What flexible work and family arrangements has your workplace introduced?

The option to continue doing the full time work of two people while also juggling study commitments which are essential to the job, which I have to pay for... and no other option. At least I get to choose the hours I work, and I can also work from home to keep up. Bosses like mine need to realise that it's worth employing and paying the price for adequate staff so that the one/s they have do not burn out, get resentful and quit. The best way to improve my workplace for me is if I did quit. Luckily, I am in an alright position to make that choice but so many are not. Not complaining - but it just sucks when you work for someone who makes you feel taken for granted and the last thing we need is Work Choices to encourage more of it.

Well Mr Hockey .. .I am fine with or without your IR laws and changes ... but flexibility is great for so many of my friends and peers .. If they are LUCKY they mightn't have to do that overtime that their bosses DEMAND of them ( without over-time penalty rates that is) .. so long as they agree to work the next week end ( without penalty rates) .. and if they can't do that well there's always the next public holiday. Your laws MAY be fine for those who hold high skills but they are something to be fearful of for the unskilled worker... they feel that they are now in the situation where when the boss asks them to jump .. they HAVE to say HOW HIGH or risk losing their job What these changes are doing are placing yet more stress on families ... taking parents away from their kids .. placing them on a minimum american style wage that takes away the possibility of moving upward and onwards.... You said that you will resign if Howard screws around with the laws as they currently stand .. Hope you don't HAVE to do that Mr Hockey .. because It might make you face a situation so many workers are now in ..

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ... hold on a second while I pick myself up off the ground from laughing, I work for a small firm (5 people), the office hours are 8:30 - 5:00 with lunch 1:00 - 2:00. I usually get to the office between 7-7:30am but that doesn't mean I ever get to leave early or take a longer lunch. I don't get paid overtime or time in lieu. I once was planning a trip up the coast and wanted to avoid traffic so I organised with work that I would leave at 3pm. I arrived at work that day at 6am but on my pay slip the next week it still had 2 hours leave deducted!!! When I asked why I was told that it didn't matter how many hours I worked, just whether I was at the office during the standard hours :) Luckily I am old enough to know my value for the firm & said that if that was how they saw it I would start work at 8:30am from then on & they backfooted & gave me my two hours back, but I still need to ask permission from the boss to leave 10 minutes early even if I have been in the office since crack of dawn & all my work is finished for the day. Still I needed cheering up today & your question has given me a chuckle. Oh how I miss my days as a public servant with flexitime & a standard 35 hour week.

They say they are flexible but in reality when you ask for a change in your work patterns or for some flexibility, you are quickly at the bottom of the barrel. This happens ALOT in small businesses.

My employer has kindly given us an hour off on full pay on Saturday November 24th,so that we can go and vote to make Joe Hockey unemployed.Work choices at it's best.

It has not improved one bit but taken all my rights and has eroded them under workchoices , AWA what a joke I was made reduntant under that, and no prospect of being able to get another job when all workers right's are being eroded under work choices. Joe I feel sorry for you, what about your rights ?, Don't you feel they that are being eroded like so many young employees feel, who have not the skills to ask questions of an employer, its either sign or don't get the job, and by signing and not being fully aware of what they are signing is a big concern for all. Joe even you would be in the same situation if you did not even understand what you were signing, and were told sign or you don't get the job , what would you do ? Get out and see the difference and talk to some of those people who have those concerns.

There will never be any balance between work and home responsiblities because the majority of employers forget that their employees have lives outside of our office or workspace... once we step out the door we cease to exist. My boss is a very kind man and tries to be accommodating when we have doctors/dentist appointments or are running late due to traffic etc but we always end up paying for it somehow. Seems like you are only rewarded if you devote your entire life to your job. As a young woman I have no idea how I am supposed to managed work and children... I can't go to the doctors or get to the shop to buy food so how am I supposed to take care of a baby or pick children up from school? Paid maternity leave and more rights protecting a mother's return to work need to be introduced... My husband and father are now working 10-12 hour shifts in extremely physical jobs under their AWA's, after having a heart attack it is the last thing my father needed... my husband is on call and does not received an on call allowance, we can't plan any holidays, weekends away because we never know if he will have to turn around and come home. Life is peachy for us working class!

Nothing to provide balance between work and home they are trying to introduce a 12 hour roster which includes working weekends. How this is going to benefit my family I don't know. Starting work at 7am and finishing at 7pm. Leaving for work at 6am and getting home at 8pm. The only reason they want to bring this in is so they don't have to pay overtime rates and nothing more. All it does is makes there profits fatter. Of cause no one in management will have to do this. Our only hope is on Election day. Good bye Joe.

At my office if we have an appointment, or something needs fixing at home we are allowed to use our laptops and hook up to the network. This has been great, for example, when my cat needed to go to the vet and another time when I had a broken window and needed to stay till it could be fixed. Sometimes I am just a little late to work from the Sydney trains messing up (happens a lot!) or something else and I just work a little later to catch up the time - I don't have to have that time come off my leave. The good thing is that work doesn't expect me to work at home (like on weekends and at night) just because I can! For me, when the day comes that I look for another job, I want to make sure that the company is able to be flexible to my needs - it is a 2 way street - as much as I am flexible to stay late on occasion if needed. There is a lady who works here and she needs to pick her kids up from school, so she now starts early and finishes early. This flexibility makes me want to work here and stay here cos I know that if my circumstances change, they will be able to change with me.