Flexible Work Requests Policy

Overview

ReGen Strategic and its associated entities (the Company) recognises that flexible work arrangements have the potential to deliver benefits for both employees and our organisation. We endeavour to provide opportunities for flexible work arrangements to assist in balancing the demands of professional and personal life, and to make our workplace more inclusive.

Employees may request flexible working arrangement in accordance with this policy. A request for flexible working arrangements may include requests to change:

Working hours (e.g. changes to start and finish times) including working arrangements/patterns of work (e.g. job sharing)
Leave options (e.g. changes to standard leave) including swapping out weekends and public holidays, time in lieu and going in to leave deficit in accordance with the Leave Policy.
Working location (e.g. working remotely from home or a different office)

The way an employee works (e.g. use of different equipment).

Purpose

This policy has been designed to help all our people achieve an appropriate work-life balance. It outlines the Company’s commitment to providing flexible work arrangements to eligible employees where flexible working arrangements can be reasonably accommodated having regard to the Company’s business and operational needs.

The purpose of this Policy is to set out the procedure for how to request flexible working arrangements.

However, this policy does not form part of any person’s contract with the Company or create any enforceable rights or entitlements for them.

Definition

Who is an ‘employee’?

In this policy, an ‘employee’ of the Company means any person who carries out work in any capacity for the Company except workers engaged as independent contractors. This includes work as:

an employee
a manager
an employee of a labour hire company who has been assigned to work in the Company (i.e. a ‘temp’)
a student gaining work experience, or
a volunteer.

Principles

The Company encourage all employees to request flexible working arrangements if they would like to. However, this does not mean that the Company will be able to accommodate all requests for flexible working arrangements.
The Company will give fair and reasonable consideration to all requests for flexible work arrangements and respond to requests in a timely manner.

Ad hoc or temporary flexible working agreement

The Company will also consider flexible work requests for temporary or ad hoc flexible work arrangements in line with this Policy and the Company’s Leave Policy. For example, employees may wish to request an ad hoc or temporary flexible working arrangement to where specific occasions arise that are a ‘one off’, such as for medical appointments, school commitments or family or personal commitments.

By way of example, these requests could include:

an application for time off in lieu for working on public holidays, weekends, or unsociable hours
an application for taking annual leave in advance (where there is not enough annual leave to cover a specific leave request) (up to one week) due to extenuating circumstances in accordance with the Leave Policy
working remotely during Christmas or New Year office shutdowns, or
applying to change standard working hours to allow for ad hoc personal and family commitments.

Ad hoc or temporary flexible working arrangements may be arranged by employees with the Managing Director or Executive Chairman at Managing Director or Executive Chairman’s discretion. The Company will not unreasonably refuse to grant ad hoc or temporary working arrangements.

Consideration of Requests for Flexible Working Agreements

The Company will consider the following factors when assessing whether to agree to an employee’s request for a flexible working agreement (including an ad hoc or temporary flexible working agreement):

the health and safety of the employee, particularly when the arrangements include adjustments to work location
the inherent requirements of the employee’s role, including the suitability of the employee’s role, duties, workload and output to flexible work arrangements
the operational requirements of the Company and possible impact of the request for flexible working arrangements on the Company, such as if it would impose an unjustifiable hardship on either the Company or the employee
any costs or expenses required to accommodate the employee’s request for flexible working arrangements (such as costs for ergonomic desk equipment, chairs etc.)
how the employee will continue to be actively engaged in work unit activities including team meetings and access to ongoing professional development
how the employee and the Company will manage cyber security risks, and
any other relevant factors that the Company, in its sole discretion, believes is relevant to the employee, the employment and the employee’s request for flexible working arrangements. This may include any pre-existing Flexible Working Agreement, any obligations of either the Company or the employee under law, the employee’s contract of employment or any other relevant policy or procedure, (including, but not limited to the Acceptable Use of IT Policy, the Work Health and Safety Policy or the Diversity & Inclusion Policy).

Consultation

As part of negotiating a flexible working arrangement with an employee, the Company will engage in consultation with the employee in order to:

encourage work practices and processes that enable flexibility for employees while ensuring operational needs are met and service delivery is maintained, and
actively work with employees to find solutions to requests for flexible working arrangements where possible in compliance with any applicable Enterprise Agreement, industrial instrument or Award that governs the employee’s working arrangements.

Written Flexible Work Agreements must be entered into for all requests for flexible work arrangements (except for ad hoc or temporary flexible work arrangements)

Following consultation with the employee about a request for a flexible work arrangements, the Company will decide whether the request for a flexible work arrangement can be accommodated in line with the principles set out in this Policy.

For clarity, a request for a flexible working arrangement is not agreed unless the Company and the employee enter into a written agreement specifying the terms of the flexible working arrangement. This may mean that the employee and the Company must agree, in writing, to a Deed of Variation of the Employment Agreement, a new Employment Agreement, an Individual Flexibility Arrangement pursuant to an Award or whatever is appropriate to legally effect the flexible working agreement.

Any Flexible Work Agreements between an employee or the Company will be reviewed regularly to ensure they continue to meet the Company’s operational requirements and the needs of the employee and may be subject to further review or amendment as agreed between the Company and the Employee.

Flexible Work Agreements shall be for a maximum of six months, at which point they will be reviewed, renegotiated and renewed upon agreement between the Company and the employee.

Employee obligations when working according to a Flexible Working Arrangement

When working flexibly, employees must:

uphold the terms of the Flexible Working Arrangement
take responsibility for delivering their own workload, which includes assigned tasks and responsibilities, as well as proactively seeking additional ways to contribute
if agreed by the Company and the employee, the employee must submit timesheets or other documents showing hours worked or time spent on specific tasks
devote full attention to work during the hours specified as part of the Flexible Working Arrangement
notify the Managing Director or Executive Chairman if they are going to be out of contact during scheduled work hours or apply for leave in accordance with the Leave Policy
report any workplace incidents, injuries or illnesses that occur while working remotely to the Managing Director and Executive Chairman in writing
report any potential hazards that may exist in the employee's work environment to the Managing Director and Executive Chairman in writing, including but not limited to work, health and safety hazards, security hazards (both cyber security and physical security)
when changing or modifying a remote working environment, pay attention to any new potential hazards that may exist
ensure that remote work arrangements comply with all Company Policies and Procedures, as located in the Team Admin > Policies and Procedures folder
if there is a change to the Company’s Policies and Procedures that impacts a Flexible Working Agreement, report how the change impacts the Flexible Working Agreement and whether it requires review or modification to comply with the Policies and Procedures
actively participate in any process of review and improvement of flexible work arrangements, and
ensure that you have appropriate childcare or dependent care arrangements in place while working remotely.