Ministers are considering giving all employees the right to ask for flexible working hours “from the beginning” of a new job as part of plans to encourage a fundamental shift in working habits.

The work and pensions secretary, Yvette Cooper, said her office is working with employers and organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) to draw up new ways of supporting men, women, non-parents and parents to work more flexible hours.

Cooper’s plans come after the fourth largest law firm in the City – Allen and Overy – announced it would allow top partners to work part-time in an effort to help senior members take up flexible working, and retain those trying to balance work and family life.

Cooper stated that a lot of employers have found offering the right to request flexible working actually helped their business.

She adds that there will be some areas where flexible working is not possible but believes there needs to be a cultural change for everybody to think differently.

Cooper has also launched a database for part-time jobs for working mothers, run by the organisation Women Like Us. She said small and medium-sized businesses would be asked to offer part-time work that might fit in with school hours to mothers and carers.

Find out more about flexible working technology at the Interchange Group.

As featured in The Guardian.