Flexible Working - What the Law is, What it could be and What I think
Employees currently have the right to request flexible working once they have 26 weeks of service. An employer then has a statutory process they must follow and a choice of 8 statutory reasons to choose from if they are going to reject the request.
The Government are currently consulting on changing the current legislation. The main changes they are looking at are
Making the right to request flexible working a day-one right
Whether the eight business reasons for refusing a request all remain valid
Requiring the employer to suggest alternatives
The administrative process underpinning the right to request flexible working
Requesting a temporary arrangement.
I welcome the changes. I think the 8 reasons definitely need an overhaul and flexible working is a right that everyone should have from day 1. There is nothing worse than feeling stuck in a role because you have the flexibility you want, and which you won’t get from a new company (talking from experience).
But are the proposed changes enough?
Flexible working, hybrid working, #thefutureofwork are all such hot topics right now given our unexpected working from home arrangements for the past 18 months.
The changes proposed are great, and the legislation is needed to ensure all employees regardless of company culture are provided with an opportunity for flexibility. But I don’t want the clients I work with to follow even an amended statutory policy, and this is why.
We need to treat our employees like adults.
We need to provide them with a role, which they need to do and then we need to let them do it. No clock watching and no looking over their shoulder.
As part of this they know when they need to be around for team meetings, client commitments etc. Whether they like to start post school drop off, take an hour at 10am to walk the dog, or attend a class at 4pm at the gym, shouldn’t matter. What should matter is if they are delivering. Now if the 10am dog walk impacts their ability to deliver then that should be tackled but what if it doesn’t. What if allowing employees autonomy engages them just as David Rock’s SCARF model of employee engagement suggests. And what if that increased engagement increases productivity and profitably just as Turtl’s research suggests.
I fully accept that this approach won’t work for all types of work, but if it does work for yours then put the things in place today that will allow it to and by doing so, remove the need for a statutory process within your business.
Further reading & Research