<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>328683</docID> <postdate>2024-09-09 09:10:54</postdate> <headline>Flexible work ‘stigma’ a handbrake on women’s careers</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-309293" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/pexels-cowomen-2041390-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Women are most likely to experience "flexibility stigma" in the workforce, a report has found.</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Poppy Johnston</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Women working part-time or flexible hours to fit in the school pick-up are often passed over for promotions and the national gender equality agency wants change.</strong></p> <p>"Flexibility stigma" is a career handbrake for both genders but women are more likely to experience it because they are more likely to work outside the typical nine-to-five work week.</p> <p>Promotion rates dropped off steeply for part-time workers outside of management, with those workers half as likely to step up the ladder than their full-time counterparts.</p> <p>The perception part-time and flexible workers lacked commitment was a large part of the problem, Monday's report from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre found.</p> <p>Agency chief Mary Wooldridge said the findings reinforced the need to design jobs for inclusivity and ditch the "full-time mindset".</p> <p>"By embracing flexible work practices and addressing the challenges associated with part-time employment, employers create a more equitable and supportive work environment for all employees," she said.</p> <p>While workers have traditionally met their flexibility needs by going part-time, the COVID-19 pandemic opened up new ways of working, according to the report.</p> <p>Remote and hybrid working have become common since lockdowns forced people to work from home, and flexible hours, job sharing, and compressed work weeks have been on the rise.</p> <p>The share of women in part-time work declined by 3.2 percentage points in the two years to 2022/23.</p> <p>At the same time, full-time roles with in-built flexibility, such as remote or hybrid, were becoming more prevalent.</p> <p>Working-from-home pushback could slow that trend, however, with some employers – including the NSW government – angling for more in-office time.</p> <p>Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre co-author Silvia Salazar said the move away from part-time work towards other flexible forms signalled a structural change in the Australian labour market.</p> <p>"This trend presents an opportunity for employers to make these arrangements standard without harming employee experiences," she said.</p> <p>The report's key recommendations included normalising flexible work, consulting with employees and monitoring career progression to spot "promotion cliffs".</p> </body>