The right of employees to request flexible working is having a negative impact on firms, according to a new survey by the CBI. The volume of requests means that firms are spending more time on administration.
The Employment Act 2003 gave parents of children under six, and parents with disabled children under 18, the legal right to get their employer to consider flexible ways of working.
The Act also ensured that new mothers could take six months paid maternity leave, with another six months unpaid if they wanted it, while new fathers were granted two weeks paid paternity leave for the first time.
But according to the CBI – Pertemps Employment Trends Survey 2005, published today, employers are having to devote a great deal of time and energy to implementing the new rights.
According to the survey of CBI members, employers have accepted requests to work more flexibly in 90% of cases, and a great variety of flexible patterns are available. Eighty-five percent of firms surveyed offer part-time working, 39% flexi-time and 35% job sharing. Thirty-five percent offer at least three different employment choices.
But despite the high rate of acceptance – only 10% are refused – there are limits to the number of requests that can be accommodated, says the CBI. The proportion reporting that the right to request is having a negative impact on their business has risen from 11% to 26% – whilst the number reporting a positive impact has fallen since last year's survey.
The survey highlights growing signs of the cumulative impact this and other new employment legislation, introduced since 2000, is having on employers. Over three quarters of all firms reported spending an increasing amount of time dealing with related administration, and just under 60% reported that valuable senior management time was being diverted to compliance.
"Companies have made great strides during the last 18 months to make a reality of the Government's family friendly policies,” said CBI Deputy Director-General John Cridland. “But this survey provides a disturbing insight into the impact that new employment legislation is having, which a Government committed to better regulation must heed.”
According to reports, the Government is considering proposals to extend the right to request flexible working hours to carers and parents with older children.
"Companies still need to get the job done. The temptation to overwhelm them with unjustified employment law, just to placate the trade union movement, must be resisted," warned Cridland.
In response, Trades Union Congress General Secretary Brendan Barber said, “The right for new parents to request flexible working, to which employers can too easily say no, is one of the most popular rights introduced by this government as a result of union campaigning.”
“For the CBI to see this as simply a way of placating trade unions, rather than a key way of retaining and motivating staff, says a great deal about their attitudes to the modern world,” he added.”
Emma Grossmith, an employment law specialist with Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, acknowledged the growth in the volume of legislation which affects employers. But she argues that, although the right to request flexible working means employers have to consider valid requests properly, the rules are not unduly complicated and focus mainly on getting the parties talking face-to-face.
"It would seem from the relatively low number of tribunal applications on this issue and the high number of requests which are being approved, that the process is working well in practice," she said. "Indeed, the government has already said that it plans to use a similar process when introducing anti-age discrimination laws next year."
