Good Governance Guide - Flexible Working

1. Public sector governance
© Governance Institute of Australia 2018. This material is subject to copyright. The Good Governance Guides indicate, in the view of Governance Institute
of Australia Ltd, one interpretation of good practice. They are not designed to cover or comply with all applicable legislation or case law. We cannot be held
liable or accountable to any person who acts or relies upon the information provided. The guides are not a substitute for professional advice.
Visit our website at governanceinstitute.com.au to find more Good Governance Guides and information on governance.
GoodGovernanceGuide
Governance issues to consider when
dealing with flexible working arrangements
Employees are increasingly working under flexible work
arrangements which may include working from home,
working outside traditional business hours or outside
a traditional office environment.1
This style of working
is referred to as flexible working, anywhere working,
working remotely, telecommuting or teleworking and
covers employees who work:
• in co-working hubs
• from their home
• in remote locations.
Working from home or from co-working hubs is popular
with employees as it enables them to:
• achieve a better work/life balance
• focus on particular tasks and projects without
distraction
• reduce commuting time and avoid traffic congestion
• reduce their costs of housing by living further away
from the city centres where the head offices of many
organisations are located.
This trend is expected to continue.
Many public sector entities already offer employees
the ability to work from home or from teleworking hubs
— spaces set up by Government departments which
provide office facilities for their employees outside
city centres. Allowing employees the ability to work
anywhere or in a telehub can enable a public sector
entity to attract and retain employees. It also reduces
unscheduled absences and increases engagement.
There are, however, risks and governance issues which
arise from employees working flexibly that a public
sector entity will need to consider including:
• maintaining the entity’s purpose and ensuring that these
employees are aware of the entity’s strategic aims and
are acting in accordance with the planned objectives,
desired performance and culture of the entity
• determining the most appropriate ways to effectively
supervise and motivate employees who are not in the
office to ensure that the entity does not suffer a loss
of productivity
• managing the work, health and safety of employees
working in locations outside the entity’s direct control
and supervision. Employees working remotely or from
home may experience a sense of isolation or inability
to ‘switch off’ from their jobs from which can impact
on their mental health or may have threats to their
physical safety
• the impact of flexible working on other employees,
for example, where there are shared roles and
responsibilities and there are urgent requests,
requiring face-to-face meetings
• how to avoid a breakdown in teamwork caused by
employees no longer working face-to-face and a
subsequent loss of workplace synergies and problem
solving ability
• managing the transition from a traditional office-
based workforce to a flexible workforce
• how to best use technology to communicate
effectively with employees working in a range
of locations
• taking advantage of the opportunities created by the
emerging technologies enabling flexible working and
managing the associated risks to ensure that the
benefits are realised, and
• safeguarding the entity’s information technology
resources when employees are accessing the office
through their own devices and ensuring that their use
of technology is in accordance with the entity’s digital
security framework.
A governance framework
Good governance provides the framework through
which the organisation’s strategic objectives are
set and cascaded and the means of attaining them
are determined. The key to whole-of-organisation
governance is clarity as to:
• Purpose
• Alignment of effort with strategic objectives, and
• Accountability.
(See Guidelines: Whole-of-organisation governance).

2. GoodGovernanceGuide Public sector governance
© Governance Institute of Australia 2018. This material is subject to copyright. The Good Governance Guides indicate, in the view of Governance Institute
of Australia Ltd, one interpretation of good practice. They are not designed to cover or comply with all applicable legislation or case law. We cannot be held
liable or accountable to any person who acts or relies upon the information provided. The guides are not a substitute for professional advice.
Visit our website at governanceinstitute.com.au to find more Good Governance Guides and information on governance.
In general the governing bodies (boards) of public sector
entities should be established with a long-term view
which should take account of:
• the longer-term value drivers of the agency
• feedback from stakeholders, including the community
• members of the board actively overseeing and
understanding the board strategy and regularly
monitoring, along with management, the
implementation and effectiveness of strategic plans
• risk management, including strategic risks and the
relationship of those with the board strategy and key
objectives (see Good Governance Guide: Issues to
consider in the formation of public sector boards).
Risk management is a critical area of responsibility
for the board of a public sector entity and a core
component of a governance framework. Each entity is
faced with a range of risks that it needs to identify and
manage in order to achieve strategic objectives (see
Good Governance Guide: Risk governance).
While public sector entities will have in place
governance, performance and risk management
frameworks which cover employees working in a formal
office environment, these may not deal effectively with
the issues and risks which arise when employees work
outside that environment. Policy frameworks, rules and
delegations will be impacted by a flexible workforce.
It is good governance for a public sector entity
to ensure its governance and risk management
frameworks address the challenges of a flexible
workforce if it has or intends to have employees working
outside a traditional office environment.
It is good governance for the board to consider how it
will undertake the oversight of governance and risk of a
public sector entity which has employees working flexibly.
The following issues need to be considered:
• the nature of the boundaries on behaviour and
decision making (through policies, procedures,
standards, systems and controls) to ensure
employees working flexibly act in accordance with the
strategic objectives and code of conduct of the entity.
Technology will be important method of dealing with
this issue
• the risks that will need to be recognised, assessed
and managed. Areas of risk which will be impacted
will include performance, behaviours, work health and
safety, operational, information technology and digital
security. There may also be specific work, health and
safety risks to be managed if policies identify a person
working from home as an ‘isolated’ worker
• whether a stand-alone policy is required to deal with
employees working flexibly, and if so, the interaction
with other policies such as work, health and safety,
information technology, training, performance
management and supervision
• the leadership styles of senior leaders, managers
and supervisors to maintain commitment, productivity
and teamwork
• ensuring that all policies establish clear expectations
to help ensure that out-of-office employees act
consistently with the values and desired culture of the
entity, that they continue to have a ‘voice’ in the entity
and are able to raise and escalate issues appropriately
• clarifying the roles, authorities and accountabilities of
out-of-office employees to ensure that there is clear
and effective accountability for their decisions
• clarification of the reporting lines for these
employees, and
• whether appropriate monitoring mechanisms are in
place to provide the board or with assurance that
these employees are making the right decisions in
the right way.
It may be critical for leaders to demonstrate and
practise leadership styles that support employees self-
managing performance, risks, controls, competencies
and values within agreed objectives, policies and codes
of conduct. Those with governance responsibilities
may need to provide oversight of performance, risks,
policy compliance, leadership styles, culture and the
effectiveness of employees’ self-management.
Note
1 Almost half of 2017 Australian Public Service employee census
respondents report using flexible work arrangements, State of the
Service Report 2016–17, Australian Public Service Commission,
November 2017 at page 41.