Only one in four NZ workers dare to 'leave loudly'

Monday, 8 April 2019

The majority of workers now have flexibility to leave early to do things like pick their children up from school, but just a quarter dare to 'leave loudly'.

Leaving loudly is the tag-line adopted by some employers to encourage workers not to be bashful about working flexibly to balance work and family commitments.

But research funded by Westpac found only one in four New Zealand workers felt comfortable 'leaving loudly' during normal work hours, despite two-thirds of Kiwi workers having bosses who were happy for them to do so, providing they still did the work needed of them.

And one in five workers routinely sneaked out of the office quietly when they had to go early.

**READ MORE:

* Stress busting: The haves and have nots of workplace flexibility

* Westpac adopts 'leave loudly' policy to help workers**

The survey of 1000 people, conducted by Colmar Brunton, polled workers about their employers' attitude to flexible working hours. 

Despite almost two thirds of people saying their workplace had a flexible working policy, just 24 per cent felt they could leave loudly.

Even among workers whose employers had an explicit flexible working policy, just 30 per cent felt empowered to leave loudly.

Gina Dellabarca, Westpac's general manager of human resources, said most people still weren't comfortable 'owning' their decision to leave the office during normal work hours. 

'We think employees wanting to leave to pick up kids from school or attend an appointment, for instance, should feel comfortable doing so without feeling the need to justify themselves,' she said.

Westpac introduced a leave loudly policy as part of its commitment to workplace flexibility.

'We want our workers to leave loudly and proudly, without fear of judgement by their colleagues,' she said. 'But these results suggest employers have some work to do in changing people's attitudes toward flexibility.'

The survey also found that New Zealand-born workers were more comfortable leaving loudly than workers born overseas who migrated to New Zealand.

Men were bolder about leaving loudly. More women felt the need to sneak out quietly when using their workplace flexibility.

Age also influenced people's willingness to leave loudly.

Workers younger than 35 were far more likely to sneak out quietly than those over 55.

'This suggests that under-35s desire greater flexibility, but don't feel comfortable about how that is viewed by others,' Dellabarca said. 

There is a modern workforce divide between workers in jobs that have little flexibility, and people in jobs allowing them to flex their hours, or work from home easily.

'We recognise there are still parts of our own business that aren't as flexible as we'd like them to be, and that's something we continue to work on,' Dellabarca said.

'We also acknowledge that flexibility can be more difficult in some roles. However, with modern technology it has never been easier to do work from home or outside the office.

The research indicated employers had to do more than just put flexible working policies in place.

'It's not just about a providing a flexibility policy, it's the tone set from senior leaders or business owners, it's about walking-the-talk and making sure you measure progress along the way,' Dellabarca said.

'Our flexible working policy has really driven staff retention and engagement. Productivity hasn't suffered as a result of more open flexible work policies, and it hasn't hindered either salary or career progression for our staff.'