Australia's GM Holden has been named the 2018 Champion of Flexible Work in awards announced today as part of Flexible Working Day.

Flexible Working Day was created by Vanessa Vanderhoek to raise awareness around flexible work practices. Many different types of flexible work were celebrated by the awards, including part-time work, job-share, full-time flexible, compressed hours, working from home or remotely, and career breaks.

"Thanks to the leadership of small and large organisations across Australia, we are seeing more and more people being able to access flexible working arrangements for the benefit of the individuals and the companies," Ms Vanderhoek said.

Winning traits shared by GM Holden and the other organisations recognised in the awards include leading by example, active encouragement of flexible work practices, and the provision of enabling technology.

"With all members of the Senior Leadership Team accessing flex, including four in formal part time roles, not only do they lead by example, but they show how as a team they can support one another to challenge the perceived 'norms' of how executives 'should' work," said Ms Vanderhoek.

Other award winners included American Express, Diva Works, LegalVision, Mercer Australia and Unity Water; government organisations including the Australian Bureau of Statistics, City of Melbourne and South Australia's Department for Environment and Water; while Lifeline Canberra received the non-profit award.

Vanderhoek said Australia has some impressive examples of flexible working in action.

"We received a large number of excellent examples of flexible working occurring in organisations across the country, which highlighted the growing popularity of flexible working in Australia but made it difficult for the judges to pick just 10 winners," she said.

On Flexible Working Day, more than 45 national and international leaders from a wide range of sectors were named Flexible Working Day Ambassadors, hosting events within their own organisations, sharing personal stories and photos on social media, and speaking with colleagues about how to make flexible working arrangements work for them.

Flexible Working Day and the Champion of Flexible Work Awards are supported by The FlexAgility Group, the c word, Rowdy Digital and Aginic.

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