Concerns over new right to request flexible working are unfounded

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

A study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Lovells, a law firm, shows that the new flexible working regulations have proved to be "user-friendly" for organisations in both the private and public sectors.

The Employment Act 2002 introduced new employment legislation specifically to help working parents. One of the key measures, which came into force on 6 April 2003, gives parents of children aged under six and disabled children aged under 18 the right to apply to work flexibly and their employers will have a duty to consider their requests seriously.

Based on responses from more than 500 organisations, the survey found that almost two in three employers who have received statutory requests have agreed to at least half of them, either in the form submitted by employees or in modified form. What's more, nine out of ten employers say they have had no significant problems complying with the new right to ask, with cost an issue for just 13%.

Other key findings

Most organisations are proving receptive to the idea of a universal right to ask for flexible working, with over 70% of survey respondents willing to consider requests from all staff.
Interestingly, take-up of the new right has been skewed in favour of women: more than half the employers who have received statutory requests since April have received no requests from men.
Part-time work and coming in late/leaving early are the most frequently requested forms of flexible work.

A final word

"It is still early days, but this evidence suggests that the impact of the new right on both employers and employees is seen as overwhelmingly positive. In our view, the evidence gives no support to the cynics who argued that a right to request flexible working would be entirely ineffectual, or to those critics who feared it would be costly to apply. Employers are using the law to reinforce existing good practice. The legislation seems to have struck about the right balance between encouragement and enforcement." -- Mike Emmott, head of employee relations, CIPD.

Want to know more?

Title: A Parent's Right to Ask: A review of flexible working arrangements, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Lovells.

Availability: To download the 26-page report, free of charge, visit the CIPD web site at www.cipd.co.uk. Click on Information resources and the go to Surveys and reports.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has over 118,000 members and is the "leading professional institute for those involved in the management and development of people". To find out more visit www.cipd.co.uk.

Lovells' employment practice is one of the largest in Europe, with 12 partners and 80 other lawyers, and advises on the full range of employment law issues. Its web site address is www.lovells.com.

Posted 1 November 2003