A focus on outcomes, not just hours

At Stockland, flexibility is not only supported, it’s encouraged.

External studies have shown more workers around the world are working flexibly to balance their work and life commitments, leading to higher levels of engagement, productivity and wellbeing.

Stockland recently launched a flexibility program called ‘Flexibility@Stockland’ to give all our employees the opportunity to openly discuss and access flexible work options.

As explained by Mark Steinert, Stockland Managing Director and CEO, “All roles at Stockland can be flexible, and this initiative is aimed at ensuring there is no stigma associated with flexible work arrangements. As a company we are focused on outcomes, not hours at the desk.”

This could mean doing ‘One Simple Thing’ such as starting later to drop kids off at school, taking a longer lunch break once or twice a week to go to the gym or working from home once a fortnight. Or it may mean making more formal flexibility arrangements such as working part-time or job sharing to improve wellbeing.

Recently, each member of the Stockland Executive team shared the ‘One Simple Thing’ that they have introduced to improve their work-life quality. This ranged from leaving early a couple of days  a week to share dinner with the family to taking time out at lunch to exercise.

Employees were encouraged to discuss and document their ‘One Simple Thing’ or their existing flexible arrangements with their manager at their mid-year performance review meetings. Approximately 25% of our employees utilised some form of flexibility arrangement prior to this initiative, and we have now seen a further 37% of employees introduce a flexibility arrangement into their working week.

Teams regularly share examples of flexibility options that have been adopted by employees to promote the mainstreaming of flexibility and encourage others to explore flexible work options.