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Employers 'must encourage flexible working'

Employers in the UK must do more to encourage flexible working practices in the aftermath of the global economic downturn as there is strong demand for this method of practice from employees, an expert has said.

According to Stephen Overell, associate director for The Work Foundation, both senior managers and their workforce can benefit greatly from adopting this approach after the recession, therefore meaning that it should now be adopted on a wider scale among organisations across the nation.

Flexible working techniques can include advising members of staff to work from home occasionally or changing the traditional and rigid nine-to-five structure of an average day without compromising productivity by affording workers a little more freedom to decide on how and when they complete the tasks set to them.

And these methods could be crucial in the business environment of the future, Mr Overell insists.

Research conducted by recruitment firm Hays - which was published earlier this week (July 26th) - found that more than half of all employers - 55 per cent - across the country have welcomed the government's plans to introduce legislation requiring them to offer flexible practices to all their workers.

While this is, the Work Foundation expert said, a positive indicator of changing attitudes among the business population, it could still be perceived as something of a concern that almost half of all employees - 46 per cent - feel that their company does not actively encourage flexible working at the present moment in time.

This figure then rises to more than half when analysing just the private sector, which may show that there is some way to go before this method of working is widely embraced by all kinds of employers.

Meanwhile, data from a report published earlier this year by PricewaterhouseCoopers appears to back up the opinion of Mr Overell and the research collected by Hays, as it found that material perks such as financial bonuses are rated below flexible working by many workers when it comes to their most desired benefits.

This study also found that both males and females valued the opportunity of more freedom within their working lives fairly equally, as many felt that this was a much more achievable long-term aim than gaining an increased salary or amount of responsibility in the workplace.

And this evidence forms the cornerstone of why businesses should be more eager to implement these changes in order to keep their employees - some of whom may have taken it upon themselves to help the company by working longer hours for no extra pay after the recession - happy.

Mr Overell commented: "Employers have changed quite quickly over the last few years and flexible working is really not that old.

"It is true that there is an awfully long way to go and I think in the future we will see much more adoption of flexible working and many more different forms of it."

He added that it is therefore no surprise that people are keen to see more of it made available.