As of today, new government regulations say anyone who has been working for you for at least 6 months, now has the right to request flexible working.
So what actually is flexible working, and what does this mean for the small business owner?
Here are the 8 .gov classes of flexible working. Full definitions can be seen on the .gov website.
- Job sharing
- Working from home
- Part time - (less than full time hours, so assume any less than 37 is considered part time?)
- Compressed hours - (full time over fewer days)
- Flexitime - (flexible start and finish times)
- Annualised hours - (has to work x many hours spread over the working year)
- Staggered hours - (similar to flexitime, but has staggered start/finish times with co-workers)
- Phased retirement - (older workers can carry on working but work less hours)
So employees can legally make 1 request per year which is called a statuary application. The employer then has 28 days to discuss the application, 14 days after this to come up with a decision about the request.
If you agree to the employees request, then you have to issue a new contract.
The employer can turn down a request "if they have a good business reason" but I can't see any definitions or guidelines on what warrants a good business reason.
The Federation of Small Businesses claimed this morning that the majority of small businesses already offered flexible opportunities to staff, and I'm inclined to agree. So do we need more legislation about how we look after employees?
What does anyone think? Does anyone think this could impact small businesses or do you think these regulations are a good thing and flexible working should be available to all employees no matter the size of the business?
