FLEXIBLE WORKING
Flexible working to help 4.5 million more parents
An extra 4.5 million parents in Britain will gain the right to request flexible working, following the publication of the government's independent review.
Business Secretary John Hutton accepted the recommendations made in a review undertaken by Imelda Walsh, the HR director of Sainsbury's, to extend the right to request flexible working to parents of children up to age 16. The government will now consult on implementing the proposals.
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Flexible working arrangements include working from home, part-time work, compressed hours, flexi-time or other arrangements agreed with employers.
Key findings of review
Any change should be implemented at once, rather than a staged introduction, to avoid creating confusion for business and employees.
Small businesses generally had a better record on accepting flexible working requests than larger ones.
Business would benefit from increased information and guidance about dealing with flexible working requests.
Flexible working should not be considered a “women's issue”, with 14 million employees currently working flexibly, and the latest figures showing men make up 45% of this figure. The increasing earning power of women also suggests that flexible working now, and in the future, is far from being an issue that affects only women.
More work should be done to raise awareness of the right to request flexible working, both among employees and employers.
Around six million employees currently have the right to request flexible working (3.6 million parents and 2.65 million carers), but over 14 million employees, including part-time workers, actually work flexibly.
As many as 91% of workplaces who received requests in the last year approved them all and the Third Work-Life Balance Survey of Employers, published by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, shows they largely have positive views about promoting work-life balance.
A final word
"This is an excellent report that will give a big boost to busy parents who need more help balancing work and family life. It can also help employers who often find they get the best out of mums and dads when they allow them to work flexibly.
It is important that employers retain control over deciding whether it suits their business to allow people to work flexibly, but extending the right to request to parents of older children will allow families to take priority when decisions are made." - John Hutton, Business Secretary.
"Support for more flexible and creative ways of working has made significant progress over the past ten years, through both legislation and voluntary change. Continuing progress depends on both employers and employees believing that there is a fair balance.
"I am convinced that the challenges which parents with older children face are considerable, and that the arguments for raising the age to 16 are compelling. This change would offer an important opportunity for parents to have extra flexibility at key times in their children's lives." - Imelda Walsh, HR director of Sainsbury's.
Want to know more?
Imelda Walsh, who was appointed by the government in November 2007 to lead an independent review to consider how to extend the right to request flexible working to parents of older children, published her report on 15 May 2008.
The PDF document, “Right to request flexible working: A review of how to extend the right to request flexible working to parents of older children”, is available for download at www.berr.gov.uk/employment/whats-new/index.html.