Section Five: Flexible working

Overall, a large proportion of disabled public servants were using some form of flexible working arrangement at the time of Te Taunaki (72%) but were less likely to be using those arrangements than their non-disabled colleagues (78%).

When looking at the individual types of flexible working arrangements (e.g. different starting and finishing times or reduced hours), the differences between disabled and non-disabled workers were all 2% or less.

Table 14: Proportion of disabled/non-disabled public servants currently using different flexible working arrangements

 Despite the indication that disabled public servants were using flexible arrangements less than their non-disabled colleagues, a larger proportion of them would have liked to work more flexibly (84% vs 74% for non-disabled public servants).

Comments in the survey highlighted the need for improved use of existing flexible working policies and approaches to meet people’s needs to be able to participate fully in the workforce.

“It is good that work have stepped up and recognised I have disabilities and we work around my issues by having a health and OSH plan. It is fantastic to have the opportunity to work from home during lock down as it has taken away a lot of stress .... When I am having bad pain and travel to town to work is an issue, it is good to have the option to work from home on those days. My sick leave levels have decreased as a result. I would love to see working from home to be made permanent.”

However, given there was also a higher proportion of disabled public servants who were working in direct customer-facing positions (see Section Three), this may have made it challenging to use more flexible arrangements.