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Employers inflexible over home working

Nov 06 2009

More than a third of working parents feel unable to exercise their rights to request flexible working.

Some 34 per cent of working parents say that they do not feel able to request flexible hours due to lack of support at work, while 64 per cent believe they are letting their children down by failing to strike the right work/life balance, according to a survey by charity Working Families.

Sarah Jackson, chief executive of Working Families, says: ‘The wider social benefits of flexible working, as well as the benefits to employers, are well documented. Businesses that do offer greater flexibility will be rewarded by greater loyalty and productivity.’ 
Of the 2,000 working parents interviewed, 37 per cent said that the recession had increased pressure to work more hours.

In May the government extended the right to request flexible working to all staff with children up to the age of 16.

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