Bringing the benefit of workplace flexibility to the next generation. From marketing leader to expert in workplace flexibility

Rowena Ditzell is proof that an ideal worker doesn’t need to work five days a week. 

For 15 years, starting in 2001, Rowena job-shared various corporate marketing roles a colleague and fellow mum, reaping the benefits of an income and career progression while having time to spend with her kids. 

“We were sort of ground breakers because part-time was not a thing. Not even working from home one day a week with a baby in care was not viewed favourably,” Rowena reflects about the industry in the early 2000s. 

Then, a few years ago Rowena was looking for more inspiration in her life and had started teaching at UTS while considering pursuing a PhD. Serendipitously, Unilever ANZ approached UTS to be an independent research partner and Rowena was offered the opportunity to lead a research project from her previous employer. 

The project immediately sparked her interest. She would be evaluating perhaps the most rigorous trial of the four-day work week in the southern hemisphere. And in the process, would have the opportunity to bring the flexibility that she benefitted from to countless other workers.

The value of flexibility

Already at the forefront of flexible working through her own experience, Rowena now has the potential to influence more organisations to support flexible working, not only to improve employee wellness and organisation productivity, but to equalise gender roles, specifically around caring responsibilities.

“I had experienced the benefits of flexible working. But I'd also experienced the downsides of it. As I immersed myself in the literature at the start of my PhD research, it helped me make sense of all of that,” Rowena explains.

“When there were flexible work arrangements offered, it would generally be women like me who would take advantage of it because I'd become a mum, and I needed more time. But that perpetuates the progression dynamic as well, because it was generally women taking those part-time roles. 

“But when you suddenly offer flexibility to everybody, you start to change the dynamic of access to roles, but also the caring dynamic at home.

“A lot of what I've been also looking at is what an organisation actually has to do to make this work, because it's not easy, and no one's talking about what it takes.

“My research can hopefully help more people get access to working flexibly which we found in our research, has really positive impacts on people's work-life balance.”

On being an independent research partner

While Unilever could have documented key metrics internally for their 18-month trial of four-day work weeks, partnering with UTS offered academic rigour and gave the weight to the research that they needed to prove to the global company and shareholders that business output was not affected.

“We look at the data with a critical lens. What are the good bits? But also, what are the challenges? Because we were an independent research partner, we had licence to do that,” Rowena explains.

She could also offer genuine confidentiality that enabled employees to talk candidly about their experiences:

“We had ethics approval, we put the surveys together, conducted the interviews and own all the data. So, we were the only people that have access to it.”

In her position, Rowena could also dive deeper than organisations who might evaluate trials themselves:

“We used what we call mixed methods research design that included three online surveys and 57 interviews over the course of the trial. 

“The surveys gave us these findings around what was happening. But the interviews were giving us the real reasons about why it was happening that way, and lots of nuances that we wouldn't have found just with the survey.”

As a result of the research, Unilever New Zealand continued to embed four-day work weeks into their ways of working and expanded them to a trial in Unilever Australia.

Launching a new career in your 50s

While Rowena’s PhD research has come to an end, she continues to research flexible work options such as the four-day work week and is a lecturer in the UTS Management Department. 

“I had delivery roles and manager roles where I was leading teams in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Teaching and research are great opportunities to bring together all my industry experience, and help students make meaning of what they were studying and why it is relevant.”

Reflecting on her PhD experience, she says:

“I was 51 when I started my PhD. I could never imagine that in those four years I would learn so much. I'm really setting myself up for the next stage of my career.

“I think I underestimated the whole journey of discovery through the research and what I learned. It's been really pleasurable rediscovering learning and feeling like I'm able to actually have an impact and give something back.”

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