Transition to flexibility
After 41 years’ working at NAB, Graeme Reilly had retirement on his mind, but then he got flexible.
“NAB has a transition to retirement policy and as part of this I approached my manager looking to reduce the number of days I worked,” said Graeme, who is a Credit Risk Application Manager at NAB.
“About the same time, a colleague approached me about job sharing. He is a new father and wanted to work reduced hours to spend more time caring for his son.”
Graeme was recently profiled in a set of case studies released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).
“The job share has been going really well,” he said. “I work Monday to Wednesday and my job share partner works Wednesday to Friday – so we have a crossover day, and my job share partner sends me an email update on Friday so I know what’s happening on Monday.”
“The idea of job sharing is more normal now at the bank – I know of two other job shares – one is a parent with young kids sharing with someone also transitioning to retirement.”
He also cites the transfer of knowledge as a big advantage.
“There is a synergy where people who have been around the organisation for a while can transfer knowledge and experience to newer people.”
While Graeme started the process as a first step towards hanging up the boots, the arrangement has given him access to new experiences and may even prompt him to extend his career.
“I’m still thinking about it,” he said, “but now I’m considering whether I still want to retire so soon.”
“I like the lifestyle of working three days and it has also given me two days to get back into the community and see what’s out there before I retire – I’ve been using my business experience in a volunteer capacity at not-for-profit organisations, which has been really interesting.”
At NAB, we’ve developed a self-service, flexible working intranet site where our people can manage formal or informal flexible working arrangements directly with their manager, ranging from part-time and remote working, to job share and transition to retirement.
“I think job sharing is an opportunity that more people should consider,” said Graeme, “because it has benefits to the company, the team and the employees.”
WGEA Director Libby Lyons agrees, and has commended NAB for our commitment to improving gender equality outcomes through our flexible approach.
“NAB has done a really impressive job of normalising flexible working for women and men across its very large and diverse workforce,” said Libby, “and offering a wide range of options to recognise each employee’s life stage and help them manage their work and home commitments.”
