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One of the biggest lessons so far from the Fair Work Commission's arbitration of flexible work disputes is that employers must engage in meaningful dialogue with workers who are seeking new arrangements, a lawyer says in our latest Q&A.

Topics discussed include:

• reasonable and lawful directions for office attendance;
• the potential scope of FWC orders;
• what it means to have "genuinely attempted to reach agreement" about a flexible work request;
• what constitutes reasonable business grounds for refusing a request;
• determining whether flexible work requests are validly made;
• demonstrating the required "nexus" between eligibility criteria and requests; and
• the onus on employers to provide evidence of benefits and detriment.