For Melbourne Airport Naarm Way Stage 2 Project Director Dean Anderson, flexible working isn’t a perk - it’s what makes it possible to be both a committed leader and a present parent.
Dean and his wife Kirsten, who holds a demanding executive role, are the parents to two boys, Harley (14) and Raphy (10). Early on, they counted 60 school holidays they’d need to navigate over 15 years.
“At the time, we weren’t sure how we’d manage,” Dean says. “The truth is you find strategies and CPB’s flexible working policy has been a big part of that.”
From everyday logistics to the unexpected - like the day a call came through that seven-year-old Raphy had fallen out of a tree - flexibility has been essential.
“It’s not just management supporting me,” Dean explains. “It’s also my team understanding that sometimes I’m the primary carer. You can’t do this job without planning, communicating and adapting.”
For Dean, flexibility isn’t just operational - it’s personal.
“I work to live, not live to work. You only get so much time with your kids. Pick-ups, drop-offs, dinner - that’s where the bonds are built.”
His favourite reminder of this balance? A photo from the COVID years: Dean at his laptop, his boys climbing around the room.
“They still laugh about it and tell me to ‘focus on being a Project Director’,” he jokes. “But it reminds me that staying connected at home makes me better at what I do.”
At CPB, flexibility is about more than hours - it’s about enabling people like Dean to thrive at work and at home.