#flexmatters - Mark Morris - 2 June 2021

I thought today I’d share a part of my flex story with you. Today is Flexible Working Day, and is a day to celebrate and showcase the benefits of flexible work for both people and organisations. The day also marks a call to action to tackle flexism. Established in 2016, the fight for fair was pre-COVID, but in a post-2020 world, Flexible Work has been given an incredible boost, as many have seen a better way of working than they ever thought possible. “We can’t” has turned into “we can”, and some have grabbed this opportunity with both hands and are exploring ways to optimise and sustain flexible working as a way to thrive in a new world of work. Even traditional frontline roles are now benefiting from flexible options thought previously “too hard basket”. 

When I think about what flex means to me, I first think about my family. And I expect this would not be unusual for many. Whether you are caring for a parent, child, or other relative, it’s often about doing what you love with those you love. But of course flex is commonly and incorrectly assumed to be geared toward parents and carers, where it’s actually about so much more. To me it’s about enabling the best possible employee wellbeing, and the best possible employee and team performance. Let’s summarise this as human-centred employee experience. On a practical level, I think about how working flexibly has changed for me over the years, and in particular how I’ve been impacted by flex most recently. 

I’ve spent nearly my entire career managing and leading others, and I’ve become more and more passionate over time with ensuring that staff for whom I have a duty of care are prioritising their wellbeing and optimising their performance. Recently this has taken shape into my role as a Flexible Working Day ambassador, walking the talk, leading by example, and helping others to see a better way as we shape the Future of Work and whatever that holds for us. There is a strong link between flexible work and psychologically safe working environments, as both require trust, inclusion, and feeling supported in a tailored way. And through this link I also draw on High Performing Teams maturity models in my servant leadership style to guide teams from getting by to winning, and whatever that looks like.

There is no secret that for me a significant lever in my passion for flex was becoming a dad in 2016. I never realised how hard it was until I was actually in it, faced with the juggle, the constant balance of family & career commitments, compromises, sacrifices, choices and promises. It’s worth noting here that all parents have their way, and there’s no 1 way to be a great parent, just like there’s no 1 way of working arrangements. For me though, being a great parent, and husband, has meant trying to on average maintain a 50/50 share of parenting with my wife. That means sharing dirty nappies, getting up through the night, drop-offs & pickups, and all the admin that goes along with it. Now, my wife took about 1 year off work for each of our 2 children, so the balance was geared accordingly during those periods, but now that we are both working fulltime-ish, trying for 50/50 is very front of mind for me. Being a great dad to me means being present mentally when I’m present physically, and truly engaging with my family, trying to avoid work and devices while around them, as much as possible. Without flex this wouldn’t be possible, and this would impact on my wellbeing, and the wellbeing of my wife & children. Now with our eldest in Prep, the juggle has levelled up again, trying to manage an 8 hour work day with a 7 hour school day, and 14 weeks of school holidays per year. 

It’s been a battle. No, it’s been many battles. And I expect there are many more to come. Luckily, I’m a fighter, and don’t stray away from a challenge if it’s for a good cause. I was told early on when asking for more flexible arrangements that “my wife should be more supportive of my career”! Needless to say I found another job and resigned shortly after. There are so many problems we still have to address in our society and working culture with regard to gender stereotypes and sexism, linked to the role dads play in parenting and how inclusive workplaces are in a gender equitable way. I’m committed to having the tough conversations where needed with senior leaders, even when uncomfortable, because until challenged, many things won’t change. Alone it’s hard to make a difference, but we’re all in this together, so we’re not alone, so we need to join in this fight, because our wellbeing and relationships with our families are worth fighting for. By watching others I’ve seen so many marriages and family units break down, so many people struggle with mental health issues, and so many kids suffering their own disconnection from their parents. Surely there is a better way.

At the moment we are seeing a battle across industry for talent and at the core of this is flex. People have experienced a better way of working in many cases over the past year, or at the very least, had their blindfold taken off as to the possibilities, and of course why would they want to let that go. I’ve seen staff able to work from the homes of their elderly parents who live alone for companionship, and staff who for the first time in 15 years have been able to pick up or drop off their kids from school each day. How could I in good conscience take these things away from people if there is now evidence that work can continue to be delivered with no drop in performance or service delivery? I couldn’t. I won’t. It’s inhuman. But some will try. Some will project senior executive working style preferences on to their subordinate staff simply because they can and it’s easier for them because their archaic management style is to manage by what they can see in front of them physically. These approaches will fail. In 1 team recently I’ve seen a 25% staff departure in 6 months. People aren’t tolerating a lack of flex or a fixed mindset because there are plenty of employers out there doing great things in flex. How flexible can you be? Keeping your good staff will depend on it, or all you’ll be left with is a poor culture and dysfunctional staff who don’t really want to be there.

Personally flex for me has included many things, but working from home has been a game changer, combined with flexible start/finish times, a variable roster, and a nonlinear schedule. The benefits have been exponential including time saved in travel, costs saved in travel, more sleep, more exercise, more drop-offs, more pickups, I get to see my kids in the mornings and in the evenings, things are less rushed and less stressed at home, and the list goes on. I haven’t calculated the hours or dollars saved but it would be a lot. What I also can’t calculate are the secondary and tertiary benefits of my flexible working, for example benefits to my wife and children. Because I am more involved it’s a fairer share of parenting responsibilities which means less stress for my wife and between us, and she can focus more on her career in turn. Because we’re mentally calmer and present more around the kids we can be more supportive to their learning, reading more, playing more, and sharing time in general, because at the end of the day, time is all we have. I choose to spend my time wisely, not sitting in traffic when it’s not needed.

I think the path ahead for flex is about leadership. And I don’t mean leave it up to the people in charge, in authority, in decision making roles; no, in fact, quite the opposite. We all need to be leaders, to lead ourselves and others, especially at times when those who should be aren’t leading us in the right direction. Yes I’m angry, I’m frustrated, and I’m disappointed. But I believe many great innovations have been born out of frustration. Archimedes said (and I’m paraphrasing) ‘Give me a lever and I can move the world’. We’ve been gifted an incredible lever in 2020 and the world is moving, we need to move with it or suffer the consequences. 

I’ve been inspired by Vanessa Vanderhoek over the past few years, leading the way on flexible work before it was trendy to do so, establishing Flexible Working Day and so much more in her company, The Flexagility Group, all while juggling her own family commitments. Without her I wouldn’t be where I am as a flex champion, and I know many other organisations and individuals would also be so far behind where they are now. I lost a friend to cancer a couple of years ago, and he had a family, and it was a reminder to me that life is temporary, that each day counts, and how we choose to spend our time while we can matters. I don’t want to wake up in 30 years wishing I had worked less & spent more time with my kids, so I’m not going to let that happen. I also need to make more time for health and wellbeing, because if we don’t have our health, suddenly we don’t have much. I help my staff to make time for their wellbeing and the people and things they love, and I encourage you to do the same for those in your network, team, tribe, and please reach out to me if you need someone to talk to about flex.