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."
