The ties are offIt wasn’t a snap decision. In fact, Reid Johnson had thought about it on and offfor the past decade. His home was ‘noisy and busy’ with four kids, the youngestin primary school and eldest in the final year of high school. Work was busy too.As Telstra’s director of customer service, Johnson had … Continue reading “opportunity at work changed everything | My Assignment Tutor”
The ties are offIt wasn’t a snap decision. In fact, Reid Johnson had thought about it on and offfor the past decade. His home was ‘noisy and busy’ with four kids, the youngestin primary school and eldest in the final year of high school. Work was busy too.As Telstra’s director of customer service, Johnson had nine direct reports and a250-strong customer service team to manage.An opportunity at work changed everything. Telstra was about to launch aprogramme giving men the chance to change the way they worked. Theprogramme included working a four-day week and taking Fridays off. Basically,moving from full-time to part-time work.Johnson found that he was now able to take a more active role in parenting andsharing in taking kids to school, sports and social activities. He was able to createmore space to support his wife, who was currently studying.Although his boss was a big supporter of the arrangement, Johnson admits therewas an undercurrent of resentment in the workplace, the odd joke about menworking part-time and the occasional ‘Oh thanks for turning up’ comment.He also had to overcome self-doubt, and believe that it was not going to impacthis career and that he could make it work.Transitioning was important, so for three months he had someone in his teamacting in his role on Fridays who would only ring him when absolutely necessary.Johnson only received four calls in 14 months.(Taken from Nankervis et al 2020, page 196).Task:Drawing cues from the above case study, discuss the benefits and problemsflexible work arrangement would have for (a) the organisation, and (b) for theemployees.
