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Executive summary

Flexible work, like all work, brings with it exposure to psychosocial risks. That is, risks arising from social factors or human interaction. These can include excessive workloads, lack of role clarity, job insecurity and lack of support from managers or colleagues. Flexible work relates to flexibility with respect to locations of work, hours of work or patterns of work. This report drew on the experience of 52 NSW flexible workers and managers to understand the exposure of flexible workers to psychosocial risks. It investigated how these risks may have affected workers from different demographic cohorts differently, as well as the workplace health and safety experience of flexible workers.

Key findings

Social isolation is a key psychosocial risk factor for flexible workers. Interviewees recounted missing the social aspects of work, and for some, feeling isolated. At the extreme end, there were reports of staff having breakdowns related to feelings of isolation while working remotely. Organisations, managers and flexible workers took measures such as “check-ins”, and social events held online to try to minimise the risk of feeling isolated.

Flexible work has the potential to improve employees’ work-life balance, but negative impacts on work-life balance were also discussed. The general picture was of flexible workers and managers enjoying the time saved from commuting. This could be used on housework, errands, exercise, hobbies, or spending more time with family. However, having children at home “full-time” could be difficult during the lockdown period. Some employees felt pressure to, and did, work unpaid overtime, or to be contactable outside of work hours. This included a number of managers whose workload increased significantly, particularly due to relationship aspects of their work (i.e. there was more need to “check-in” with employees during COVID-19, and doing so remotely took more time). For employees the inability to quickly address work problems in-person in the office added to workload. There was also some “blurring” in the sense of lacking a clear demarcation between work and family life.

Remote and flexible work was experienced differently by different demographic cohorts. Some women had additional demands placed on them when working from home due to societal gender norms. Flexible working helped some workers with a disability (although this was a very small number of interviewees). Flexibility in work location or work hours can facilitate the involvement of people with caring responsibilities into the workforce, although some managers and workplace cultures were not very understanding of this. In one case a worker was bullied for being a part-timer. While only a very small number of interviewees spoke about having a mental health condition, their responses demonstrated that personal preferences for work location can affect worker’s mental health. In terms of older workers, some viewed working from home as a bridge towards retirement.

Flexible workers placed a high value on feeling trusted by their line manager, and their employer generally. Many interviewees felt trusted to do their work and made a strong case for the importance of this trust. Others expressed disquiet that management didn’t trust them. Trust can be considered an important job resource effective and psychologically safe flexible workers. Conversely, lack of trust is a stressor or job demand.

An improper ergonomic set up is a barrier to safe flexible work. This caused physical pain for some flexible workers. Some organisations offered financial support for staff to set up ergonomically appropriate work stations and home, but many did not. There were less thorough (and in some cases absent) ergonomic assessments for workers working flexibly at home than in the office environment. Some interviewees also discussed issues related to sedentariness or alcohol consumption.

Some flexible workers stated that their organisation did not have work health and safety (WHS) processes in place for remote workers. While very few WHS incidents were mentioned by interviewees, the few that were highlighted a lack of protocols to cover incidents while working away from the office in some organisations. Some flexible workers felt that training around mental health issues while working from home was lacking, while others raised training as an area for improvement. The general picture was that WHS processes have not kept up with changes in the nature of work. Interviewees showed awareness of the need for more attention to be given to WHS processes, involving flexible workers in this, and changed WHS requirements in a remote work context. Perceptions of WHS culture in organisations were mixed, with some participants citing a failure to adequately communicate WHS information effectively, while other organisations gave employees advice on ergonomics.

Flexible workers and managers felt that the responsibility for WHS issues at home was unclear.

Future research

• Further research should target participants diverse demographic and employment groups for a first-hand account of how the nature and extent of psychosocial risks faced amongst flexible workers affect them. In particular, this should target workers with a disability, younger workers, and those with carer responsibilities, as these groups were identified as being at increased risk in Phase 1.
• Flexible workers experience both an added burden of demands and additional resources, such as improved work-life balance and manager and co-worker support. Further research should focus on one key aspect of support that was frequently mentioned in both positive and negative contexts: line management capabilities for relation-oriented leadership (Bartsch et al., 2020) in support for flexible workers.
• Future research in the present project will focus on how WHS management systems can effectively respond to the needs for WHS engagement for flexible workers. The findings from this Phase 2 research will assist us to better understand the shortcomings of the current WHS systems and standards as they relate to flexible working, particularly in relationship to working remotely.
• In this respect, the Phase 3 study will include consideration of the five domains of WHS identified as themes in the present study: WHS systems and processes, WHS culture, employee engagement in WHS, ergonomics and physical design, and responsibility for WHS. Phase 3 of the project will generate a best practice guide by drawing on the findings from Phases 1 and 2, and conducting a series of focus groups with a range of key stakeholders.

Recommendations

Interview data from Phase 2 points to the following recommendations, which will be further refined by Phase 3:

• Measures need to be put in place to ensure that the potential benefits of flexible work are realised, while “blurring” of the line between home and work, increased workload and work intensification are avoided. This could include organisation-wide policies, training for line managers and regulators enacting a right to disconnect for flexible workers.
• Organisations should give consideration as to how to avoid social isolation for remote workers, and in particular the level of support required and balance of in-person and remote working any individual worker does.
• More training on WHS for managers and employees. This should be adapted to challenges faced when working remotely, such as psychosocial risk, ensuring employee voice in WHS processes such as through WHS committees, and improving awareness of who is responsible for WHS. Ensure that protocols are in place to cover incidents that occur while working remotely.
• More training on managing remote workers appropriately.
• Support, including financial support, for an ergonomically-suitable workstation and work-related costs such as electricity.
• A hybrid model, where employees can choose to work remotely for up to two or three days per week, may help to retain some of the positive aspects of remote work (e.g. time saved from commuting), while minimising its negatives (e.g. social isolation).
• Flexible and remote work should be a genuine choice for employees. Personal circumstances for some employees may mean it is not safe to work from home. Some employees prefer working from the office. Organisations should ensure they provide the relevant support for both modes of working.