Poor implementation of flexible working arrangements can lead to unintended consequences that can have a markedly negative impact on staff wellbeing, new research from Swinburne Edge and Deloitte shows.
Recent updates to the Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) model legislation now formally requires organisations to manage psychosocial risks, alongside physical risks, through the implementation of an effective risk assessment and control framework.
However, a new report titled: ‘Reset, Restore, Reframe – Enabling Wellbeing through Flexible Working’, found 23% of workers are working from home without a remote working policy.
According to the data, 34.5% are working more hours, only 15.1% are working less and 48.1% are working the same amount of hours. When asked the reasons for working outside standard hours, 62.9% said workload, 43.4% said choice and 15.8% said their employer asked them to.
Pre-pandemic data from Insurance and Care NSW (icare) in 2013 and 2017 showed that the average psychological injury claim cost twice as much as physical injury claims in terms of weekly payments. More recently, insurer Allianz reports that mental health injury related claims are on the rise, with a 19% increase in psychological workers’ compensation claims for work absence in 2022 compared to 2019.
Recent updates to the Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) model legislation now formally requires organisations to manage psychosocial risks, alongside physical risks, through the implementation of an effective risk assessment and control framework.
When structured effectively, hybrid and flexible work has been found to improve both employee performance and wellbeing. The report’s authors say leaders, and the examples they set, are critical to this being realised.
“The lesson from research on hybrid work is that work needs to be restructured according to ‘what works best where’,” Dr Sean Gallagher, Director, Swinburne’s Centre for the New Workforce, told The Educator.
“When at home, workers are better to focus on task-based routine work as well as work that requires deep-thinking and focus.”
In the workplace, work should be collaborative and creative, and focused more on challenging problems, Dr Gallagher said.
“An analogous restructuring for hybrid learning would see students focus more on collaborative problem-solving learning when they come together in the class, while at home they focus on completing readings and individual tasks to test their understanding.”
Justin Guiliano, a Partner in Risk Advisory at Deloitte Australia, said there is a wide variety of preferences in where, when and how to work across the Deloitte team and its clients.
“This report discusses some of the key factors to consider when looking to maximise wellbeing through flexible working,” Guiliano said.
He said a surprising insight from the report was that the proportion of people preferring hybrid work doubles when respondents had more than two dependents within the household.
“An important factor which warrants further attention is the impact leaders can have on employees and their wellbeing through trust and expectation setting when it comes to flexible work.”