A flexible working pattern can benefit businesses as well as employees
What is flexible working?
Flexible working is a type of working which is outside from the usual working hours in some way which suits the employee’s needs. Types of flexible working include job sharing, part time jobs, compressed hours, and staggered hours.
All employers who have worked for an employee for 26 weeks are eligible to request a flexible working pattern. There used to be restrictions on reasons for requesting (have children under 17), but after new legislation in 2014, all sorts of reasons can be considered, including simply wanting to improve your work-life balance.
Employers have to address a request within 3 months of it being made, and they can only refuse to allow flexible working for one of these reasons:
extra costs that will damage the business
the work can’t be reorganised among other staff
people can’t be recruited to do the work
flexible working will affect quality and performance
the business won’t be able to meet customer demand
there’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
the business is planning changes to the workforce
Why do people want a flexible working pattern?
The main reason that people ask to switch to a flexible working pattern is in order to make it possible or easier to balance their family commitments, particularly if they have children, elderly parents or other dependants.
In a study by Benenden, 74.5% said that they found balancing this difficult or very difficult. Over 90% of those surveyed said that trying to deal with family responsibilities on top of their working life had led to them experiencing stress (64%), financial problems (41.3%), mental health issues (26.7%) or a relationship breakdown (17.7%).
Other reasons that people might want flexible working, to name just a few, include a desire to work from home to avoid tortuous commutes, or to better accommodate a medical or disability issue, or to finish early two days a week to focus on furthering their education with an OU degree.
Employers aren’t taking it up
However, many employers are still very sceptical about “allowing” employees a flexible working pattern. There is still an assumption in many company owners’ minds that anybody who wants to do something which isn’t bums-in-seats for 8 hours Mon-Fri (not including lunch) is lazy and looking to take advantage. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as many employees actually become more productive once they are allowed to work in the way that’s best for them. This attitude needs to change in order to create a happy and loyal workforce, who have the mental strength to perform at their best.
In Benenden’s study, 20.1% of employees who asked for flexible working were turned down, and 14.3% said that had even been “refused time off for healthcare appointments and/or to access mental health support.
A study by Quinyx showed that 16 percent of workers say that their manager would react badly to a request for greater flexibility, with another 15 percent worrying that it would negatively impact their career progression.
The result of an employer refusing to be flexible is that employees grow disillusioned and often start describing their employer using terms such as “uncaring” and “cold-hearted”. Some start looking to leave. Even if they stay in the inflexible workplace, they are likely to be suffering from stress and unable to perform at their best.
Denying flexible working actually costs businesses money
According Benenden’s study, these trapped employees take an average of 5.3 days of work off a year to try and deal with their family issues, and 31.5% would fake a sick day in order to deal with problems if they knew that their employer would be unsympathetic. 5.3 days off is more than the average number of sick days taken, so it is clear how serious the problem is.
Family issues still have to be addressed whether the employee was allowed to have a flexible working pattern or not, so it is up to the company whether they deal with it in an efficient manner or force their staff to dodge around them in this manner.
The Quinyx study suggested that implementing more flexible working could add a extra £12 billion to UK business output, thanks to lack of employee churn (leaving and needing to be replaced) and improved productivity.
TENSOR TIME AND ATTENDANCE SYSTEM OFFERS EXTENSIVE OPTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS
Tensor plc supplies an extensive range of workforce management solutions that cater for all the requirements of the modern workplace, including features which will help employers feel more confident about implementing a flexible working pattern.
The system can supply working rules for a variety of purposes, from simple determination of overtime by the number of daily hours worked, to the more complex payment of overtime hours adjusted when periodic targets are not met. The system also contains special rules to accommodate the formal flexitime contracts worked by many public sector employees. Workers paid on an annual contract basis can receive reports stating how many contracted hours they have yet to work.
Additionally, our top-range WinTA suite features an On-line Self Service module that allows staff to clock IN or OUT, check hours, request holiday leave + other functions via internet, mobile or other communications.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can help your company implement thorough and reliable flexible working arrangements, just contact us or Book a Demo.