Overview of the report
This report examines the availability and take-up of family friendly provisions within Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It draws upon survey data from the Sensis® Business Index, which surveys 1,800 small and medium enterprise (SME) operators. For this survey, additional questions were asked covering 19 specific carer and family friendly provisions, as well as providing businesses with the opportunity to discuss other provisions they offered, the impact and potential impact of skills shortages on their businesses, and their ability to change working provisions to attract and retain quality employees.
The provision of carer and family friendly provisions in Australian SMEs
In summary, the survey found that 97 per cent of SMEs provided at least one provision to their employees to assist them in balancing their work and caring responsibilities. Overall, the types of provisions varied in the extent to which they were offered by SMEs, however the provisions most likely to be offered by businesses to their employees were access to a telephone for family reasons, which was offered by 87 per cent of SMEs; fl exible annual leave allowing employees to choose the timing of leave and the ability to take single days, which was offered by 83 per cent of SMEs; and fl exible start and finish times, which were offered by 73 per cent of SMEs.
When looking at the usage of provisions by employees, the same three provisions were also the most used provisions. The rate at which provisions that were offered by SMEs were taken up by their employees was highest for these three provisions. It is interesting to note that the provision with the fourth highest take-up rate by employees was the ability to work from home, which was taken up in 83 per cent of the 30 per cent of businesses in which it was offered.
When looking at business demographics, medium businesses with 20 to 199 employees tended to be more likely to offer carer and family friendly provisions than smaller businesses with up to 19 employees. It was interesting to note that family businesses tended to offer most provisions at lower rates than other businesses. Home-based businesses were no more likely to offer fl exible provisions than other businesses, with the notable exceptions of on-site child care and the ability for their employees to also work from home.
Gender, of both the business operators and the employees, was found to play a quite important role in the availability and take-up of carer and family friendly provisions. Businesses that were predominantly operated by females were more likely than other businesses to offer carer and family friendly provisions to their employees. The only provisions that were more likely to be offered by SMEs that were predominantly male-operated were the ability to work from home and the ability to purchase additional annual leave.
Whilst the gender of the operator was important, the gender of the employees played an even larger role. Almost all provisions were more likely to be offered in businesses whose workforce was predominantly female.
When examining how carer and family friendly provisions were provided in Australian SMEs, the overwhelming method was through unwritten informal agreements, with formal mechanisms such as awards, human resources policies, Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) and collective workplace agreements being used by relatively minor proportions of SMEs by comparison.
The impact of carer and family friendly provisions
Overall, the study found an overwhelmingly positive impact for businesses that provided their employees with carer and family friendly provisions. Four in five SME operators felt that providing such provisions had a positive benefit for their business, with the most likely benefit being the ability to keep their employees happy. Drawbacks of providing fl exible provisions were much smaller in magnitude, with loss of productive time and increased costs being identified as the main drawbacks. Some 42 per cent of SMEs felt that there were no drawbacks in providing carer and family friendly provisions to their employees. Likewise the main barrier or difficulty in offering carer and family friendly provisions was the cost involved, which was nominated by 23 per cent of SME operators.
In addition to the reported benefits that providing carer and family friendly provisions were seen to bring, businesses that offered these provisions also reported higher levels of business performance, in particular in sales and profitability, when compared to businesses that did not offer any provisions to their employees.
It is important to note that SME operators often have caring responsibilities themselves. Some 33 per cent of SME operators reported that they have caring responsibilities, with 63 per cent of those reporting that their caring responsibilities affected how they ran their businesses. For many this meant having to either curtail their business to fit around their caring responsibilities, or trying to fit both business and family responsibilities around each other.
Finally, the impact of skills shortages was investigated, with over one quarter of SMEs anticipating that skills shortages would impact on their business in the next twelve months. Providing fl exible working arrangements was seen to have potential to assist SMEs, with some 57 per cent stating that they would be willing to change their working arrangements to obtain or retain skilled employees.
About the Sensis® Business Index
The Sensis® Business Index is an ongoing series of surveys designed to track confidence and behaviour of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Since its inception in 1993, the Sensis® Business Index has been one of the most extensive and regular surveys of small businesses in Australia. Historically, the Sensis® Business Index has focused specifically on businesses employing 19 people or fewer. In November 2000 it was expanded to cover the medium business sector, while the regional and industrial sectors were also enhanced.
The primary objectives of the Sensis® Business Index are to track small and medium business activity over the past three months; expectations over both the next three and 12 months; and to measure overall confidence within the small business community. A second purpose is to provide an independent, objective channel for reporting proprietors' experience and attitudes on key issues.
The Sensis® Business Index enables broad scrutiny of the SME market, as well as an understanding of trends and issues relevant to this sector. It examines the differences in attitudes and experiences between regional and metropolitan SMEs, and between small and medium enterprises. The aim of the Sensis® Business Index is to refl ect the attitudes and behaviour of approximately 99 per cent of the Australian business sector.
The Sensis® Business Index is based on a sample size of 1,800 SMEs from metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. It includes businesses within the accommodation, construction, communication, health, community services, cultural and recreational industries.