Will Employers Have to be so Flexible?

LONDON - YouGov Survey Reveals Over Half (61%) of British Parents of Children Aged 16 or Under Will Not be Taking Advantage of New Flexible Working Legislation

British bosses need not panic about the extension of flexible working rights. That’s the message from Croner (www.croner.co.uk), the UK’s leading provider of workplace information and consultancy services, part of Wolters Kluwer.

In a YouGov survey of 2,114 adults commissioned by Croner, 61% of full-time employees who are parents of children aged 16 or under will not be making a flexible working request, with a further 22% unsure. Only 17% said they would be making a request.

This will come as welcome news for many employers after it was announced that an extra 4.5 million parents in Britain could ask for flexible working from Monday 6 April.

Gillian Dowling, employment technical consultant at Croner, says: “The law on this issue is not new. The right to request flexible working for parents with children aged under six, or under 18 for a disabled child, dates back to 2003 and the right was extended to employees who are carers on 6 April 2007. However, since the government revealed its intention to extend flexible working requests to parents with children aged 16 or under there has been some controversial debate by MPs and trade unions.

“What Croner found in 2003, and what our survey results demonstrate six years later, is that, despite the effort that has gone in to making it easier for parents to have the opportunity to work flexibly, parents won’t be taking advantage, as many are already happy with their current arrangements. This will come as a welcome relief for those employers worried about the effect it will have on their business.”

“However, for the employers of the 765,000 parents who are planning on making requests this may be the final straw. What they will want to know is: ‘Do I really have to bend over backwards for my employees?’ The short answer is no, if there is a business reason why this isn’t viable then a request does not have to be accepted.”

“If a request is made, employers must follow a strict statutory procedure of meetings within specific time limits and have good evidence for their reasons for refusal. If they fail to do this then they are at risk of employment tribunal claims for detrimental treatment and compensation as well as claims for discrimination.”

“In reality, 90% of employers do agree to the requests, although some employers agree because of fears of discrimination claims. Refusing flexible working requests can lead to allegations of discrimination, usually on the grounds of sex, if there is less favourable treatment.”

Adds Gillian: “Although it can be seen as an extra burden on employers to deal with these requests, if the most common request for flexible working continues to be a request for reduced hours, many employers will agree in these recession-hit times.”

Notes to editors:

Note on the research

When questioned why they would not be making a request, the majority of respondents to the survey (50%) said that they were happy with their current arrangements, with a further 20% of people answering that working flexibly is not practical. 6% were concerned about the money/financial implications and 5% said they preferred not to ask in the current climate.

Source: Croner

Contact: Clare Moore, Communications Manager, +44-1455-897156, gclare.moore at cronerconsulting.co.uk