Negotiating for work-life balance
Work-life balance policies are often available on the basis of employer/employee agreement. It can be quite daunting for employees to go to their manager and ask to work part-time, change their start and finish time or whatever it is that they require to balance their commitments at work and in their personal life.
To assist employees in negotiations with their managers, a step-by-step guide has been developed for employees
Work-Life balance negotiations with your manager
Provided are some suggested steps on how you can negotiate work-life balance policies and practices in your organisation:
- Identify your personal and work needs
- Research your entitlements
- Find out the benefits of work-life balance policies for your employer
- Consider what type of arrangement you wish to negotiate
- Gain support from other employees
- Prepare a business case
- Present your case to management
- Evaluate how any new work-life balance policies are working
1. Identify your personal and work needs
- What are the problems that you are experiencing in relation to balancing your work and personal life? Which of these problems are most important?
- What work-life balance policies/practices would help you manage your problems better?
- How would using these policies/practices affect your fellow workers and what important work tasks would be most affected?
- Who is best positioned to fill your work role in your absence?
- How could your problems be resolved while minimising the impact in your work area?
2. Research your entitlements
Find out if your organisation has work-life balance policies:
The first point of contact to obtain information should be your human resources department or employer
- If you feel uncomfortable asking your human resources department or employer about work-life balance policies, check with a trusted friend at work who may have experience with or knowledge about these policies
- Many organisations have copies of their formal policies/provisions for employees to have a look at
- Your organisation may have formalised their work-life balance policies in an enterprise agreement or award
For information on the details of the award or agreement covering your job, contact Wageline information service on 1300 369 945.
Find out about your minimum entitlements and rights:
- To find out about your minimum entitlements under Industrial Relations legislation contact Wageline on 1300 369 945
- To find out about your rights under anti-discrimination legislation contact the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland on 1800 130 670; or the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (non-Queensland Government link) (federal) on 1300 656 419
Section 29D of the Industrial Relations Act 1999 provides that employers need to give proper consideration to an employee’s application for part-time work when returning from parental leave. Whilst specifically applying to part-time work, the parameters used to asses such an application are useful for consideration of requests for a range of flexible work arrangements used to balance work and personal responsibilities. When requesting access to work-life balance policies, employees should also take a number of factors into account, including:
- Additional costs to the employer associated with granting the request
- Employer’s capacity to reorganise work arrangements;
- Availability of competent replacement staff;
- Any loss of efficiency in the conduct of the employer’s business; and
- The impact of the employee’s absence or temporary absence on the delivery of customer service.
If, for example, the costs associated with a certain employee request are very high, it may be reasonable for the employer to refuse such a request. Just as employers need to be reasonable when considering a request so do employees when making the request.
3. Find out the benefits of work-life balance policies for your employer
- Research has shown that helping individuals and families achieve a balance between their work, family and lifestyle commitments can provide benefits for both employers and employees
- To help your case for introducing certain policies you will need to convince your employer that the proposed policy/policies will not only benefit you, but the employer as well
4. Consider what type of arrangement you wish to negotiate
If your organisation does not provide the work-life balance policies/practices that help you meet your work and personal needs, you may want to negotiate an arrangement with your employer which does meet your needs.
Work-life balance arrangements usually appear in three basic forms with varying levels of enforceability. These include:
- informal arrangements
- formal policies
- formal agreements registered or approved by an authority or tribunal
- Informal work arrangements may be one-off or ad-hoc arrangements that are verbally agreed to by the employee and employer and are not registered or approved by an authority or tribunal
- These work arrangements are often not intended by the parties to be legally binding. However, if there is a dispute over whether these arrangements are enforceable, the courts will attempt to determine whether the parties intended the arrangements to be legally binding or whether the arrangements only apply at the employer’s discretion
- There is a potential for people to be disadvantaged by such ad-hoc work arrangements as people are often less aware of them. This is partly due to the fact that informal arrangements/policies are generally not publicised. A lack of information increases the risk for inequality among employees in their ability to balance work, family and lifestyle commitments. For example, employees who are more assertive might negotiate certain arrangements which are not yet available, while less assertive employees might not feel comfortable negotiating with their managers and consequently miss out on these arrangements
- Another problem with informal arrangements lies in the fact that access is negotiated with individual managers. This means that the outcome for an employee does not only depend on his or her negotiating skills, but also on the manager they are negotiating with. Managers might have different views on balancing work, family and lifestyle and the importance of provisions aimed at helping improve balance, which could affect their willingness to accommodate special needs for employees. But even when managers are willing to accommodate such needs, the absence of appropriate information on how to implement certain provisions might create an obstacle for managers to implement them consistently
- Formal policies include organisational or human resources policies that are documented in writing. These policies are usually not part of enterprise agreements but are used in conjunction with enterprise agreements
- Employers and employees are generally bound by formal policies or procedures that have been agreed to at the signing of the employment contract
- Formal policies are enforceable if they are intended by the parties to be legally binding
- If there is a dispute over whether these policies are enforceable, the courts will attempt to determine whether the parties intended the policies to be legally binding or whether the policies are subject to the employer’s discretion
- The fact that the policies are formal policies would be evidence indicating that they are intended to be legally binding
Formal agreements registered or approved by an authority or tribunal
Formal agreements are written agreements that are registered or approved by an authority or tribunal in either the federal or state workplace relations systems. The terms of these agreements usually override inferior provisions in the employee’s contract.
