The Future of Flexible Working
The corona-virus pandemic has led to a significant amount of the UK workforce working from home. Many have found themselves working more flexibly in terms of the hours or days that they work, which has been a result of balancing work and other responsibilities such as home schooling, childcare or elderly care.
The Government guidelines are still saying work from home if you can, go to work if you cannot work from home.
This is a good opportunity to review the benefits that flexible working can offer but we need to bear in mind the unusual nature of our current circumstances.
It is important to recognise that our current forms of flexibility are very different from typical flexible working approaches: many of us are balancing work with childcare, home-schooling, supporting vulnerable relatives, as well as working from kitchens, dining rooms and lounges. This is not reflective of normal flexible working and employers should take care not to make any decisions around flexible working based purely on this period.
Be careful not to confuse flexible working and homeworking – remote or homeworking is just one form of flexible working, the homeworking we have been experiencing recently is not the usual experience. Other forms of flexible working including homeworking, part time or reduced hours, job shares, flexi-time, compressed or annualised hours, career breaks, staggered start and finish times or self-rostering.
What we should do following this period of enforced homeworking is to review the fact that flexible working has many potential benefits for business and employees. Flexibility can support inclusion, help to reduce the gender pay gap, support sustainability initiatives, attract and retain talented individuals, increase productivity and support wellbeing.
Short term flexible working can support the return to the normal workplace. We will be living and working with risks related to COVID-19 for many months. Limitations on public transport will continue (and employees with concerns about using it), in order to maintain social distancing there will need to be a limit on how many people may be able to work in any single office building. Flexible working can support social distancing and help maintain hygiene, therefore supporting a safe return to the workplace:
You should consider allowing employees to continue to work from home for at least some of their working time. Employees could work from home for all of their hours, or you could consider employees working from home and from the office on a rota basis. You must ensure that you undertake an appropriate risk assessment.
Staggered hours allows employees some discretion, within prescribed limits, in fixing the time when they start and finish work. For example, working 7am-3pm with others working 10am-6pm. Staggered hours can help ease congestion on public transport and traffic at certain peak hours, as well as avoiding large groups of people arriving and leaving offices at the end of the day.
Compressed hours allow employees to work their normal contracted hours over a reduced number of days. Typically working four longer days and not working on the fifth day. This pattern could reduce the number of employees in the office on some days.
Prior to the pandemic, flexible working uptake was slow. However, there are early indications that many employees will wish to continue to have some degree of homeworking or flexible working in general after the current restrictions have passed. You should consider wisely any flexible working request that you receive from your employees.
Any change of approach to flexible working (in the short or long term) may require a review of policy.