FLEXIBLE WORKING
More than nine in ten workplaces offer flexible working
As many as 95% of workplaces now offer some form of flexible working for staff, new government figures have revealed.
The latest Work-Life Balance Employer Survey, commissioned by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), found that 92% of employers said they would consider a request to change working patterns from any employee.
%ADVERT%
The amount of workplaces providing childcare facilities, or other arrangements to help parents combine work with family commitments, has more than doubled since 2003, from 8% to 18%.
Key survey results
The survey also found:
Part-time working is available in 92% of workplaces (up from 81% in 2003).
The proportion of employers offering reduced hours working has increased to 74% (up from 40%).
The proportion of employers offering compressed hours working has increased to 41% (up from 19%).
The availability of job sharing has increased substantially (59%, up from 39%) and flexi-hours has also risen sharply (55%, up from 39%).
7% of employers said they should make a special effort to accommodate the particular difficulties parents of young and disabled children face in balancing work and family life.
Terms of reference of the review of the right to request flexible working:
"On 6 November [2007] the Prime Minister announced the government's intention to extend the right to request flexible working to parents of older, teenage children. At the same time, he said that he had appointed Imelda Walsh, HR Director of J Sainsbury plc, to carry out an independent review. The review will consider how the current right to request should be extended to parents of older, teenage children, and the upper age limit of a child which should apply.
The review will involve business representatives, unions, parents groups and other interested parties in considering the options for change.
The reviewer will make recommendations to the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in Spring 2008.
A secretariat of BERR officials will support the independent reviewer in developing recommendations."
A final word
Minister for Employment Relations, Pat McFadden, said: "We have developed a staged approach for employees to request flexible working which is proving effective - from giving the right to request flexible working to parents with children under six on to carers of disabled children under 18 and adults. As part of our new review of flexible working, we'll now be discussing the best way to extend the right to request to parents of older children - so that businesses, parents, carers and families can all benefit."
Want to know more?
Title: Third Work-Life Balance Employer Survey, Employment Relations Research Series no. 86, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Methodology: The survey was conducted with a random sample of 1,462 workplaces in Great Britain with five or more employees.
The survey was carried out between March and August 2007 by BMRB Social Research on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. A companion employee survey was conducted in February-March 2006.
Availability: To download the 206-page survey report, free of charge in PDF format, click here