Last week’s Fair Work ruling on work-from-home rights has done more than reignite the hybrid work debate; it has brought the care economy back into the centre of the conversation.

 

Flexible work is no longer just about productivity, presenteeism or office attendance. When caring responsibilities are involved, it becomes a participation, equity and fairness issue.

 

What the case makes unmistakably clear is this: flexible work cannot be administered with blanket rules. When a request is linked to care, employers are expected to demonstrate case-by-case consideration, a genuine effort to consult, and a rationale grounded in the employee’s actual circumstances, not generic assumptions about how or where work gets done.

 

This isn’t a marginal scenario that affects a small group of workers. It’s the reality of the modern Australian workforce.

 

Care is now a defining feature of working life and no longer a “special exception”

 

Australia is on the brink of a care tipping point. The number of employees juggling elder care, disability support, health needs, neurodiversity, and school-aged care is rising faster than workplace policies have kept pace.

 

And yet based on our latest data at Family Friendly Workplaces, fewer than half of employers know how many carers exist within their organisation.

 

That visibility gap is not just a data problem; it is a fairness problem. If employers don’t know who is providing care, they cannot meaningfully understand the impact of their policies, nor apply them equitably.

 

Lack of access to care remains one of the biggest drivers of women reducing their work hours, declining promotions, or exiting the workforce entirely. It is a direct contributor to the gender pay gap, midlife workforce dropout and long-term economic insecurity for women.

 

The ruling from the Fair Work Commission is a reminder that flexibility is, in reality, a gender equality lever – and a workforce participation lever – disguised as a workplace policy discussion.

 

This is now a leadership capability issue

 

Most organisations believe they “offer flexibility,” but in practice the challenge is no longer whether flexibility exists it is how fairly and consistently it is applied.

 

Policy alone is not enough.

 

The real test now sits with the following questions regarding decision-makers:

 

•  Do leaders understand their obligations?
• Do they have the skills to navigate caring-related conversations with empathy and fairness?
• Are decisions well-reasoned and documented?
• Are carer needs proactively anticipated?

 

Without leaders demonstrating the above capabilities, even well-intentioned organisations risk inconsistency, inequity and legal exposure.

 

A moment for review – before more conflict emerges

 

This ruling should prompt employers to look inward and ask whether their flexible work approach still reflects the workforce they actually have, not the one they had pre-pandemic. Practically, that means:

 

• auditing whether current frameworks meet today’s legal and social expectations
• uplifting leader capability and confidence
• ensuring carers are supported in practice, not just acknowledged in principle.

 

The opportunity – and the invitation

 

For almost two decades, Parents At Work has supported employers to build systems that treat flexibility as part of workforce design, not a concession or exception. When done well, flexibility improves retention, wellbeing, productivity and culture and keeps experienced women in the labour force.

 

This is the moment for employers to move from policy to practice.

 

If your organisation is ready to review its approach through a care lens, we can help you audit, uplift capability, and ensure your framework is fit for the workforce of today, and the one you will need tomorrow.

 

Emma Walsh is the CEO of Parents At Work, a global education and policy advisor business that campaigns for parental leave equality to create more family-friendly workplaces.