Big Four firm Deloitte Australia has brought a new and reformative policy scrapping the 9 to 5 workweek. According to the new ‘flex’ policy, employees of the company can create their workweek by setting their own hours. This change was introduced in a company-wide email last Wednesday.

The firm has introduced a total of 12 new flex rules, including one paid well-being day off per year, the ability to swap public holidays for cultural or religious occasions, and more paid leave options for Deloitte employees who support their local communities in activities like blood donations, emergency services volunteering, and helping non-profit organisations.

This move to let employees "work at any time" comes shortly after Deloitte UK decided to allow its staff to "work from anywhere" if they wish.

Tina McCreery, Chief Human Resources Officer of Deloitte Australia, said that the scrapping of 9-5 work hours and the new changes could have only been brought because of the mutual trust shared between the employers and employees in the working space. She also added that there were contemporaries who made 60 percent of work from the office obligatory but they did not go ahead with this plan. She professed that it depended upon the outcome and deliverance; if  employees are putting in the hard work and delivering the desired outcome, they should be allowed to work from their place of comfort and time. 

Deloitte reportedly decided to implement these changes in response to research finding that women have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s impact, especially in terms of balancing their work and home life. For example, Deloitte’s Women @ Work report found that in Australia, women employees’ workload had increased by 77 percent because they were burdened with housework and childcare simultaneously with office work.