To ask or not to ask? Investigating workers’ flexibility requests and the phenomenon of discontented non-requesters

ABSTRACT

Flexible working arrangements have attracted growing attention in workplaces across Australia and in many other countries in recent years. This contribution utilises the results of two large Australian employee surveys to analyse who asks for flexibility, why, and with what effects on work-life interference. This analysis is set in the context of Australia’s ‘Right to Request’ (RTR) provisions which, at the time of the study, gave parents of preschool children and those with a disabled child aged up to 18 the RTR flexibility. The analysis also draws on a set of qualitative interviews of those we term ‘discontented non-requesters’ (that is, those who are not content with current arrangements but who do not ask for flexibility) to probe beneath the survey results to consider explanations about why some people do not ask for flexibility despite desiring different working arrangements. We conclude with the implications for policy and regulation.

KEYWORDS:

• Employee silence
• flexibility
• policy
• right-to-request
• work-life interference

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Corrigendum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (‘A study of flexibilities that enable workforce participation and skill development and use, and their implications for work-life outcomes in Australia’, LP110200916).

Notes on contributors

Natalie Skinner

Natalie Skinner is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Workplace Excellence, UniSA School of Management. Her research focuses on the inter-relationship between work and non-work factors on wellbeing.

Abby Cathcart

Abby Cathcart is Associate Professor of Management at QUT Business School. Her research addresses a range of workplace, industry and social justice issues, with recent projects on flexible work arrangements, organisational democracy, and employee voice.

Barbara Pocock

Barbara Pocock is Emeritus Professor in the Business School at the University of South Australia. She conducts research, policy development and public commentary on work and employment in Australia.