The government's flexible working legislation for parents
with young children is now a year old, but are the opportunities
for flexible working in IT growing?
According to the Department of Trade & Industry, employers
grant eight out of 10 flexible working requests from staff with
young children. Since the legislation was brought in to help the UK
catch up with parental flexible working benefits in countries such
as Holland and Scandinavia, almost 25% of parents with children
under the age of six have requested flexible working.
Flexible working is a broad term which can include job sharing,
home working, flexitime, staggered or compressed hours and other
arrangements.
The DTI has said that since April 2003, when the legislation came
into force, the proportion of flexible working requests being
declined by companies has nearly halved - from 20% before the law
to 11% after. Employers are only allowed to turn down an employee
request for "legitimate business reasons".
However, the Maternity Alliance lobbying group has said that 25% of
requests for flexible working are turned down and that 90% of
requests were refused for unjustified business reasons.
In addition, the Maternity Alliance said that many of those allowed
to work flexibly have been forced to take pay cuts and/or have lost
status in their companies.
But has the IT industry embraced flexible working or just paid lip
service to it?
David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, feels the
IT industry has been ahead of the legislation. Roberts said, "Large
companies' employment processes are ahead of any legislation. The
last thing they want is to see their most valuable assets - their
people - walk out just because they have children.
"The IT industry has almost invented flexible working and has been
at the forefront of teleworking and supporting the development of a
mobile workforce."
Peter Skyte, national secretary of the IT Professionals'
Association, part of union Amicus, was more sceptical. "In some
cases good employers have been willing to accommodate flexible
working and there is certainly room for two-way flexibility. But
some employers still see flexibility as a one-way concept in their
favour," he said.
"As for IT being well ahead of everyone else, I am not sure whether
that is clearly the case - the financial services industry has more
part-time working."
Although figures from the Office of National Statistics have shown
that more than 40% of employees are still unaware of the flexible
working rules, trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt said
the legislation had been a success. Hewitt said, "With more women
in work than ever before, employers cannot afford to ignore the
benefits of flexible working, including recruitment, retention and
staff morale. Employers have sent out a signal of support for
flexible working and this should give parents the confidence to
raise the issue with their bosses, informally or through the new
rules."
A survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel
Development (CIPD) and legal firm Lovells found most employers had
reacted positively to the new rules. Almost 70% of companies said
the opportunity to work flexibly had a positive effect on employee
attitudes and morale, and 70% said they were willing to consider
flexible working requests from all staff - not just those with
children under six.
The CIPD now supports extending the right to ask for flexible
working to all staff, providing employers can still refuse because
of "legitimate business reasons", just like under the existing
legislation.