{"id":45728,"date":"2023-10-20T15:45:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-the-public-sector-is-getting-into-flexible-working-and-what-your-startup-can-learn-from-how-they-manage-it-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:45:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:45:59","slug":"how-the-public-sector-is-getting-into-flexible-working-and-what-your-startup-can-learn-from-how-they-manage-it-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-the-public-sector-is-getting-into-flexible-working-and-what-your-startup-can-learn-from-how-they-manage-it-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How the public sector\u00a0is getting into flexible working and what your startup can learn from how they manage it\u00a0 – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
Allowing staff to work flexibly \u2014 whether part-time, to different hours or from home \u2014 is increasingly seen as a valuable means of retaining employees through different stages of their life and giving parents in particular the opportunity to negotiate work-life balance a little easier.<\/p>\n
Following the earlier introduction of all roles flex in the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the Victorian Public Service (VPS) is now moving to ensure all employees have the opportunity to work flexibly.<\/p>\n
Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings announced the VPS-wide all roles flex initiative in December, following a commitment by the Victorian Secretaries Board in September to mainstream flexible working arrangements across the service.<\/p>\n
The Victorian Public Sector Commission argues flexibility is needed if the public service is to remain an employer of choice.<\/p>\n
Flexible working arrangements give employees a meaningful level of control over when, where and how work is accomplished, says the commission.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also one of the key influences on employee engagement, \u201cwhich is linked to higher productivity, creativity and motivation in the workplace\u201d.<\/p>\n
The initiative means all staff have the right to flexibility, though it is recognised that not all forms of flexibility will be suitable in all cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cProcesses will differ from agency to agency, but the goal should be to reach an outcome in which an individual\u2019s needs for flexibility are met, consistent with business requirements, industrial instruments and legislative requirements,\u201d the VPSC states.<\/p>\n
The commission has created an implementation toolkit and a guiding principles document to help agencies implement the initiative, which have been approved by all departments, the Community and Public Sector Union and Industrial Relations Victoria.<\/p>\n
According to the guiding principles:<\/p>\n
A key part of making flexibility work on the ground is communication and cooperation between individuals, managers and teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupportive line management is critical for the successful implementation of flexible work,\u201d the guide states.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the \u2018enablers\u2019 of workplace flexibility, managers and supervisors play an essential role in interpreting and implementing flexible work policies and practices.\u201d<\/p>\n
DELWP secretary Adam Fennessy says the move to all roles flex in his department had worked well.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot surprisingly we\u2019re finding much higher levels of staff engagement, staff feel trusted, and it\u2019s also helped us push our digital reliance because if staff have good technology they can work from all sorts of locations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The VPSC\u2019s implementation toolkit includes a range of helpful resources, including templates and checklists to help human resources practitioners in particular as they manage the changes required to implement flexible working across their agencies.<\/p>\n
It also includes a list of tips for managers dealing with the new initiative:<\/p>\n
This article was originally published on The Mandarin. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Allowing staff to work flexibly \u2014 whether part-time, to different hours or from home \u2014 is increasingly seen as a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,19,27,24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}