Put a flexible work policy in writing before inconsistencies creep in

A generic policy can create trouble when it says one thing but managers do another. That can lead to inconsistent decisions, unclear expectations about availability or supervision, and confusion about who can work remotely, vary hours or change locations. It may also sit awkwardly with your employment agreements, handbook or operational needs. The practical working model can be just as important as the contract wording, so a policy should reflect how requests are really assessed and what your business can reasonably support.

It often covers who can request flexible arrangements, how requests should be made, what factors the business may consider, how decisions are communicated, and what expectations apply if a request is approved. Depending on the workplace, it may also deal with remote work locations, hours of availability, communication standards, equipment, confidentiality, health and safety touchpoints, performance expectations and review periods. The content should line up with your existing employment documents and the way managers are expected to apply the policy in practice.

We look at the type of flexibility you actually offer or are considering, such as hybrid work, remote work, varied start and finish times, compressed hours or ad hoc arrangements. We also consider how your team is supervised, whether roles are customer-facing, what existing contracts say, and whether there are operational limits on when and where work can be done. That matters because the right approach depends on the working arrangement, documents and the factual context, not just a standard policy template.

It can help clarify internal expectations, but it is not a substitute for getting the underlying engagement model right. If your business uses a mix of employees and contractors, the policy needs to be consistent with those arrangements and should not blur important distinctions. For example, a policy written as though everyone is managed in the same way can create confusion if some people are genuinely independent contractors. If worker classification issues come up, we may recommend separate advice or additional documents beyond this service.

Usually not by itself. This service is for putting the policy document in place or updating it, not for running a live employment dispute or representing you in a contested matter. If there is already a complaint about a declined request, inconsistent treatment or a breakdown in working arrangements, you may need separate legal advice on that issue. We can still draft the policy, but ongoing representation, dispute handling and ongoing HR management are outside the fixed-fee and would need separate scoping.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Flexible Work Policy service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.