There are various types of formal agreements including:
- State certified agreements, which are collective agreements, negotiated between employers and employees or employers and union(s) and are required to be certified by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission
- Queensland workplace agreements (QWAs) (state), which are made directly between employers and their employees on an individual basis and approved by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission
- Federal collective agreements include employee collective agreements, union collective agreements, multiple-business agreements, union greenfield agreements and employer greenfield agreements. These agreements, apart from greenfield agreements which take effect when lodged, take effect (for existing employees) when approved by the Workplace Authority
- Individual Transitional Employment Agreements (ITEAs) which are individual agreements between an employer and an employee but can not have an expiry date later than 31 December 2009. These agreements operate from when they are lodged with the Workplace Authority for new employees and from when approved for existing employees.
- Australian workplace agreements (AWAs) (federal), which were made directly between employers and their employees either on an individual or collective basis, and were approved by the Employment Advocate. These can no longer be made or varied but may still be operative.
Further information is available on how to negotiate agreements or contact your union for further information and support with negotiating formal agreements.
5.Gain support from other employees
Look for other employees who share your concerns
- If you know a co-worker who has faced a similar problem in relation to balancing work and personal needs, ask them for advice. Did they use any work-life balance policies to deal with the problem? Who did they talk to in order to get access to these policies? Did the policies help them deal with the problem in a better way? What other solutions did they have to deal with the problem?
Start a working group to 'sell' work-life balance issues to management
- Discuss concerns regarding work-life balance to gain a better understanding of the different issues that are relevant to the group members
- Consider brainstorming sessions to generate possible solutions to any problems the group members may encounter in balancing work, family and lifestyle commitments
- Recruit employees to the group with specific skills for writing a business case and presenting such a case confidently to management
- The group should reflect the diversity of your workplace
Prepare some strategies in response to resistance to change
To effectively address work-life balance issues it is important to gain support from as wide a group of people in your organisation as possible. You should keep in mind that there will always be people who don’t share your concerns and therefore don’t see the point addressing them. Some people may even feel that certain policies proposed to deal with work-life balance issues may disadvantage them and therefore resist the introduction of such policies.
It is important to address people's views and concerns in a positive way, by giving people the opportunity to voice their concerns and work with them to find mutually acceptable solutions. You should consider:
- who in your organisation might be resistant?
- where are they located and what is their role in the organisation?
- what might their arguments be?
- how can you encourage support?
6. Prepare a business case
- Prepare a business case, report, work plan or schedule, justifying your request for work-life balance policies/practices
- Describe how these policies/practices will benefit both yourself, other employees and the business/organisation
- Outline your entitlements and rights under industrial relations and anti-discrimination legislation
- Make suggestions of possible options and solutions. Proposals could be accompanied by information and comparisons with similar sized companies, highlighting what they are doing in relation to work-life balance
- You may need to consult with your colleagues and negotiate a period of time in which you will achieve all your desired outcomes
7. Present your case to management
Meeting the manager
- Arrange to meet with your manager at a time and place where you feel comfortable discussing your work-life balance issues
- Bring a friend, or ask another manager or Human Resources person to attend the meeting. They will provide moral support and can document decisions that are made during the meeting. You may also consider asking your union representative to attend
- Assertive and confident presentation can help to sell your case
- Remain flexible. Understand that your manager is responsible for your entire work group and has many factors to consider
Issues for discussion
- Ask your manager if they see any potential solutions or problems that you haven’t considered
- If you are in a small work group you could ask for a trial of new arrangements. Management and staff can evaluate and refine procedures
- Consider a phased approach and suggest a time frame for implementation of the policy that takes into consideration the suggestions made by your colleagues
Employer’s discretion
- Remember, the introduction of a new policy that is in addition to the minimum entitlements under the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9 MB) (e.g. carer's leave, bereavement leave) or your award, are made at the discretion of the employer
- The employer does not have to agree to its introduction
- If the employer does agree to introduce a new policy they may choose to introduce it in a variety of ways.
- For example, the employer can choose to develop an informal arrangement, a formal policy or a formal agreement registered or approved by an authority or tribunal
8. Evaluate how any new work-life balance policies are working
Once the policy has been trialled you may evaluate how the policy is working for you.
- Have the new policies solved your problems with work-life balance?
- How are the policies affecting co-workers and work tasks?
- Have there been any negative feelings from co-workers regarding the changes that need to be managed?
If you have any problems with the new work-life balance policies you should talk with your manager and your human resources department to find out whether and how these problems can be solved. The steps outlined above can help you renegotiate work-life balance policies and practices.
Last updated 29 September 2009
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