Employers grant 8 in 10 flexible working requests

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Employers grant 8 in 10 flexible working requests

Employers are granting almost eight out of ten requests to work flexibly from parents with young children, according to statistics gathered by the Department of Trade and Industry.

The new figures mark the first anniversary of the government introducing the right to request flexible working for parents of young or disabled children.

Key findings

Based on a sample of almost 3,500 employees in Great Britain carried out over four months by the Office of National Statistics, the main results are these:

• Of employees who have requested flexible working, 77% of requests were fully accepted by bosses, and 9% were partly accepted or a compromise was reached.
• Since April 2003, the proportion of flexible working requests being declined has nearly halved -- from 20% before April 2003 to 11% after. This suggests, according to the DTI, that the regulations have increased employers' willingness to consider requests seriously.
• As many as 58% of parents with children under six years were aware of the new flexible working rights.
• Employees in sales and customer services were most likely to request flexible working (19%).
• Female employees with children under six were more likely to report requesting to work flexibly than their male counterparts (37% and 10% respectively)
• 43% of employees requested flexible working for childcare reasons, with over half (58%) of women making an application on these grounds.

Family friendly working rights

The Employment Act 2002 came into force on 6 April 2003 and introduced a package of family friendly working rights, including:

Parents with children aged under six, and disabled children aged under 18, were given the legal right to get their employers to seriously consider requests to work flexibly.

Statutory maternity pay was increased by £25 to a maximum of £100 a week.

Paid maternity leave was been increased by eight weeks to 26 weeks and most new mothers are also able take a further six months unpaid leave -- totalling one year off.

For the first time ever, new fathers were given the right to two weeks paid paternity leave at £100 a week.

Parents who adopt, were also given new rights for the first time, similar to maternity and paternity pay and leave.

The process for maternity, paternity and adoption leave was simplified to make it easier for companies to handle applications.

Around 60% of UK companies, many of them SMEs, are able to reclaim over 100% of all the maternity, paternity and adoption leave they pay out.

Want to know more?

Title: Results of the First Flexible Working Employee Survey, Department of Trade and Industry.

Availability: The new DTI data on flexible working, commissioned from the Office of National Statistics Omnibus Survey, can be found at www.dti.gov.uk/er/inform.htm

Flexible working is a broad term which can encompass job sharing, homeworking, flexitime, staggered or compressed hours and various other arrangements. For further information call the national helpline on tel: 08457 474747 or visit www.dti.gov.uk/workingparents

Posted 6 April 2004