QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
EMPOWER ED
WHAT IS
‘FLEXIBLE WORKING’?
Zoe Sinclair, founder of Parents Matter,
which provides parenting events in the
The most important thing to understand is what Perhaps the greatest examples of flexible working
is meant by flexible work? Generally flexibility and came during the 2002 football world cup when
work place, responds to your queries flexible work are terms used to describe a wide many employers introduced types of flexible
range of work styles and employment practices. working to allow employees to watch the matches
Broadly speaking, they are used to describe all whilst still achieving their work requirements.
kinds of employment which differ from the traditional This was done to reduce absenteeism and
9-5 full time job with a permanent contract. produced significant short-term gains but there is
I have read a lot
mounting evidence to show that the employer can
The “flexible” aspect of these types of jobs can,
gain longer-term advantages.
in different instances, relate more to the
recently about flexible
employees, or to the employer, or to both. That is, To many people it always seemed a touch
from the employees point of view, flexible work arbitrary to allow only parents with children under
working with many terms
may allow more freedom to organise their 6 the “right to request flexible work”.
employment to fit in with other parts of their life.
For an employer, the flexibility may come with the
In April this year, the “Right to Request” flexible
flying around. This would be
ability to organise labour resources more in line
work in the UK was extended to include carers of
with the varying needs of customers, or with
spouses, partners and relatives. Previously the
peaks and troughs of demand.
right applied only to parents of children under 6
something that I am keen and parents of disabled children under 18.
Flexible working can come in several forms
enabling the employer and employee to find a
Under these regulations, to qualify as a carer you
on looking into but want to
solution that meets both needs:
must be, or expect to be, caring for a spouse,
partner or relative or live at the same address as
understand fully what it
Part-time working enables employees to work the adult needing care.
shortened hours during a week. A typical analysis
of roster coverage conducted by consultants from
The “Right to Request” operates in the same way
involves before I pursue
Rostima, shows that many shifts currently being
as the existing right for parents of young children
worked are too long to deal effectively with
established under the 2002 Employment Act. It is
anything. Can you help? customers, and that by introducing part-time
not a right to flexible work, only a right to request,
shifts, the same levels of customer service can be
just like it says. Employers can still say “no” - but
achieved at much reduced cost.
they have to have good business reasons to do
so. The main issues to be aware of are:
Part-time employees can be used very effectively
to cover peaks in workload demand.
a71 trust and supervision
Flexi-time enables staff to bank extra days off but
a71 communication between staff who work at
Get in contact to shed light on issues
gives the employer the flexibility to extend working
varying times, and who may meet less
that are worrying you or you think you
hours to meet vital deadlines. Employers offering
frequently
can help others with. Write to us at
flexi-time often find that it introduces a greater
a71 optimising use of the buildings (and car parks)
level of co-operation and support between
empowered@edsup.co.uk and together employer and employee. Employees will be more
a71 integrating non-core staff
we can have a go at putting the world
able to arrange appointments during time off which
a71 achieving fairness in benefits for all staff
to rights!
helps reduce absenteeism. Flexi-time can also be
used to reduce the need for overtime payments.
For more in-depth information go to
www.direct.gov.uk and look up Flexible Working
Annualised Hours enables an employer and
and Work-Life Balance.
employee to balance the times worked and times
off, across a complete year. This works particularly
well when customer demand is seasonal as staff
can cover more work hours during the busy
months and have more time off when demand is
low. Many employers now prefer to use
Read Eds Up Daily Rolling News
annualised hours rather than employ on
short-term contracts or use casual labour during
WWW.EDSUP.CO.UK
peak months. Other terms you may have heard
could be term-time working, jobshare and
compressed working weeks
P. 2 6
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