Flexible Work Arrangements-It's Easy if You Try

Excuse me while I get up on my high horse for a moment.

I read today in one of the national newspapers some opinions that Employer's looking at the option of working from home for some of its employees may hit a hurdle in the face of OHS issues.

I disagree that Employers should be "skittish" in the light of recent cases involving injuries whilst working away from the office.If you look at what those cases were about, it had very little or nothing to do with having a home office.

I am aware of the OHS angle ofcourse, as it is part of what we advise on here at Blandslaw.But I cannot help feeling that this is going to turn into just another excuse for some companies to throw up their hands(as some have done over the past 20 years, and that includes many colleagues of mine) and say "its all too hard".

Sure, Employers need to ensure that there is a safe work environment and there are other important cosiderations such as confidentiality, however these can rather easily be overcome.After all, its not like we are talking about factories or building sites here.

The main reason Employers have balked at this option over the past decade or so is, in my view, a reluctance by some to get over the mental hurdle that if you are not there(at the office), you are not working and cannot be managed.

I could go on and on about the benefits of having people work from home and there are not too many situations where this cannot be put into practice.We at BlandsLaw are are living, breathing example that it can work, if you are prepared to flexible.And the forward think Employers(and I know some of these) are way ahead of the game here.

OHS is critical, ofcourse, but let's not use this as a crutch.

Onto the weekend and its hotting up in NRL land with the winners of this week's games meeting in the big one next week.My mighty Manly Sea Eagles are still alive and take on the donkeys(err Broncos) tonight.The maroon and whites are favoured and so they should be!The Storm should be too good for the Warriors in the other game.And, speaking of the Storm, does anyone else agree that it is time to put an * next to the Dragon's win last year as the Storm were not allowed to compete.?Given the Storm's performance this year and the fact that they dominated for most of the past 5 years before that, it raises some questions.......

And I have not blogged since the NFL(Gridiron) started a few weeks back.As old readers of this blog will attest, I make, along with my mate "TK" a "lock of the week "call on one particular game(or 2).With the caveat that you should only bet what you can afford to lose, we like Green Bay giving the Bears 3.5 at Chicago and the Saints giving 4 to the Texans at home.And by the way, your truly has open a wide early lead in the tipping comp-I think I lead by 7 after 2 rounds.

Good luck and GO MANLY.