KEY POINTS:
In every life there may be times we need to change our working patterns to accommodate others.
Children need to be raised. Partners become sick or need to embark on intense study. Aged parents may need extra looking after for extended periods.
In the past that has led to people leaving their jobs.
But, from next July, a new law sponsored by Green MP Sue Kedgley will give workers more options.
The Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Bill changes the Employment Relations Act to provide employees who care for others the statutory right to request part-time or flexible hours.
It started out applying to the care of young or disabled children or dependent relatives.
But, by the time it was passed on November 21, it was extended to cover "the care of any person".
Erin Davies, an employment partner at Brookfields Lawyers, says the bill gives people a framework to negotiate with their employer.
"It sets up a process for handling requests from employees for flexible working arrangements, and workers will have the right to ask and have that request listened to and responded to," she says.
The law applies to people employed for six months.
Davies says it creates a positive onus on employers to try to accommodate requests or come up with good reasons if they can't.
"In the past, an employer might say no because you were hired full time. That's no longer good enough.
"Employers will need to get to know their employees better including their personal circumstances, who they care for.
"It means more form filling for employers. Requests must be made in writing and certain information must be included. Similarly, the response from the employer must also contain certain information."
That includes detailing how, if the request were granted, it will help the employee care better for the dependent person.
People must get a response within no more than three months.
Employees must wait at least 12 months before they are entitled to make another request.
Employers have grounds for refusing requests due to:
* Inability to reorganise work among existing staff.
* Inability to recruit additional staff.
* Detrimental impact on quality or performance.
* Insufficiency of work during the period the employee proposes to work.
* Planned structural changes.
* Burden of additional costs.
* Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand.
* Undermining the terms of a collective agreement.
"The purpose is not to undermine provisions in collectives which workers have struggled to get," Davies says. "The exemptions are quite broad and wide."
Employees who are not happy with the way an employer has dealt with the request can refer to a labour inspector and, if it remains unresolved, to mediation.
If that doesn't work, it can be referred to the Employment Relations Authority. "In order for employers to prepare for this, they do need to think about changing the philosophy and culture around the 40-hour-a-week worker," Davies says.
The changes aren't limited to hours of work. They could include the place of work, such as working from home, compressing the work week into fewer days, flexi-time, staggered hours, shift swapping and job sharing.
Davies says similar legislation in Britain has led to about 80 per cent of requests for flexible arrangements being accepted in whole or part through compromise.
"It can get employers and employees talking, and that is positive for retention," she says.
"At the moment, I often see employees on parental leave making a request to return part-time and being refused. The employee then resigns.
"One of drivers behind this act is not searching for work-life balance, but looking at positive recruitment and retention for employers."
She says employers need to listen, consult, communicate and take care to be seen to care.
"Keep a paper trail of your thoughts and the rationale behind your decisions. It's similar to the consultation process with restructuring - listen and don't make decisions before you hear and consider any options.
"To prepare for this, organisations need to train managers and those responsible for recruitment."
They also need to prepare forms.
Davies says there could be fishhooks in some flexible arrangements, which will need to be taken into account.
"If people are allowed to work from home, employers need to be mindful of health and safety. Home offices must be safe, so think ergonomic chairs and proper workstations."
Davies says the act is likely to impact more on female employees, because they are more often the primary caregivers.
"Most people, if they care for anyone, would care for children."
She says it provides a statutory process for what already happens in many workplaces.
Her own workplace is flexible enough to accommodate the fact she has two children under two.
"At Brookfields, I'm fortunate that they feel the key to successful recruitment and retention is flexible arrangements. Law as a profession is not usually good at that."
Another organisation which embraces flexible working is the Accident Compensation Corporation.
Its human resources manager, Denise Cosgrove, says ACC has about 2500 staff, 1000 of them in call centres.
"It's also a young workforce so people are looking for different things. We have a strategy to get people to work longer. Our median age is 38 and, in the call centres it's only 34, so we need to attract and retain people," Cosgrove says.
Turnover is about 17 per cent and up to 30 per cent among call centre staff. "It doesn't have to be. That is why we try to target an older workforce or women working."
She says for people over 40, flexibility becomes an important factor in whether to stay with an employer.
"Young people want flexibility to do their stuff. Mid-career people often have young children to think about. And older people want a transition out of work, but they don't want to stop completely."
Cosgrove says making flexibility part of the employment culture has been a boon for ACC, as people look for practical and pragmatic ways to get the work done while working the hours that suit.
"We have team-based conversations, with people talking about what flexibility means, and how services can be maintained for customers."
In the Christchurch area, staff are able to take a half or whole day off each fortnight, with people starting earlier or later to cover peak hours.
"In the North Island, a big issue for parents with school-age children is when the kid is not sick enough to be in bed but still not well enough to go back to school.
"One office set up a room with stuff for kids and a computer, so people could bring their children in - as long as the sickness was not viral.
"We have fantastic examples of people who have brought their work week down to three days and we are getting more bang for the buck than when they were working five. They are focused, they know what to do and they want those days off," she says.
Creating trust and respect between managers and staff is important in making flexibility work.
The most commonly used flexible working options include:
* Part-time - an employee works fewer hours than a full-time equivalent employee.
* Flexi-time - an employee has different or flexible start, finish or break times.
* Job share - two employees work part-time and cover the equivalent of one permanent role between them.
* Compressed working hours - an employee works full-time hours over less than five days.
* Reduced hours - an employee works fewer hours for a set period of time.
There is also remote working, taking time in lieu for working additional hours, buying leave through a proportional reduction in salary, study leave and unpaid leave or sabbatical.
Cosgrove says the benefits ACC is looking to include more productive and motivated staff, better recruitment and retention, higher staff satisfaction and engagement, lower turnover, absenteeism and stress, improved staff health and wellbeing, and enhanced organisational ability to adapt to change
She says many organisations will want to move beyond the base requirements set by the new legislation and will benefit from doing so.
"It's around creating opportunities for people," she says.
"The biggest barrier is managers, and that is around people's perceptions of how hard it is to resource.
"We found we could break that down by having the conversation with staff and staff can help you solve those barriers."
Cosgrove says ACC has introduced measurements for management around creating a diverse and flexible workforce.
"It has not cost us anything and I think it has bought us goodwill. We need about the same number of full-time equivalent staff but it's how they work that matters.
"On the other side, we have got favourable feedback. A lot of staff say 'it's not that I want to work flexibly, but it's good to know that I can'."
