Flexible Working & Work Life Balance Goes Online

Work life balance is a necessary lifestyle choice for many people. Often some major change in personal circumstances can prompt such a move – whether it is being made redundant, having a baby or a sea change.

Once people make the decision to try and create some work-life balance in their life, finding the right job to make it a reality is not always simple and can become a long drawn out search. Leah Gibbs, an entrepreneurial Australian woman, hopes to change that with the launch of a new online job board Lifestyle Careers (www.lifestylecareers.com.au) aimed at professionals wanting to balance their work and personal life.

"www.lifestylecareers.com.au makes the search for a flexible or home based job as simple as possible with just a few clicks of a mouse giving access to our listings of flexible work opportunities and a direct connection to flexible employers," Gibbs said. "Given the ability to work flexibly the advantages to an Employee can be quite significant." `We want to help people from all walks of life get the most out of their career to achieve an improved balance between work responsibilities and family commitments

Gibbs aims to make www.lifestylecareers.com.au the best flexible online job board in Australia. It offers Employers a pool of job seekers at all stages of their careers, providing access to a previously untapped market segment of talent who have opted out of the traditional workplace scenario and who are actively seeking a work life balance. "Lifestyle Careers is unique because we attract job seekers who are committed or open to a flexible work schedule and willing to work with you in less traditional ways", Gibbs said.

For job seekers, Lifestyle Careers provides access to flexible work opportunities and a direct connection to flexible employers. Job Seekers register for an account and fill out a detailed personal profile specifying their professional experience and needs for flexibility. Once registered job seekers can search and apply directly to flexible jobs and also be head hunted by Employers.

Human resource experts agree that flexible employment options can benefit Employers. Flexible workplaces can give your business a competitive edge and realise benefits such as access to top talent, improved employee retention, results oriented employees, reduced absenteeism and improved staff morale.

Juliet Bourke, employment lawyer of Aequus Partners a management consultancy that assists organisations with flexible work practices and diversity says "Once the National Employment Standards’ ‘right to request flexibility' takes effect on 1 January 2010 we can expect that employees with young children, or children with a disability, will be putting much more pressure on their employers to provide flexible work arrangements. This means that between now and 1 January 2010 employers have a window of opportunity to get on top of this significant change to the way in which flexible work practices will be negotiated at the workplace". Based on similar legislation in the United Kingdom, Bourke predicts an increase in requests for workplace flexibility in Australia.

Gibbs knows from personal experience how difficult it can be for professionals who want to have a more flexible career. "When my daughter was about 18 months old I was ready to return to work and started looking for a job that I could do from my Blue Mountains home," Gibbs said. "It was incredibly difficult and it was then that I had the idea of creating www.lifestylecareers.com.au. I am really happy and I know that with Lifestyle Careers I will be able to make a difference and empower everyone to achieve a work life balance."

Visit us at: www.lifestylecareers.com.au

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