Department of Health, Perth |
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| The Need for WLB: | To spend more time with family | |
| Outcome: | Telecommuting and Job-Share | |
I am currently covering for a staff member who has taken 18 months leave. I work part-time as I have young children and my partner works long hours.
My job is basically research-type work with a lot of queries coming through emails. The substantive person is a 1.0FTE. As I work 2 days a week, I job-share with Kelly who has been a part-timer for many years and works 3 days a week. Our job is generally not time critical although there are times when work has to be completed urgently. The job-share works very well as our work is divided largely by subject area and only has some overlap. We are also able to work on the same days, which allows for better information sharing and team building.
It is important to me to be available for my children. For that reason, when I became a mother I decided I needed to spend as much time as possible caring for them. As my husband works long hours, it is difficult to juggle work and home schedules.
Working 2 days a week sounds wonderful. But, it is hard as you have to cram so many things into those 2 days; replying to emails, returning calls, normal day-to day work and any other ad hoc work that may come your way.
It can be stressful and frustrating at times. I knew I had to re-look at my working arrangements. I looked at the telecommuting policy and wrote in to the Work Life Balance unit for more information.
With the information I gathered, I decided to speak with my Manager on how I could maximise my 2 days of work. I spoke to him about how I felt, my family situation and asked him whether I could tele-commute from home as and when I needed to.
Fortunately, my Manager was supportive and had no issues with telecommuting. I am now happier and relaxed at work. Sometimes, I work from home an hour here and there during the week. This allows me to clear my emails in a timely manner and finish off work that may have not been completed. It takes the pressure off where work is concerned and I feel more productive.