Flexible work rule fears

Posted By: James

Monday 30th June 2014

New rules that allow all workers to ask for flexible working will create confusion, generate red tape and risk damaging employers’ relationships with staff, according to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). John Longworth, the BCC's director general, said: "We remain of the belief that there was no need to add them to the statute book in the first place." Employers will have a legal obligation to deal with any request in a reasonable manner and could refuse on one or more of eight business grounds, such as cost. Sarah Henchoz, a partner at Allen & Overy, commented: "It is just a right to request, not a right to work flexibly. Employers can turn requests down as long as they rely on one of the cited reasons. The bigger issue is employee engagement - if it's important to someone, refusing a request will hit motivation and retention." Meanwhile, Fraser Younson at Squire Patton Boggs says they have already seen an increase in grievances filed by people who feel they are picking up the workload of staff who have been allowed flexible working.

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