Business administration/reporting area, hospital environment, Perth

I was employed in a Metropolitan Hospital in 1996 at 35 hours per week, almost full time, this has subsequently been reduced to 30 hours per week over time as both my work experience (effective contribution) and non work demands increased. I had a son at the time who was 11 months old. He went to childcare full time while I worked. I probably did more then 35 hours a week at the time. In 1999 time cards were introduced into our work environment that had the effect of quantifying the hours we were working. I was in a very narrow niche in a business administration/reporting area that required longer hours at some times of the year. Through negotiation with my manager additional time could be taken off as flexi time in quieter periods. This was good timing as my son was starting into the inflexible hours of the education system, which dictates start and finish times (9-3) with 12 weeks annual leave (we only get 4). As problems arose solutions evolved.

An office computer upgrade freed up a machine that my Manager said I could take home and trial in telecommuting. We had limited lines that we could use to dial in and I shared my manager’s line, he used it at night and I used it during the day. A limit was imposed on me to work no more then a maximum of 6 hours per week from home, to ensure that I was “still seen” around the workplace. Over time and as people have become more comfortable with flexible work arrangements this limitation has been lifted in favour of a more needs-based approach.

It was important to me to make telecommuting and flexibility arrangements work, so meeting organisational objectives was always paramount. At times I had to make my home arrangements flexible to fit in additional work requirements. So long as this evened out in the long term everyone was happy.

By 2000 I had my second child, by 2001 I was juggling work and family as a single mother. I now (2006) have 2 children in the rigid school system.

As well as the demands of caring for young children, family illness creates binding demands. Children usually get sick a lot in early years, as their immune systems develop. It is never convenient taking time off for family illness however being able to get some work done while caring for others does help alleviate some of the stress and anxiety for all concerned. By 2003 I also had responsibility for my mother who was diagnosed with a terminal illness and required physical and mental support through chemotherapy. In 2005 I had to take Carer’s Leave because she was transferred to a palliative care situation and not expected to live. By some miracle she is still alive (7 months later) and to a degree stable. My 8 weeks carer’s leave had enormous benefits to the well being of the family as well as saving the Health System enormous costs as my mother was transferred out of the Acute system.

Things that have helped me to implement flexible work practices have included assertive and sensible negotiating skills, enabling others to see what benefit the arrangement will be for them. I have been blessed with Managers open to change. I have generally found that people, including Executive levels, are usually very accommodating about scheduling meetings during school (or convenient) hours. There are times however when this can’t be done and I have needed to implement non-work flexibility arrangements to reschedule my non work commitments. It is very much quid pro quo.

Problems I have encountered have been; having to keep my home computer in sync with the work environment; this would often entail having to bring it back into work for IP address changes and software upgrades. It is heavy to bring a desktop machine in. Another problem was when I bought a notebook in 2005 (with software) then found that the Health system software was too old to communicate with the purchased software. Work couldn’t / wouldn’t load old work software onto my new notebook, even though there was a spare licence for it and I couldn’t buy new software for my work computer. Eventually this problem was rectified with a system wide upgrade of work software. It did however highlight the problem that all the Policies in the world would not enable a person to telecommute if they couldn’t get/synchronise the tools to do it. Securing the endorsement of your own manager is only part of the solution, there needs to be a system wide (interdepartmental) endorsement of flexibility for it to work well.

Taking a win / win approach to ensuring that flexible work practices work for everyone and ironing out any obstacles in an open communicative way has enabled me to balance my work and family demands. I have “won” by being able to do my job. There is nothing so stressful as having a job to do and not being able to do it because of competing priorities. My employer has “won” as they have been able to retain an experienced employee, it has also had positive impact on the budget through part time yet highly productive work, as well as taking periods of leave without pay at times convenient to both. Evidence of the success of this flexible arrangement is that in my time of employment (and within the 1 Department) I have achieved a successful reclassification of 1 level twice (ie. am now 2 levels higher then when first employed).

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