Public Servant Lifestyle

New government regulations should help bring about an important attitude change amongst UK employers and make it easier for working parents to seek flexible working arrangements with their bosses.

Responding to the Department of Trade and Industry over its draft Flexible Working Regulations, the TUC says that the changes will encourage more employers to introduce the kind of flexible working policies already encouraged by forward thinking bosses. The TUC also hopes that the regulations will create a climate where working parents feel more confident about approaching their employers to ask for changes to their working hours.

Stacked Against Employers?

The TUC is concerned that the regulations are too stacked against employees. The TUC is urging the government to make changes to ensure that the regulations become a useful tool for staff wishing to alter their working hours, and not just a useful aid enabling employers with antiquated attitudes to maintain the status quo.

The submission says that if the employer lobby gets its way and compensation for employees who can prove their employer has breached the regulations is set as low as four weeks pay, bad employers will simply see being taken to a tribunal as a cheap way of avoiding flexibility. Instead the TUC suggests a compensation ceiling of a year’s pay to deter reluctant employers from avoiding dealing with flexibility requests or from making up reasons as to why a member of staff cannot change their working hours.

Similarly the draft regulations may only allow a worker to be accompanied by a colleague in any meeting with their employer to discuss flexible hours. The TUC believes that the recent Wilson v Palmer case means that the regulations should allow any employee who wants to take a trade union rep in with them to do so.

And to prove the value of involving trade unions, the submission contains a number of case studies which show that a union presence not only helps employers save on unnecessary legal costs but also helps brings about a much speedier conclusion:

· A member of the GMB working at a communications equipment company was refused a request for flexible working. He contacted the GMB for help with the grievance hearing. The matter was resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned and management positively welcomed GMB involvement.

· A senior female worker in an international bank was refused reduced hours on return from maternity leave. The company argued that no one at that level could job share. Amicus-MSF pressed her case through grievance procedures and secured her reduced hours with no loss of status.

The TUC points out that the regulations must be able to convince employers who are opposed to flexible working that they cannot continue to do nothing. It notes that there is still a long way to go before flexibility is a factor in every UK workplace and cites a TUC poll from earlier this year which found that over two-fifths of full time employees were not able to work flexibly and a mere 16% could easily switch to part time working.

Privilege

Commenting on the draft regulations TUC General Secretary John Monks said: "Sadly flexible working is currently a 'privilege' only enjoyed by a handful of workers. For far too many working parents just getting through the day is a challenge in itself. They finish one job, travel home, only to start their second the minute they walk through the door.

"Some companies have long realised the benefits that come from allowing their staff to work flexibly. Working parents trying to work a full week, yet not neglect their children, are in danger of stress overload. In most cases the simple introduction of a little flexibility can quite literally change their lives. They feel less pressurised, and the end result is almost always a more productive employee who feels more at ease with themselves and their work. But for these regulations to work as they are intended, and create a new climate where working parents aren't frightened to ask to change the way they work, and to know that when they do ask their requests are taken seriously, changes need to be made."

Mike Emmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser, says "The new law should not present serious problems to employers. It is a declaration of good practice and common sense. "However, we would have liked to see the right extended to all employees - not just those with young children. We would urge organisations to go beyond compliance with the law, and to respond positively wherever
possible to employees’ requests for flexible working. There are likely to be significant business benefits if they do, including better recruitment and retention of staff."

Says Emmott, "A rigid nine to five, five days a week set up is based on working patterns which have their roots in the 1950's and 60's, when most families had a male breadwinner and a full-time mother at home. For many families, more flexible arrangements are essential. Today’s employees are demanding the opportunity to achieve a better balance between work and the rest of their life, and successful organisations are responding to this."

More information available in Work Life Balance