From today, parents of children who are 16 or under will be eligible to claim flexible working rights in their job.
This means that an extra 4.5 million parents will be given flexible working rights, with the government change in legislation leading to over 10 million people being able to make changes to their usual 9 to 5 working day.
Despite protest from businesses over the changes, flexible working has been proven to improve the morale of workers, as it leads to a better work-life balance for them. This will help businesses, as it’s believed it will lead to more loyal employees and less money spent on high staff turnovers.
Flexible working has been proven to reduce costs for both employees and business. It reduces costs for employees who have to make expensive commutes to work every day, whilst businesses will spend less money on office space that wont be required as much under flexible working procedures.
Finally, flexible working can aid businesses by improving the productivity of workers if they implement the right technology into their business plan. This means that workers can access their business network from any location and will lead to a more productive and efficient business.
Harriet Harman, deputy leader of the Labour party, believes that it’s right to extend flexible working rights to older parents, as parental responsibilities ‘don’t end at age six’.
Find out more about flexible working at the Interchange Group.