Do your employees have a right to flexible working requests?

Workplaces are moving away from the traditional 9-5 and adopting a more flexible approach to work life. Work routines have changed after the COVID pandemic, and many businesses adopt hybrid working, with a set number of days to be present in the office, and other days working from home. With this in mind, there are more opportunities for employees to put forward flexible working requests.

Flexible working can be a great benefit for your employees, providing a huge boost to morale, mental health and increased activity. Many employees swear by a better work/life balance with flexible working, but others might work best with the traditional 9-5 workday. For some roles, remote working simply isn’t an option if the role is not doable from home.  

So, where do you draw the line? What are the pros and cons? Can anyone request flexible working in the UK? And, if they do, what are your responsibilities as an employer?

If you need more support or advice when it comes to your employee’s requests, why not give our expert team a call on 0808 501 6651? 

What is flexible working?

Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s needs, preferences and lifestyle. For example, having flexible start and finish times or working from home can make a big difference to the life of your employee. One good example is if a parent needs to drop off their children at school every day. The parent might request to start their workday later which would be beneficial to their daily routine and maintaining a healthy work/life balance.

There are several practices that can use flexible working, and it’s not just letting employees come and go as they please. The term refers to any type of work pattern that differs from your existing or traditional model.

Flexible working law means it won’t affect your statutory employment rights, including:

• Claiming unfair dismissal
• Itemised pay statements
• A written statement of terms and conditions
• Statutory minimum notice
• Maternity leave

Do your employees have the right to flexible working requests? 

Yes, your staff can make a claim for flexible working hours. There are two types of requests they can make. These are:

1. Statutory requests – a request made under the law on flexible working.
2. Non-statutory requests – a request made that is not under the law on flexible working.

An employee can only make two statutory requests in 12 months. If it is a non-statutory request, they can make as many requests as they wish, unless their contract states otherwise.

It doesn’t matter which department the employee is in; they are legally allowed to make a request. According to law, you as the employer must also consider it fairly, but you do not have to grant the request.   

To make a request, the employee must:

• Make the request in writing
• State when they made their last request (if applicable)
• State the changes they’re seeking
• State that it is a statutory request for flexible working (if applicable)

Can I refuse a flexible work request?

You must have a sound business reason for rejecting the request and you should decide and respond to the request within 2 months.

One of the following eight reasons is a sound reason for rejecting the request:

• The burden of additional costs
• Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
• Inability to reorganise work among existing staff
• Inability to recruit additional staff
• Detrimental impact on quality
• Detrimental impact on performance
• Insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work
• Planned structural changes

An example of an unreasonable refusal could be that ‘flexible working doesn’t fit the company culture’ or that ‘the management team don’t want any employee working part-time or working from home’.

When responding to the request, you should send a letter to the employee stating your acceptable reasons for refusing their flexible working request. It’s important to remember that you cannot give a reason that is related to any protected characteristics, as this could lead to a potential discrimination claim and, in worst cases, an employment tribunal.

What are the different types of flexible working? 

Some of the most common types of flexible working include:

• Hybrid work
• Remote work
• Part-time work
• Job sharing
• Compressed hours
• Flexitime

There are many more different types of flexible working too, such as a phased retirement or staggered hours.

Hybrid working

Hybrid working allows your employees to have the best of both worlds – working from home and office working. Even before the pandemic, some employers allowed their staff to work from home, but it has now become the norm post-pandemic. It is up to you as the employer to decide how many days you will allow your employees to work from home. This could range from just one day a week, to two days in the office, to fully remote if this works best for your business needs.

While this is good news for staff morale and their mental wellbeing, it’s important to note that some employees may now respond poorly to full-time office work. Due to a change in expectations and standards for work/life balance, employees may refuse to work in the office full time. A hybrid work model is a good compromise to this, allowing your employees to maintain an adequate office attendance whilst also having more control over their daily routine.

Flexitime

This arrangement establishes core working hours and flexible working hours. For example, 10:00-16:00 would be core hours that an employee must work. Flexible hours means that an employee must work between 10:00 and 16:00 but may arrive at any time between 07:00-10:00 and leave any time between 16:00-19:00.

So, if your employees work the traditional 9-5, they’d be continuing to work the 8 hours they are contracted for. However, they may also decide to request flexitime and work from 8-4.

Compressed hours

This arrangement allows employees to work their contracted hours over a fewer number of days. For example, if an employee normally works 30 hours a week over four days, they could work three 10-hour days instead. Or they could choose to work five 6-hour days. So, if the employee is working their contractual hours, they can split them however they like which could provide great help to their family or personal lives.

Flexible working after maternity 

Many female employees find it challenging to return to work full-time after maternity due to childcare responsibilities and the rising costs of childcare. Often, it makes more financial sense for women to request flexible working for their return to work. Listening and accepting these requests could be a crucial way to retain valuable employees that may need some flexibility around family commitments.

It’s important to note that rejecting these requests could be construed as direct or indirect discrimination if not handled correctly. However, if your company has a policy that no employee, male or female, will have flexible working agreed, this is not discrimination. As long as you remain certain that you are not treating the employee differently due to their sex, you will not be breaking the law.

While men are also known to request flexible working due to family or childcare responsibilities, it is statistically more likely that female employees will request this. This, therefore, places female employees at a disadvantage when it comes to discrimination. You should keep this in mind to not break any employment laws around this matter.

Benefits of flexible working

There are some key benefits to flexible working in your business. The first and most obvious benefit is that it will help you retain and recruit new talent. Flexible working reduces fatigue, stress, and allows employees to work to their strengths. All of this contributes to a boost in productivity, a better work-life balance, and happier employees.

In addition to employee benefits, there’s also a financial incentive. Whichever arrangement you choose, it’s likely to significantly reduce employee absenteeism, tardiness and sick leave. Greater retention also means less money spent trying to recruit new talent. On top of this, flexible working arrangements are generally inexpensive and quick to implement.

Disadvantages of flexible working

Usually, you’ll find that the disadvantages come from the type of employee. If they’re likely to take advantage of company time, they’ll do so even more with a flexible working arrangement. Flexible working also could hinder office relationships and communication too. Meaningful workplace relationships can be crucial to a business running well and flexible working could create distance and miscommunication between employees.

Implementing flexible working policy

It is essential you know how to manage flexible working. If you want to implement a flexible approach to work, you should do so in writing, and detail the following:

• What type of arrangement you’re putting in place
• Provisions for who can request such an arrangement
• Eligibility of roles
• How to make an application
• The criteria you’ll consider when deciding whether to approve a request
• Terms and conditions of employment
• Cover for absence
• Trial periods (if applicable)
• Appeal procedure upon rejection of the request

Health and safety for remote working

Managing health and safety for employees working from home is essential for employers as they are still responsible for them.

While it is unlikely you can carry out risk assessments at employee’s homes, you should still check the following:

• Employees feel they can manage their work safely from home
• They have the right equipment to work safely
• They are in regular contact with management, so it does not isolate them
• You make reasonable adjustments for an employee who has a disability

Removal of the 26-week service requirement

The Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 was approved by parliament and is now in place as of April 2024. This confirms that any requests made from 6 April 2024 do not need any service requirement. This will be your employees right from day one of employment.

Expert support

At Croner, we’re experts in employment law and we’ve been in the business for a while. Our expert team are here to answer your questions and give top-quality advice when it comes to flexible working. Give us a call now on 0808 501 6651.