New Flexible Working Legislation - are you ready?

Today (Monday 6th April 2009) new legislation comes in to effect that will extend the right of employees to request flexible working. While employers are currently required to provide flexible working arrangements for a number of different groups(carers, parents with a child under six, parents with a disabled child under 18), new regulations will provide this statutory right to all parents with children under 16. Flexible working can incorporate a number of different working practices including part-time hours, flexi-time and home working. In theory this change could generate an estimated 4.5 million additional requests for flexible working.

Viatel, believes that many companies are unprepared for the IT challenges that lie ahead. Michael Davies, head of product management at Viatel stated “As employees are informed of the rights they are entitled to, companies face an increase in home working requests that many will be unable to accommodate using their existing IT infrastructure. It is not unusual for employers to resist home working because of concerns regarding productivity, security and cost. This latest legislation means these companies will have to find solutions to these problems pretty quickly.”

Davies continued “Implementing home working needn’t be as difficult as it is often assumed to be. For example, productivity and security issues can be taken care of through cost effective access to company IT and voice services over an MPLS IPVPN. One of the keys to making home working beneficial for both the company and employees is to focus more on the benefits that the practice can provide. Despite a significant improvement in the technology used to monitor and control the activity of remote workers, many employers still believe staff will get up to no good when out of the office. These fears are often misplaced as organisations implementing home working regularly report that productivity has actually increased as a result. Other benefits reported include increased flexibility as staff working from home are often more willing to work unconventional hours.”

 

---