Hulcombe Julie, Capra Sandra, Whitehouse Gillian
Allied Health Professions' Office of Queensland, Clinical Excellence Division, Department of Health Queensland, PO Box 2368, Fortitude Valley BC, Qld 4006, Australia; and Present address: School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, Level 5, Human Movement Studies Building (26B), Blair Drive, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia; and Corresponding author. Email:
School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, Level 5, Human Movement Studies Building (26B), Blair Drive, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia. Email:
Aust Health Rev. 2020 Feb;44(1):56-61. doi: 10.1071/AH18110.
Objective The aim of this study was to provide a detailed description of the flexible working arrangements (FWA) used by allied health professionals (AHP) on return from maternity leave. This is a crucial issue for staff management practices in a changing regulatory context. Methods A retrospective convenience sample of AHP employed by Queensland Health (QH) in 2006, using deidentified payroll data, was analysed descriptively to determine employment status on return from maternity leave in 2006 to December 2014. A qualitative study that surveyed managers of AHP departments was subsequently undertaken to complement the data from the payroll study. Twelve managers, across six allied health professions in three hospitals in south-east Queensland were surveyed for this component. Results The payroll study included 169 employees (138 full-time equivalent (FTE)), 61 of whom resigned over the study period. Of those who returned to work after the 2006 maternity event (n=152), 92% (n=140) initially returned part-time. At 31 December 2014, of the 108 staff working for QH, 77% (n=83) were part-time. In total, 75.4 FTE positions were released over the 8-year period through reduced working hours and resignations. The perceptions of surveyed managers were consistent with the data from the payroll study. Conclusion The study showed that most AHPs who took maternity leave returned to work part-time and remained part-time for an extended period. The data suggest that managers could permanently backfill a proportion of hours released due to FWA after maternity leave without major budgetary risk due to the need to accommodate existing employees' entitlements. However, this would require a significant policy change. What is known about this topic? Current research on this topic has concentrated on the benefits of paid maternity leave, timing of return to work and use of FWA by employees on return to work after maternity leave. What does this paper add? This paper presents the first comprehensive data on patterns of return to work and part-time hours following maternity leave for AHP employees. Access to a unique payroll dataset provided the opportunity to describe this for a cohort of AHP employees over a period of 8 years following a maternity event. A survey of AHP managers' experience with maternity leave and return to work arrangements supported the findings, underlining the associated difficulties with staff management. What are the implications for practitioners? The hours released through resignations or reduced hours over this period of study suggest that management could backfill a proportion of released hours permanently, or at least offer temporary staff longer-term contracts, once an employee returns from maternity leave on reduced hours.
目的 本研究旨在详细描述专职医疗人员休完产假返回工作岗位后所采用的灵活工作安排（FWA）。在不断变化的监管环境下，这是员工管理实践中的一个关键问题。方法 对昆士兰卫生部门（QH）在2006年聘用的专职医疗人员进行回顾性便利抽样（使用匿名工资数据），进行描述性分析，以确定2006年休完产假至2014年12月期间返回工作岗位后的就业状况。随后开展了一项定性研究，对专职医疗部门的管理人员进行调查，以补充工资研究的数据。对昆士兰东南部三家医院六个专职医疗行业的12名管理人员进行了这部分的调查。结果 工资研究包括169名员工（138个全职等效岗位（FTE）），其中61人在研究期间辞职。在2006年休完产假后返回工作岗位的人员中（n = 152），92%（n = 140）最初以兼职形式返回。到2014年12月31日，在为QH工作的108名员工中，77%（n = 83）为兼职。在8年期间，通过减少工作时间和辞职共释放了75.4个FTE岗位。接受调查的管理人员的看法与工资研究的数据一致。结论 研究表明，大多数休产假的专职医疗人员返回工作岗位时为兼职，并在较长一段时间内保持兼职状态。数据表明，由于需要满足现有员工的权益，管理人员可以在不承担重大预算风险的情况下，永久性地填补产假后因灵活工作安排而释放的部分工时。然而，这需要重大的政策变革。关于这个主题已知的情况是什么？当前关于这个主题的研究集中在带薪产假的好处、返回工作岗位的时间以及员工休完产假返回工作岗位后对灵活工作安排的使用。本文补充了什么？本文提供了关于专职医疗人员休完产假后返回工作岗位和兼职工时模式的首份全面数据。获取独特的工资数据集为描述一批专职医疗人员在产假事件后的8年期间的情况提供了机会。对专职医疗管理人员休产假及返回工作安排经验的调查支持了这些发现，突显了员工管理方面的相关困难。对从业者有什么影响？在本研究期间通过辞职或减少工时释放的工时表明，一旦员工休完产假以减少工时形式返回，管理层可以永久性地填补一部分释放的工时，或者至少为临时员工提供长期合同。
