Gender diversity is a hotly-debated topic today in many industries. Some sectors, such as Engineering and Construction, are still heavily male-dominated industries and have work to do to achieve a gender-balanced workforce. However, in the space we work, recruiting government jobs, we’ve seen a lot of progress towards gender diversity. Most of the teams we work with have a relatively even number of both males and females, and it’s particularly exciting to see so many women moving up the chain within government organisations.

We believe one of the main reasons for this is that concepts such as workforce flexibility and work-life balance are becoming more widely accepted and adopted. We’ve experienced the advantages of flexible working first hand, with both of us being supported to work remotely to accommodate our lifestyles and family commitments. However, with candidates (particularly mothers) frequently coming to us in search of greater flexibility and the chance to work part time, it’s apparent that there’s an opportunity for employers to further pursue diversity and gain access to a whole new pool of talent.

Flexibility and Achieving a Gender-Balanced Team

With the changing expectations of both men’s and women’s roles in the family and the working world, flexibility has become more important to them than ever. From a desire to start and finish early to accommodate children’s sporting activities or school pick-ups and drop-offs, to the need to work remotely to take care of dependants; there are a range of reasons why employees seek flexibility in their working arrangements.

These are trends that government is already doing a great job in applying, clearly realising more flexibility in the workplace provides access to a wider range of talent, creates more gender-balanced teams and ultimately leads to a happier and more productive workforce. These types of initiatives are often supported for everyone, but remain especially valuable to female professionals.

There are a lot of people, especially mothers, that are highly skilled and would love the opportunity to re-enter the workforce – but due to their family responsibilities, can only commit to part-time work. If you look at a team of 20 women, around 15 might be mothers; but how many more mothers are currently being excluded by the workforce due to their personal circumstances?

Something we still don’t see often in the market is opportunities for job sharing, which would also likely increase the number of women in the workplace. Job sharing is a way to use flexibility to reach a previously untapped section of the market and drastically increase the size and quality of the talent pool.

Tapping into a Whole New Talent Pool

In our roles as recruiters, we see candidates every day who are asking for more part-time and flexible options; indicating that employers who support it will have high-quality talent flooding to their doors.

Flexible working is not only beneficial to workers but can also bring a number of advantages to employers. We’ve seen that when employees are supported to work flexibly, they’re often more engaged, motivated and productive in their roles because they appreciate their unique working arrangements. In our own flexible roles, we haven’t had a sick day all year as we’re able to continue working while at home when necessary.

For some employers, the idea of offering flexibility and job-sharing opportunities can be troubling. They feel concerned that there will be a loss of productivity – after all, it does involve a certain level of trust. However, in most cases it works the other way: people with options to work from home or alter their hours tend to be more autonomous and available more often, always connected via email and other forms of work communications.

For employers looking to attract talent from untapped markets, here are some ways to support flexibility and make job sharing easier and more effective:

• Utilise cloud technologies to help people work and collaborate remotely
• Use measurable tasks and set clear goals to make it easier to monitor productivity
• During the hiring process, it can be a good idea not to offer these benefits up front – rather, wait until the interview stage to assess candidates and offer this up on a case-by-case basis.

Closing Thoughts

As time goes on, the landscape of work is evolving. No matter the industry, we’ve seen that embracing flexibility has become the ticket to happier, more productive workers. Not only can it improve the work life of current employees, but it also allows you to attract a wealth of highly-skilled candidates that may have been otherwise closed off. 

The most important thing to remember is that remote working does take a measure of trust – but ultimately, when you have a good relationship with your employees, the benefits can be staggering.

If you’d like to take the first steps towards your business’ flexible and more diverse future, please get in touch with First People Recruitment Solutions – we value inclusion across every level of business and utilise a proven model to provide you with a diverse pool of candidates that aligns with your organisational goals. 

For government and public sector recruitment in Australia, contact Hayley. Our unique perspective combines both sides of the market, so you’re guaranteed a recruitment solution that meets the needs of your business.