Flexibility has been used by employers to further economic outcomes. However, this can result the employees being required to work every longer hours in order to achieve the requirements of the role and company result. Most Australians are increasingly dissatisfied with the balance between their work and non-work life.
There are expectations in the workplace, particularly when companies are seeking to reduce costs, that people work longer hours and get the necessary results. Executives have been affected by this expectation in the regional offices of multinational companies is that managers will be available for conference calls across time zones. This reduces the cost of travel, but Nick Greenhalgh of Career Innovations claims it also means work life balance is disintegrating for some people in senior management positions. He claims it is not unusual for executives working for US multinationals to do all night conference calls and also come to work during the day. Working long hours often creeps up on people and before the executive knows it these hours are taken as normal. However, However, when this occurs the executives often lose perspective because they are overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of the work.
The previous discussion demonstrates the complexity around the term 'flexibility'. It demonstrates that initial stimulus for the use of flexible working arrangements to provide for better work-life balance has been recast. Juliet Bourke, a partner at Aequus Partners, is concerned that 'the whole paradigm has shifted to something a little negative-that is, flexibility is now about how we get more out of fewer people'.
. Instead of that, they are now focusing on reduced work week, part time work and work arrangements with increased flexibility such that they could retain their staff. So, some employers are now doing inevitable reductions in staff as this leads to an opportunity to redesign their roles and new ways of doing jobs could be found out and employees could simultaneously maintain their work-life balance by working more flexibly.