A challenge faced by many employers, particularly in smaller organisations, is how to accommodate employees who wish to work flexibly, either on a part time or term time only basis, without introducing unacceptable levels of additional cost into the running of the business.
Increasingly, however, employees are looking to achieve a better “work life balance”, or are forced to try and juggle the economic necessity of generating an income by working, with the demands of caring; either for children or for elderly relatives. Historically, employers have tended to be resistant to the idea of flexible working, and the issue of “flexibility” has become negatively associated with women, who have traditionally borne the greater responsibility for caring for children or dependents. However, a recent MORI survey found that workers on flexible contracts tend to be “more emotionally engaged, more satisfied with their work, more likely to speak positively about their organisation and less likely to quit”. Flexible working can therefore be a key aid to retaining a stable, high performing workforce, and thus to minimising the costs associated with staff recruitment and training.
By establishing clear processes for how flexible working can operate within the organisation, and by communicating transparently and consistently with all their staff, employers may in practice discover that flexible working adds value, rather than cost, to their business.
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