Flexible working arrangements could be a better solution to helping employees manage their caring responsibilities, as opposed to giving them access to extended unpaid leave, a Productivity Commission inquiry has found.
Despite "enthusiastic speculation" about flexible work agreements being the "future" of employment, their long-term feasibility is still unknown, and they are not yet an "inalienable" right, a commissioner has said in upholding the rejection of an employee's request.
An employee's "openly derisive" claim that her employer, in rejecting her flexible work request, confused its operational needs with its inability to manage its own workforce, was a "slap in the face", a commission has chastised.
Widespread adoption of a four-day week could drive some "perverse" wellbeing outcomes, warns a futurist who says the question is not "if" norms will change, but "when".
Costly legal disputes continue to highlight the many risks employers face when managing, disciplining, or dismissing employees while they are absent, injured or incapacitated. Attend this webinar for an up-to-date review of the legal framework applying to workplace absenteeism, injury and incapacity, and lessons from recent case law.
