The notion of working from home or part time, flexitime, annualised hours, staggered hours or even phased retirement appeals to most of us at some stage in our working career.

Here in the UK, all employees have the right to request flexible working if they have worked for the same company for 26 weeks. Yes, all employees and not just parents and carers! Companies must deal with the request in a reasonable manner and can refuse the request if there is a good business reason to do so, such as extra cost, meeting customer demand, staff reorganisation or the fear that the idea will affect quality and performance. But, should they refuse all requests out of hand?

Switching to the attached article on flexible working in the booming Swedish economy, it details a different approach which is far less regimented and apparently generates better performance from individual employees. Is this an approach that UK companies should adopt?

Interestingly, research by Teleware (2018) of 2,300 UK employees found that almost a third (31%) of UK workers would turn down a job opportunity that didn’t allow flexible working; a quarter (25%) have already done so. Also, almost nine in ten employees find it important to choose the hours they work and where from. Is this requirement for flexible working more embedded than we think? Have HR a job to do in presenting this to the wider audience?

Although, we are very much aware that some elements of flexible working would not be suitable for many organisations, it may be that your Flexible Working Policy needs a review to give clarity and assist in taking onboard this expanding approach.

Please contact Coppice HR so we can bring your policy up to speed and help your company’s recruitment and current employee performance.