Flexible Working Pack

Understanding the statutory entitlement all employees have to request flexible working arrangements is essential to maintaining the trust in the working relationship between you and your employees, a clear and transparent procedure that explains this entitlement can also help to avoid costly and time-consuming tribunal cases

This pack will provide you with all of the essential knowledge and tools that you need to ensure that every employee in your business is treated equally and that your actions comply with current employment law

Why is this important?

A healthy ‘work-life balance’ is key to keeping employees engaged and motivated, which in turn affects their productivity and attention to detail. Employees may need to change their normal working arrangements for a variety of reasons, from deciding to ‘wind down’ prior to retirement to post maternity or dependent care issues, and an effective policy & procedure will support the health and wellbeing of employee’s whilst providing a clear framework on how best the company can support them

There is also a severe penalty for not providing the statutory right to request flexible working to employees (and considering requests within the legal parameters required) with an employer in breach of the provisions at risk of costly claims at an Employment Tribunal, unlimited fines and potentially detrimental impact on the company’s reputation

In a recent Employment Tribunal case an employee requested a move from various shift patterns in a large retailer to a fixed pattern which excluded late shifts, the employer refused the request because they believed it was unfair to ask other colleagues to work an extra late shift in the week to cover. The tribunal upheld the employees claim on the basis that the employer did not use one of the statutory fair reasons set out in the legislation to refuse the request and found that the employer could not demonstrate reasonable consideration had been given to the request. The employer was ordered to allow the flexible working request, and fined £15,000 for withholding a statutory right from the employee (along with £5,000 in costs)

The ACAS ‘Code of Practice on handling in a reasonable manner requests to work flexibly’ sets out the minimum standard of behaviour required from an employer when dealing with flexible working requests, a failure to adhere to this code could lead to any compensation awarded to an employee at an Employment Tribunal being increased by 25%, this pack will ensure your company operates a process over and above the ACAS standard

You can read more about why this is important in our Flexible Working HR Case Study