Flexible working and the new guidelines, your views please!

GlammaNanna, Elegran, Silverfish, Grannyactivist, GrannyKnot and Grannytwice,
Thank you all so much for your contributions, I barely got to speak for more than a couple of minutes, they just wanted a sound-bite really, still we got Gransnet in there!
I did manage to get in a few stats about hardworking Grans though.

Do pop on over to the Manchester site sometime and give your views, and your favourite places to visit, or even ask me where is good to go for something of particular interest and I'll be sure to do a review!

A very special thanks to you Elegran, your clear and concise interpretation of the legislation was invaluable! .

I will be discussing this issue further on my own radio show today,
between 4-5pm Nanna's Natter on North Manchester FM 106.6

Elegan is absolutely right - there is no right to flexible working , only to requesting it. A load of hot air over nothing. Employers will no doubt grant it if the employee is particularly valuable to them or not easily replaced . A company in my area is now giving a full years maternity leave on full pay because they are desperate to recruit and keep good staff. The market will determine what happens here as it usually does but the right wing press will behave as if it's the end of civilisation as we know it

I would be interested to hear the views on this from those working in the private sector in smaller businesses, as opposed to e.g. public servants or bigger corporations.

I've got a a friend who is a PA to a high-flying director in a government office. The director is very relaxed about flexible working and little attention is paid to core hours. Just about everyone in the office (apart from the PA has some or other special arrangement regarding working flexible hours, condensed working hours, only on certain days till certain times, works from home etc etc. The friend complains to me of the difficulties when she has to schedule a meeting where more than two people are involved. She says finding a time that suits everyone, is nigh impossible. Does her head in! She has tried to implement a rota or roster to no avail, too many variables.

Another friend runs a small business and she would refuse requests for flexible working hours purely on the basis of needing to get the job done when she is there to supervise her staff - which would be during "normal" office hours.

Many people I know already have flexible working arrangements and as far as I'm aware research demonstrates it mostly benefits both employer and employee. My daughter changed her working week from 9-5 four days a week, to 9-3 for five days a week. Both she and her boss benefit in different ways from the change. Another friend has chosen to work primarily from home, which means that when she has to go abroad to work (something she regularly does) she feels that she has more energy and focus for the job because she isn't worn out from a regular London commute. My husband frequently starts work at 6am or finishes at 11pm; his job requires a lot of travel and he's often away for several nights a week. Sometimes though he chooses to leave early or go in late because it suits him - I think the technical term is 'swings and roundabouts'! He and his employer both gain from flexible working.
The world of work has changed enormously in my lifetime, globalisation for instance means that some firms need to have employees working for 24 hours in order to accommodate different time zones. Online commerce means that customers expect 24/7 access to goods and services in this country too. Doctors and dentists are being called upon to offer 'out of hours' services for people who are usually working during standard 9-5 hours and shops and supermarkets are opening longer hours for the same reason.
It's up to the employer to ensure that flexible working actually works to benefit the business aims of companies, but I believe that after the teething troubles are ironed out most, although not all, businesses will benefit from the changes.

I would think that there will still have to be core time, when they will have to be present as they have contracted, plus more flexible hours before or after or both. If it is well managed it can be useful to everyone, but the times when each person is there will have to be carefully planned, and employees will have to stick to them.

Where one worker needs to have contact with others, the employer can refuse to grant flexible working which does not allow for this.

It could make employers think seriously about just how the work flow is organised, and who has responsibility for what, which can't be a bad thing.

I think this will lead to more and more businesses taking on part time employees, then there will be little opportunity to ask for flexi working hours as they should be able to sort their private lives out. also having more part timers means there are more staff to cover for emergencies etc. I can see it becoming the norm for part time work.

A lot of the squawking comments after the DM article seem not to have read the actual conditions (neither does the journalist, of course.)

There is a right to REQUEST flexible working, and employers are obliged to CONSIDER the request (but if refused, no reapplications within a year) but not automatically to GRANT it. Employers can refuse requests for flexible working on certain grounds. These are

the burden of additional costs
an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff
an inability to recruit additional staff
a detrimental impact on quality
a detrimental impact on performance
detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
insufficient work for the periods the employee proposes to work
a planned structural changes to the business

So most of the objections to the scheme seem to be covered. Not the objection that having children is a lifestyle choice so parents should not be allowed any flexibility at all, but those were from the usual MCPs who boast that they have been careful not to have any.

I do feel if it is treated incorrectly there will be less & less Companies taking on employee's on Full Time Contracts and who can blame them,when I worked full time the child care arrangements where sorted before I even achieved a stage where I had been granted an interview,and just how flexible do these Companies have to be,I would imagine it has got to be Companies with a certain amount of employee's,how would the little Company manage who only has a few employee's where will they find trained cover.?? Disaster waiting to happen if you ask me.