'Demand for Flexible Working Not Satisfied,' Says TUC
The right to request to work flexibly was introduced in April 2003 and allows working parents with children under the age of six to request to change their hours. The recently published Work and Families Bill proposes extending 'the right to request' to the carers of older relatives.
Much of this is familiar territory to Cullen Scholefield, for the firm has been to the fore in implementing flexible working for its own staff. However demand for flexible working is outstripping supply. This is the message of a report by the TUC revealing an unquenched thirst for flexible working among British workers. It comes at a timely moment as the Work and Families Bill's moves through Parliament.
Based on an analysis of Labour Force Survey figures the TUC calculates that more than half a million workers who have asked for a shorter working week have had their requests turned down. Almost one in ten of employees (2.3 million people) would like to work fewer hours, even if this meant taking home less money, says the TUC. HR professionals are broadly supportive of these ideas, at least in principle.
Carole Bates of Cullen Scholefield can't help feel that organisations are missing a trick if they fail to wise up. 'We were the first organisation in the South East to receive the Investors in People Work-Life Balance Award,' she says, 'And flexible working has definitely served us well.' She continues, 'Many of our clients agree flexible working makes sound business sense. It can help deliver services cost-effectively and on time. Flexible working helped us recruit and retain high quality staff who are loyal and long serving. This in turn supports a culture consistent with our needs and the high expectations of our clients.'
Despite this support, over three-quarters of UK employees (77.4 per cent) have no element of flexibility in their employment contracts, according to the TUC's report, 'Challenging times.' The findings come in the context of growing moves in Europe to emphasise flexibility. Widely differing proportions of national workforces, work flexibly. Although there are now 150,000 more UK workers working flexibly since the 2003 changes, the total - a little over one in ten of all UK employees - is much lower than in Germany where 30 per cent work flexitime of some sort.
In November last year the European Trades Union Confederation and the TUC organised a conference to look at how unions and employers across Europe are altering the working day to help meet the needs of the 21st century workforce. The TUC’s argument is that employees are much more likely to be able to opt for flexible working arrangements like flexitime and job-share if they work for an organisation where there is a union. 'Union members are nearly twice as likely to be working flexibly (34.5 per cent), compared to employees from non-unionised workplaces (19.1 per cent),' says the TUC. Workers in the public sector (19.8 per cent) are also more likely to have a greater work/life balance than people working for private firms (six per cent).
On the other hand, the gap between what people want and what they do in terms of working hours is substantially circumscribed by what they can afford. 'Challenging times' says that although four in ten employees (9.4 million) would jump at the chance to work fewer hours, many are unable to do so for financial reasons. While 2.3 million say they would be willing to take a pay cut if it meant working fewer hours, the TUC points out that 3.5 million people could reduce their hours by cutting their unpaid overtime and sticking to their contracted hours.
A copy of the full report is available at http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/CTreport.doc
Visit the Investors in People UK website for the Work Life Balance award at http://www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/IIP/Web/About+Investors+in+People/Work+Life+Balance+Model/default.htm
1 February 2006
