3 December 2008
The prime minister has again stated the government’s plan to extend the right to ask for flexible working to all parents with children under 16 years old.
Speaking on BBC breakfast TV, Brown said that the right to request flexible working, until now only for parents with children under six or who are disabled, has worked well.
Brown was speaking ahead of the Queen's Speech in Parliament today in which it was expected references to increasing the right to flexible working would be made. However, they were not mentioned in her speech that had a heavy emphasis on the economy.
Currently, six million workers have the right to ask for flexible arrangements, but the government estimates more than 14 million people work flexibly. Around 4.5 million more parents will have the right to request flexible working hours, according to media sources quoting prime minister Gordon Brown.
But Brown explained that flexible working is not an automatic right: "A lot of employers will welcome it. Flexible working is the right to request flexible working, it is not an automatic right to flexible working."
He also said there would be no effect upon the economy.
In May the charity Working Families produced a briefing document explaining how businesses could use more flexible working arrangement to help then restructure their organisation in the current economic downturn.
Earlier in the year Working Families welcomed the government’s plans that will be in draft legislative programme for the year ahead, possibly by April. CEO Sarah Jackson said: “Without the right to request, many employees who have older children are vulnerable to unsympathetic employers who stick to the letter of the existing law and refuse even to consider a flexible working request. Extending the right to parents of older children is particularly important, because the needs of teenagers are often forgotten in the debate around work-life balance.”
But employers’ organisation CBI has warned against increased flexible working, saying that it could deepen Britain's economic problems. Britain already has one of the most generous flexible working systems in Europe, notes the CBI.
Research conducted by the Cranfield School of Management in collaboration with Working Families, found the majority of people working flexibly said it had a positive effect or no effect on their performance at work. The report also found that flexible working can reduce and manage stress levels.
Research conducted by the Cranfield School of Management in collaboration with the charity Working Families examined the impact of flexible working on employee performance.
The majority of those working flexibly and their co-workers and managers said that the arrangement had had either a positive effect or no impact on their individual performance. Flexible working also helped employees to reduce and manage stress levels, the survey found.
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