If not, why not?

With unemployment at record low levels and skill shortages being identified in key industries it has never been more important for employers to offer employees flexible and family friendly work places.

For most businesses, staff are their most valuable asset and it is now more than ever important for employers to retain good employees.

Benefits which are experienced by employers who offer flexible or family friendly employment options to their staff include:

• A competitive edge in recruiting and retaining staff.
• Reduced absenteeism due to flexible work hours
• Improved productivity
• Increased morale as a happy home can mean a happy employee and
• Reduced stress levels.

Research has been conducted which indicates that it costs around $120,000 to replace a lawyer with four years’ experience or around $80,000 to replace a bank teller with ten years’ experience. Source: www.workplace.gov.au

The general rule of thumb is that to replace an experienced employee costs around one and a half times their salary. These costs include paying out leaving staff member entitlements, advertising, recruitment fees, and training a new staff member and not to mention the loss of experience, customer relationship and corporate knowledge. Source: www.workplace.gov.au By offering flexible work options employers can retain good quality staff and avoid the unnecessary costs of recruiting a new staff member.

According to www.workplace.gov.au the cost to companies of workers leaving due to lack of flexible work provisions is significant. For example, Greenslopes Private Hospital, a National Work and Family Award winner in 2005, found that investing in better work and family initiatives led to a 5.5% reduction in employee turnover and a 23% reduction in workers' compensation costs.

Given these costs why wouldn’t your boss be prepared to offer family friendly employment options to you?

1Schedule meetings within normal working hours;

2Ensure staff take their annual leave in the year that it is due;

3Negotiate flexible start and finish times;

4Allow staff to have a say in rostering arrangements;

5Introduce make-up time so staff can make up hours if they need to attend an appointment;

6Allow staff to use sick leave entitlements to care for family members;

7Broaden the definition of 'family' (to include more distant relatives) for the purposes of bereavement leave;

8Provide information on local contacts to help staff find child care, school holiday care and elder/respite care;

9Provide an emergency phone for employees to contact family members (eg an older child sick at home);

10Allow staff to take annual leave in single days;

11Allow staff to use work mobile phones for emergency family reasons;

12Discourage weekend work and staying back late in the office except in exceptional circumstances;

13Introduce a 'keep in touch' plan for staff on maternity leave;

14Hold a 'Bring your Child to Work' day or a family picnic day;

15Allow leave without pay for cultural purposes;

16Extend social events such as happy hours to families and partners;

17Consider the needs of partners and families in any relocations and movements;

18Introduce a workplace policy for breastfeeding employees;

19Include a summary of your company's work and family policy in a letter of offer to new employees;

20Put work and family issues on the agenda to discuss at the next round of negotiations for your workplace agreement.