Do you agree that the Right to Request Flexible Working should be available to all employees from their first day of employment?
We do. We support the Government’s plans to make the right to request flexible working a legal right from day one of employment, meaning that every employee will have the right to request flexible working, regardless of time served.
However, the evidence shows that the right to request alone is inadequate. We know that this request is very often rejected. A 2021 survey of almost 13,000 mums in paid work by the TUC and Mother Pukka found that half (50%) don’t get the flexibility they request at work - their current employer had rejected or only accepted part of their flexible working request.
We see the impact of this on Mumsnet all the time. One of our users exemplified the dilemma faced by many mothers in November, writing that she was considering leaving work completely: “My flexible working application was denied. I am looking for part-time jobs but it’s extremely rare that one actually comes up and the chances of a part-time job being advertised within commutable distance and that I am successful in applying for seem pretty remote.”
Not only are requests being denied but employees are put off from asking because of their work culture. The same survey found that 42% said they were worried about their employers’ negative reaction, and the same number said there was no point in making a request as it would be turned down. Only one in 20 (5%) mums in paid work who had not made a flexible work request said it was because they didn’t need it. Two in five (42%) mums said they wouldn’t feel comfortable asking about flexible working in a job interview because they thought they would be discriminated against.
We also know that parents - and other people who need flexibility in order to work - need to know before their first day if flexibility will be possible. The TUC found that more than nine in 10 mums who worked flexibly said they would find it difficult or impossible to do their job without that flexibility, and nearly seven in 10 working dads say they feel stuck in their current role because of concerns that they wouldn’t find another job with the right flexibility.
Right to request also means that you would need to ask in an interview or on your first day in a new job. Four in 10 mums in paid work said they wouldn’t ask for flexibility in an interview because they thought they would be discriminated against and their request would be rejected (TUC and Mother Pukka survey).
And even when flexible working requests are approved, the Government’s own research has found that over half (51%) of women had experienced discrimination or disadvantage as a direct result.
Clearly much needs to change. A lack of flexibility is a key part of the reason that 96% of mothers agree having children affects women’s careers for the worse, while just 9% thought the same was true for fathers' careers (Mumsnet survey 2019).
Given your experiences of Covid-19 as well as prior to the pandemic, do all of the business reasons for rejecting a flexible working request remain valid?
The eight business grounds for rejecting a flexible working request are broad and can make flexible work requests easy to deny. However, the changes brought by the pandemic have called a number of them into question. Reasons such as the burden of additional cost may no longer be valid, with many workplaces having already adapted to flexible or remote working. Reasons such as a detrimental impact on quality or on performance may no longer be valid given that research has found that flexible working can actually increase productivity.
As the business world adjusts to a new normal and grasps the opportunity to reform work for the better, we think the eight grounds to refuse flexible working need to be revisited. We would argue there is even a strong case for redesigning the system and replacing the business reasons with a requirement upon employers to evidence why the request cannot be made.
Do you agree that employers should be required to show that they have considered alternative working arrangements when rejecting a statutory request for flexible working?
Employers should show that they have meaningfully and genuinely considered the request for flexible working. There should be a solid and defined process requiring a meeting, and the Flexible Working Taskforce should develop guidance on a process or downloadable form which can assist employees and employers in exploring alternatives.
Do you think that the current statutory framework needs to change in relation to how often an employee can submit a request to work flexibly?
Yes. Employees should be able to make an unlimited number of flexible working requests.
Do you think that the current statutory framework needs to change in relation to how quickly an employer must respond to a flexible working request?
Yes - we think the current time limit of three months should be reduced. Part of being flexible means responding as soon as possible to allow for changes of pattern and the fact that parents and others with caring responsibilities may sometimes have to change their work patterns at fairly short notice.
If the Right to Request flexible working were to be amended to allow multiple requests, how many requests should an employee be allowed to make per year?
They should be able to make them an unlimited number of times. One of our 10 recommendations for how to make flexible working work for everyone is to cultivate a culture where it’s OK to ask for flexible work without prejudice - even if the answer may sometimes be ‘no.’
If the Right to Request flexible working were amended to reduce the time period within which employers must respond to a request, how long should employers have to respond?
The employers should respond as soon as reasonably possible. Being flexible about flexibility is key to the process and we think three months’ wait for people with caring responsibilities, such as parents, is too long.