Case study: Flexible work reduces the gender pay gap and saves money

A new report has shown that flexible work arrangements can:

help close the gender pay gap
help close the unpaid work gap
save businesses money

Closing the gender pay gap

Women continue to perform the bulk of unpaid work and care duties. That means they lose out on higher-paying and secure roles that don't offer the flexibility they need to juggle their unpaid work with their paid work. If flexibility is introduced for these roles, more women can take them up.

‘Normalising’ and valuing flexible work also encourages more men to take up the option. If men are supported to work flexibly, it can encourage them to share the burden of unpaid work with women.

Saving businesses money

The report shows that organisations actually save on costs by implementing flexible work practices.

Nous Group examined the costs of flexible work in three organisations:

The report found that flexible work delivers savings for all three organisations. Each organisation differs in size and sector, but they all share a commitment to flexible work. Having flexible workplace policies saved each organisation the following:

DELWP: $31 million saved per year (2.25% of net income)
Mercy Health: $23 million saved per year (3.92% of net income)
Wannon Water: $150,000 saved per year (0.21% of net income)

Other organisations can use a modelling tool to calculate the potential return on investment in their own settings.

Flexible work is a key action under Victoria’s gender equality strategy, Safe and Strong.