Flexible working facts
What is flexible working?
Flexible working is any kind of working arrangement that differs from the traditional ‘nine to five’ working day in an office or employer’s premises.
Types of flexible working
There is a whole range of flexible working arrangements, both formal and informal. These include:
• Compressed working week or fortnight
• Staggered hours
• Part-time work and reduced hours
• Job sharing
• ‘V’ time (voluntary reduced work time)
• Flexitime
• Annualised hours
• Home and teleworking
• Career breaks
Policies
Depending on the size and culture of your organisation and your relationship with your employees, you may choose to introduce a flexible working policy to make clear how you view flexible working as an organisation. As we’ve learnt from our own experience, this will be powerful only if your actions fully support such policies. They’re not the sort of things to be written up in order to sound like you’re doing your bit for employee equality, only to be filed and forgotten.
Legislation
While there is no absolute right for any employee to work reduced or non-standard hours in order to fit in with family or personal responsibilities, extensive legislation is now in place that encourages employers to seriously consider requests for such arrangements, and to recognise the valuable contribution made to business by flexible workers. This includes:
• The Sex Discrimination Act (1975)
• The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995
• The Employment Relations Act 1999
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Fixed-Term Employees Regulations 2002
• The Employment Act 2002
• Right to Request Legislation
• The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
More comprehensive information about all the legal provisions outlined above can be found at the DTI’s website: www.dti.gov.uk.
Women Like Us can help you think through and understand the different types of flexible working, plan how to deal with the impact of new working methods and policies, and discuss in more detail the practicalities of implementing legislation. To find out about our consultancy work click here, or get in touch by contacting us from here.