UK embraces flexi working

Flexible working opportunities are becoming nearly universal in the British workplace, according to a government survey.

The latest Work-Life Balance Employer Survey, commissioned by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), found 95% of workplaces offer some form of flexible working for staff.

The number of workplaces providing childcare or other arrangements to help parents combine work with family commitments has more than doubled since 2003, from 8 to 18%.

Pat McFadden, minister for employment relations, said the survey was an endorsement for the government’s staged approach to introducing flexible working. “The way we work is changing and in many cases, it is changing to fit in with people’s lives,” he said. “More people want to balance work with family and lifestyle and more employers are increasingly recognising that flexibility helps retain good staff.”

The survey, the third of its kind, also found:

• Part-time working is available in 92% of workplaces, up from 81% in 2003.
• Employers offering reduced hours working had increased from 40% in 2003 to 74%.
• Employers offering compressed hours working had increased from 19% to 41%.
• The availability of job-sharing went from 39% to 59% and of flexi-hours from 39% to 55%.
• 92% of employers said they would consider a request to change working patterns from any employee.
• 7% of employers said they should make a special effort to help parents of young and disabled children improve their work-life balance.

The survey was conducted between March and August 2007, sampling 1462 workplaces with five or more employees, and carried out by BMRB Social Research. A companion employee survey was conducted in February-March 2006.

Recent research also shows more men than ever are keen to work flexibly, making up 43% of employees who requested a change to working patterns in the past two years.