Flexible working is no longer just a perk — it’s one of the clearest signals of whether an employer is serious about inclusion, retention, and progression.
The 2026 What Women Want Report, based on responses from more than 1,100 women and marginalised groups, makes this clear: 85% say flexible working is important when choosing an employer, with 65% rating it as ‘very important’ (a sentiment we also see in the behaviour of the +1.5 million women using our transparent career platform each year).
Because when implemented well, flexible working is one of the most powerful ways organisations can help people join, stay, and thrive at work. But our research also shows that flexibility can quietly create new barriers when policies are inconsistently applied, poorly supported, or rolled back in practice.
Why flexible working matters to women, in particular
When implemented well, flexible working helps break down barriers that prevent people from entering, staying in, or progressing within certain industries.
It supports parents and carers (a group women are still overrepresented in), improves work–life balance, and enables employees to continue building their careers across different life stages.
In fact, among the 58% of women who believe workplaces are improving in gender equality, flexible working is cited as the number one driver of that progress.
Where organisations are getting it wrong
While our research highlights the power of flexible working, it also shows the impact of not getting it right.
One in 10 women believe workplaces are worsening — and it’s important to note that those facing structural barriers such as racism, ableism, and ageism are even more likely to feel this way.
The primary cause, according to this group? Flexible working policies that are rolled back or poorly implemented.
The impact? Women who believe workplaces are worsening are more than twice as likely to be actively job seeking.
For employers under increasing scrutiny to demonstrate progress on gender equality, this is not an issue to ignore. So how can you tell if your approach is helping, or quietly creating new barriers? Here are five signs to look for:
#1. Flexibility depends on the manager
A flexible working policy should create clear and consistent expectations across the organisation.
However, many What Women Want respondents report that access to flexibility still depends heavily on their individual manager. In some teams, flexible work is encouraged and normalised. In others, it is quietly discouraged or treated as something employees must negotiate.
This creates inconsistency in the employee experience and undermines trust in the policy itself. When flexibility depends on individual attitudes rather than organisational standards, it can quickly become inequitable.
💡 What to do: Define what flexibility looks like in practice, and equip managers with the guidance and accountability to apply it consistently.
#2. Employees feel pressure to stay always available
Flexible working should support healthy work–life boundaries, something Australian employers are legally required to support following the introduction of the Right to Disconnect in 2024.
Encouragingly, we’ve seen progress over the past year. The share of What Women Want respondents who say they can consistently set boundaries without worrying about career consequences increased from 16% in 2024 to 24% in 2025.
However, more than 1 in 10 respondents still say they rarely or never feel able to set boundaries without worrying about career impact.
When workplace culture rewards constant availability, flexible working policies may exist — but employees still feel unable to switch off.
Leaders play a critical role here. Modelling healthy boundaries and setting clear expectations about communication outside working hours helps ensure flexibility supports wellbeing rather than undermining it.
💡What to do: Set and reinforce clear expectations around working hours — and ensure leaders actively model switching off, not just encourage it.
#3. Flexible workers are overlooked for progression
Flexible working can create unintended career disadvantages if organisations don’t adjust how performance and progression are assessed.
23% of What Women Want respondents say remote work makes it harder to be noticed, promoted, or connected within their organisation.
This often happens when informal signals — such as office presence — are still used to judge commitment or performance.
When this occurs, employees may feel they must choose between flexibility and career progression. Without clear, outcome-based performance criteria, flexible working can reinforce inequality rather than reduce it.
💡What to do: Redesign performance and promotion criteria to prioritise outcomes, and actively audit decisions for proximity bias.
#4. Flexibility disappears at senior levels
Flexible working often becomes harder to access as employees move into more senior roles, which sends a message that leadership and flexibility are incompatible.
More than half of respondents (55%) say women are held back by a lack of flexible or part-time senior roles.
When leadership roles are designed around rigid working patterns, organisations send an unintended message that flexibility and leadership are incompatible.
This of course has a negative impact on companies’ attempts to increase women’s representation in leadership. And because gender pay gaps are heavily influenced by representation at senior levels, it can also impact organisations’ ability to make progress on their publicly visible gender pay gaps.
💡What to do: Build flexibility into the design of senior roles from the outset, rather than treating it as an exception to be negotiated.
#5. Flexible work has been quietly rolled back
Few workplace changes damage trust faster than a perceived rollback of flexibility.
Many respondents describe flexibility being reduced, removed, or poorly implemented as a key reason they believe workplaces are worsening for women.
Common examples include:
- mandated office attendance without clear justification
- unclear or inconsistently applied hybrid policies
- cultural pressure to return to traditional working patterns
Even when flexibility technically remains available, employees may feel it is no longer genuinely supported.
When this happens, policies intended to support inclusion can end up reinforcing the barriers they were meant to remove.
💡What to do: Be transparent about any changes to flexibility, and clearly link decisions to both employee feedback and business outcomes.
Moving from policy to practice
Organisations making real progress treat flexible working as part of workplace design, not just policy.
That means regularly asking:
- Are policies applied consistently?
- Who benefits — and who doesn’t?
- Do employees feel safe using flexibility?
- Are senior roles designed with flexibility in mind?
- Are decisions based on outcomes, not presence?
When implemented thoughtfully, flexible working supports far more than work–life balance. It strengthens retention, engagement, leadership pipelines, and long-term gender equality outcomes.
The message from the research is clear: flexible working remains one of the most important levers organisations have to support women’s careers.
But the organisations making the most progress are not simply offering flexible work — they are designing their workplaces around it.
For employers looking to attract, retain, and develop diverse talent, getting flexible work right is no longer optional.
Want to explore the full findings?
Download the What Women Want 2026 Report to see the full findings behind these five warning signs, benchmark your own approach, and learn what women and marginalised groups say they need to thrive in 2026.
