Asking for flexible work: what to say and put in writing

The single most useful reframing: bring a proposal, not a problem.

“I am struggling with school pick-up” invites your employer to sympathise and do nothing. “I would like to finish at three on Tuesdays and Thursdays and start at seven thirty on those days, with handover covered by X” invites a yes or a specific objection.

The second version also happens to be what a formal request under Australian workplace law looks like.

Where the law sits

The Fair Work Act includes a right to request flexible working arrangements for eligible employees, and parents or carers of school-aged children are among the categories it covers.

There is a process, including what a request must contain, how long an employer has to respond, the grounds on which a request can be refused, and what happens if there is a dispute. The Fair Work Ombudsman publishes the current requirements and is the authority. Eligibility depends on your circumstances and your employment.

This article does not state the legal requirements or give legal advice. It covers how to make the request land. Check Fair Work for the process itself, and note that the provisions have been amended in recent years.

Most requests are resolved by conversation rather than by process, which is why the practical side matters.

What to put in the request

Write it down, even if you also have a conversation. A written request creates a shared record and, where the statutory process applies, it is part of it.

Include these:

What you are asking for, specifically. Days, hours, location, start and finish times. Not “more flexibility”.

When you want it to start, and whether it is permanent or for a defined period.

The reason, briefly. Under the statutory process a request states the change and the reason, and the reason connects it to the eligible circumstance. You do not owe your employer your family’s full circumstances.

How the work still gets done. This is the part that decides the outcome and it is the part most requests omit. Coverage during the hours you are not there, how clients or colleagues reach you, what happens to the parts of your role that are time-bound, and what you will do differently.

What you have already thought about. Naming the obvious objection and answering it before it is raised is more persuasive than anything else in the document.

An offer to review it. A trial period with a review date makes a yes much easier for a manager who is uncertain, because it is not permanent on day one.

Before you send it

Find out what already exists. Many Australian workplaces have arrangements that are not advertised: compressed weeks, purchased leave, adjusted start and finish times, job share, part-time options, and existing flexible work policies. Ask HR what the policy is before you write.

Find out who decides. Your direct manager usually recommends, and someone else may approve.

Look at precedent. If someone else in the organisation already works the arrangement you want, that is the strongest argument available and it costs nothing to find out.

Time it deliberately. Not in a crisis week, not the day a large project lands, and where possible with enough notice for planning.

The conversation

Give warning. “I would like to talk about my working arrangements, can we find half an hour” is better than raising it in a corridor.

Lead with the proposal.

Be specific about what does not change. Managers worry about output, coverage and fairness. Address all three.

Ask what their concerns are and write them down. A concern you can answer next week is not a refusal.

Do not negotiate against yourself. Ask for the arrangement you actually need, not a reduced version you think is more palatable. You can concede later.

Follow up in writing, summarising what was discussed and agreed, the same day.

What happens next

Your employer has obligations about how and when to respond, and there are limited grounds on which a request can be refused. The Fair Work Ombudsman sets out what those are, including requirements to discuss the request and to consider alternatives.

If it is refused, ask for the reasons and for what alternative arrangement would be acceptable. A refused request is frequently the start of a negotiation rather than the end of one.

If you cannot resolve it, the Fair Work Ombudsman provides information and there are dispute resolution avenues. A union, if you are a member, or an employment lawyer for a complex situation, are the places for advice specific to you.

The mistakes that cause refusals

Asking vaguely. A request with no specifics cannot be approved.

Ignoring coverage. The single biggest cause of a no.

Making it about fairness. “Others get to work from home” invites a comparison argument rather than a decision about your work.

Asking for everything at once. A request for reduced days, changed hours and a location change is three requests, and it is easier to refuse as a bundle.

Not putting it in writing. Verbal agreements do not survive a change of manager, and where the statutory process applies, writing matters.

Treating it as permanent and unreviewable. A trial with a review date is far easier to approve.

If the answer is no

Ask what would need to be different.

Propose a smaller version. One day, a trial term, a school-holidays-only arrangement.

Consider the alternatives honestly: a different role internally, reduced hours with the income consequences worked through as in part-time work and what it does to your budget, or a different employer.

And know what you are solving. If the underlying problem is school holidays rather than term-time hours, flexible work will not fix it, and working parents and the holiday care gap covers what does.

Next: working from home with school-age kids covers making the arrangement work once you have it, working parents and the holiday care gap covers the part flexibility cannot solve, and Paid Parental Leave in plain English covers the entitlements on the way in.

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