less so, because we’re used to working remotely, and I worked flexibly before COVID, four days a week, not on Fridays, and I’ve been doing that for two years.
“It was a combination of things: I’ve got two kids, seven and five, and I wanted to spend more quality time with them. I was there, but not seeing enough of them.
“But another reason was my wife owns a large restaurant, and she is involved in start-ups, and I wanted to support her, and give her space. I mean, most people get that now, that it’s not just mum’s job anymore.
“It’s good for dads to have a role in their children’s lives; and it’s great for business to have more women, especially in senior roles.”
Mattey says COVID “broke through these really longstanding barriers to change, and to workplace culture, in just three months”.
“It’s not that there are no negative experiences in working part time,” he says. “My personal experience, I did get a sense of the distractions at home, kids running around like lunatics in the background, but many people have said this: once we saw kids go back to school, it’s absolutely more pleasant, you can log in, and have your meetings.
“We could not have done it without the technology we have today.”
BCG research suggests that most people like the hybrid model of work — part time, with some days at home, and some in the office — best of all.
“People are missing a lot of the social interaction, which is why we’re finding that people who have been working remotely are now wanting to come back to get some office time,” Mattey says.
“Twenty Zoom calls a day Monday through Friday can drive you nuts, so why not everyone go in on Tuesdays?”
He says those with small children at home are (surprise, surprise) keenest to get back to the office, now that COVID is easing. But most employees believe that they are more productive with flexible schedules, and most companies agree.
The traditional working model for many people has been “office by default, remote by exception”, he says. “But there’s always a race for talent, and this is going to be part of the mix now. Are you offering part time?”
Men have enjoyed the changes, as much as women. They like dropping the kids at school, having a morning surf, workout in the park, or walking the dog in the evening and working when they are most productive, which may be late at night, or on the weekends. The old model — five days in, two days off — is out the door, because who does it suit? Why not have three long days in the office, and two days at home, instead?
C|T Group managing director of research and campaigns Catherine Douglas agrees working from home has been fun and productive, but says many employees are now wondering when a so-called “normal working life” will return.
“In our research, we found that initial concerns with COVID were about health (will I get the disease?) and they quickly became concerns about financial matters (will I be made redundant?),” she says.
“But now, it’s when will we go back to normal? The novelty has worn off, and people miss their colleagues. Our firm came back in late June, and people were overjoyed to be back. Everyone appreciated the opportunity to work from home, and they still want that flexibility, but there is a camaraderie and a sense of purpose that comes from working with people who you miss when you don’t know your peers. Trapped at home, and in their own heads, people started to lose their connection to work, and they wanted it back.”
Anecdotal evidence suggests that women have had to pick up too much of the slack at home, supervising the homeschooling for example, often while trying to work at home themselves. But Douglas says it’s also true that “the perception of what constitutes ‘normal working life’ may have changed forever”.
The idea that the distractions of home — from Facebook to the afternoon nap — would sap productivity proved unfounded. The idea that somebody who works part time isn’t really committed to their job has proven false, too.
In that sense, COVID may turn out to be the big equaliser for women. The stigma attached to working from home, or part time, will fade. Women won’t miss out on promotion, and opportunity. The kids will get more time with both parents. And all this is, of course, just how women envisioned the workforce, during the feminist revolution. It’s taken a pandemic but, as ever: from lemons, make lemonade.