Here at Lifestyle Careers we encourage and support everyone looking for flexible work options to create a rewarding lifestyle. The power to make choices about your working life can be empowering for us all.

With flexible work schedules, employees could reap and experience some of the following benefits:

• Reduced consumption of employee commuting time and fuel costs to your workplace each day. For some people, this can represent up to 2-3 hours a day commuting, often using public transport services. Think to yourself, how wonderful would it be not travelling to work on a daily basis. No more over crowded trains or buses that are constantly running late or breaking down. Imagine saving yourself 10 or more hours per week if your Employer allowed you to work from a home office. Avoid the traffic and the stresses of commuting during rush hours.
• You would save money by reducing the cost of travel such as petrol, parking, maintenance, servicing and wear and tear on your car.
• Flexible working also benefits society by reducing traffic and pollution, prosperity in rural areas, increased employment opportunities for the disabled and increased sense of community focus.
• Flexibility to meet family needs, personal obligations, and life responsibilities conveniently with a balance between work responsibilities and family commitments.
• Increased feeling of personal control over schedule and work environment with a higher productivity level when working at home.
• Less stress and creating happier lives for many people.
• It is good for well-being. Flexible working gives employees more control over their own lives. Psychological research shows that the more you feel in control of your own life the greater your subjective well-being, the less your stress and the greater your achievement.
• Depending on the flexible work schedule chosen, may decrease external childcare hours and costs. Happier families. Parents stay closer to, and are able to monitor the in-school and after-school activities of their children, something that's particularly important in households where both parents work. They're available to pick kids up and drop them off, attend soccer training, ballet, meet with teachers and respond to emergencies and sickness.
• Most people today have responsibilities for others and you may be a carer. With an ageing population in Australia and New Zealand, the demands as a carer will increase over the next few years. Imagine having the flexibility to balance your work patterns to suit your life. Being available to provide care for your loved ones, the ability to meet with Doctors at attend hospital treatments, pick up chemist prescriptions and always being able to assure that those you care for are provided constant companionship, love and safety.

Flexibility in the workplace is now recognised as a valuable tool in achieving greater business productivity. This approach supports work life balance, a concept providing the flexibility necessary for employees to manage the balance between what needs to be achieved at work and their personal commitments outside the workplace.

As you can see from the above examples many of us could benefit from a flexible work schedule. But for an employer to accommodate you, the company would want to benefit as well. The obvious benefit to an employer is the ability to accommodate employees to balance their jobs and their families. In order to retain those employees it would be in the company's best interests to allow their staff to have a flexible schedule. An employee should keep in mind that the success of a flexible work schedule depends on the corporate culture and the unique responsibilities of each position.