#2 – Flexibility works both ways
OK, so you have a part time employee who wants to change their work days or hours. No problem – as long as both employee and employer agree and the new arrangement is properly recorded and delivered to the employee (an email is sufficient), then everything should be fine.
What happens if one or the other party disagree about a change to working conditions?
The National Employment Standards covers this in general terms but, like most interactions between human beings, there will always be a situation that is unique to a particular employer or employee.
It’s unlikely that changing an employee’s start and finish times by 15-30 minutes would be considered unreasonable, in general terms. But what if that employee travels a long distance (commuting from the Central Coast or Illawarra to Sydney CBD is not unusual, particularly by train) and public transport timetable mean a 15-minute start/finish difference turns into 2 hours of extra time away from home?
How about a part time employee wanting to change their work day from Monday to Tuesday, because of family commitments on a Monday? Great, unless the employer is already committed to something else on Tuesdays and can’t be there to supervise. (Think about a BNI member whose chapter meets on Tuesday mornings, so they block out a few hours until mid-morning every week.)
Seriously, there will almost always be solutions for examples like these and others. But, in my experience, employees requesting flexibility or changes, or pushing back when asked to be flexible are very common occurrences. It’s another reason to remember that the “H” in HR stands for HUMAN and two humans will often have to negotiate and compromise.
A sole trader, stepping up to be an employer for the first time may have difficulty in developing the compromising/negotiating skills. There are some great training videos available about this and other topics, especially designed for small businesses.
You can also reach out to a HR professional (I’m not the only one – there are plenty available. But I’d be very happy to assist if you DO make contact 😊). The solution needs to be bespoke for YOUR business and YOUR circumstances.
Remember: ‘Bespoke’ does not mean ‘expensive’ – it means the best solution for YOUR business.
There’s a Contact Us form on every page of our website and a confidential discussion can be had without cost or obligation.
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