flexible working in relation to inequality at work

Part-time work is a form of employment that sees you work less than full-time hours, either by cutting your working hours during the day or working fewer days. fixed schedules and employer-oriented flexible schedules, are related to work-to-home spillover and (2) whether these relationships are . The flexible work arrangement of the app-based rideshare platforms seems to encourage more people to sign up for driving, including parents, students and retirees who want an adjustable schedule or supplementary income. The main benefit is the increased free time you get and this means less pressure on maintaining a work-life balance. Copyright The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2022. Employees (other than a casual employee) who have worked with the same employer for at least 12 months can request flexible working arrangements if they: are the parent, or have responsibility for the care, of a child who is school aged or younger. The CIPD analysed Labour Force Survey (LFS) data from October-December 2020 (74,832 cases) and APS (LFS ad-hoc module) from January-December 2019 (277, 115 cases) to create a rank of regions that have the most and least flexible working options. Thus the broader frameworks on gender inequality will be discussed first. Flexible work doesn't just mean working part-time . You can change your cookie settings at any time. Some find this scary., Boughey, a member of the U.Ks All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Women and Enterprise, and Women and Work, argues that the rise of women is not about the fall of men. Flexibility over when someone works (flexible hours including flexi-time, annualised hours, term-time working, job share, four-and-a-half-day week, zero hours contract). You might have other rights under the Equality Act, for example if you are asking for flexible working for religious reasons. Some teams are limited in how far they can work flexibly 25 Conclusion: Strong managers are critical for empowering teams to work flexibly 26 4. The remaining four CBA studies evaluated a form of contractual flexibility: partial/gradual . However, you would need to prove that this is true and you should seek advice before making this argument. It dilutes ownership and restricts information sharing. Intersectionality is the termcoined by Professor Kimberl Crenshawto describe how race, class, gender, and other individual characteristics, intersect with one another. In early 2020, employers quickly scrambled to implement flexible work arrangements (FWAs) for staff, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. While women historically left work to rear children, in Australia and many other OECD countries, the majority of working couples are now in dual-income relationships. For example, if a parent of a disabled child is treated less favourably than parent of non-disabled children becuase they have a disabled child. 1099808 (England & Wales) and SC045339 (Scotland), Changes to Your Employment Terms and Fire and Rehire, Employment Tribunals and Bringing a Claim, Parents and carers of dependants with a disability, Redundancy, Restructuring and TUPE transfer. This advice applies in England, Wales and Scotland. Using data from the ONS Labour Force Survey, the CIPD has ranked UK nations and regions from the most to the least flexible in terms of working arrangements. Her employer decided that she could no longer work from home on a full time basis due to a need to provide on-site supervision. 15 Last-Minute Holiday Marketing Ideas For Brands Getting A Late Start, Nine Strategies To Align Talent For Long-Term Business Needs, The Times They Are A-Changin: How Gen Z Civic Leaders Are Revolutionizing Our Democracy, UNICEF: Time For Joint Action On Mental Health, 10 Strategies To Improve Sales Lead Conversion Rates, 15 Creative Ways To Market A Small Business For Free, When CMOs And CFOs Are At Odds, Rely On Data To Encourage Alignment, Six More Tips To Level Up Your Business Brand. Employees who work flexibly can structure their day themselves, which encourages autonomy and creates a sense of respect between employers and employees. It is enabling leaders of industry to revolutionize recruitment, redefine their job plans, and unearth an incredibly talented pool of women capable of outperforming all expectations, she says. How to raise a problem at work; Dealing with a problem raised by an employee; Mediation at work; Discrimination, bullying and harassment Challenge is important because often its only through challenge that we can move forward in positive ways. There is also a relationship to higher skill/higher pay jobs that exist in London and the South East. If this is the case, please get specialist advice. Here are several jobs you may consider for a flexible career: Sales representative Graphic designer Management consultant Photographer Freelance Writer Sales representative National average salary: $59,831 per year Primary duties: Sales representatives sell products directly to other companies or consumers. If you are married or in a civil partnership you may be able to argue indirect discrimination, that is, that more married people have childcare responsibilities than unmarried people. If you are unhappy with the outcome of the appeal process, you cancontact us for advice. Back. This decision inFollowsdoes not change the law in the UK as employment tribunal decisions are non-binding, which means that other tribunals are not required to follow them. Employers should therefore ensure everyone has access to a variety of flexible working arrangements and work to find solutions that best suit individual preferences alongside business needs. It may be that in the future we will see requirements for ethnicity pay gap reporting, given some large businesses are required to . Bear in mind that this does not give you a general right to flexible working to care for your disabled child. Flexible work can also be used to change: how work is done. You may opt-out by. The CIPD is warning of the risks of potentially creating a two-tier workforce after its analysis of official data found the use of different flexible working arrangements is unequal across the UK with some areas exposed as 'flexible working notspots'. Monday 19 September has been declared a national bank holiday in order to commemorate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth IIs State, In a landmark case for the UK care sector, the Supreme Court has ruled that time spent asleep during a sleep-in shift is not, The Supreme Court has ruled that employees who only work for part of the year are now entitled to the same holiday pay as, A new report by the Qatar Foundation, World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), in collaboration, The TUC is calling for better pay and conditions for the 3.2 million workers who regularly work, The Institute of Directors has launched a new policy paper, The Future of Business: harnessing. The relation between flexible working and work-family conflict is not as self-evident as one may expect. Flexibility is becoming increasingly important for all . Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee's needs, for example having flexible start and finish times, or working from home. Take a holistic approach to diversity and inclusion (D&I). I. 2011). Ranking was worked out by analysing three major categories flexibility over when someone works, flexibility over where someone works, and informal flexibility. The analysis found that workers in South East England have the best flexible working options, followed by the East of England, while workers in the Yorkshire and Humber are least likely to have flexibility in their role. In Australia, employees have had a 'right to request' flexible working arrangements (FWAs) since 2010, a measure introduced by the Labour government as . 4. Has considered the alternative work pattern you suggested and possibly any others that might help you. Lower skilled roles (which are harder to do from home) exist in areas such as Yorkshire and Humber, where workers appear to have very little flexibility at all. wellbeing and health inequalities. Key Points. In flexible working cases, indirect sex discrimination occurs when: When deciding whether indirect sex discrimination has taken place, tribunals look at the individual circumstances of each case. Working Families Benchmark: What does it take to be a top employer? Step 2: Analysing and assessing the state-of-play in the institution. Targeted actions are needed. "Our new advice can help employers look at the potential benefits of hybrid working, consider whether it is suitable for their workplace, and fairly manage any . prior to the covid-19 pandemic, the uk was already seeing a slow growth in the number of employees working from home, with around 5% of the workforce reporting working mainly from home in 2019 and around 30% reporting that they had ever worked from home. Organizations are increasingly investing in the development of flexible work arrangements to meet employees' needs and desires to find a good balance between work and non-work commitments . For example, between 2005 and 2014 European companies had 14% women in their boards and this percentage rose to 24% since 2014. Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employees needs, for example having flexible start and finish times, or working from home. Flexible working arrangements usually encompass changes to the hours, pattern and location of work. If your request for flexible working is refused, or your employer treats you unfairly in relation to your request, you may also experience unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act. Once you can quantify the inequality using reliable statistics, the reality of the situation becomes clearer and undeniable. Direct sex discrimination happens when an employer treats men less well than women, or women less well than men, because of their sex. Similarly, the relationship between working location (even if we just focus on 'working at home') and autonomy is very complicated. 4. Recommendations to improve how employment law disputes are decidedhave been published by the Law Commission. Cllr Carole Williams, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Equalities, on how flexible working options can help more women in better-quality employment: ". Raising a grievance is important if you think you might later raise a claim in the Employment Tribunal because failure to follow internal resolution methods can disadvantage your claim. Abstract. If your request for flexible working is refused, or your employer treats you unfairly in relation to your request, you may also experience unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act. If you have further questions and would like to contact our advice team please use our advice contact form below or call us. She is keen to make the business case for flexible working - the fact, for instance, that employers are missing out on a lot of talent by maintaining . Reigniting lost and dormant talents can help women overcome mothers guilt and devise a path that allows them to stand out on their own., 3. To address this and to boost the number of people using a variety of flexible working arrangements, the CIPD is calling for organisations and the government to make the right to request flexible working a day-one right for all employees through its #FlexFrom1st campaign. 5. how starting and ending work are managed. . Funeral bank holiday rules do employees get a day off? Professional, scientific and technical jobs, alongside administrative work have historically seen more flexible working than manufacturing or operational type jobs. The last 12 months have been a difficult period of for millions of women around the world. Speak to your employer in the first instance and try to resolve things informally. So, it seems unlikely that allowing/encouraging more homeworking would simplistically improve work-related well-being indirectly by increasing autonomy. The most popular forms of flexible working in the survey were part-time hours and flexitime, whereas more radical forms of flexible working, such as mobile working, full-time homeworking and job sharing, were used by less than 2% of participants. It is advisable to try and resolve things amicably, as formal processes can damage your relationship with your employer. Currently, employees must have worked for an employer for at least 26 weeks to be eligible. If the above steps do not resolve the matter you could bring a claim in the employment tribunal. EC2V 6DL. Most employers will not actually say: the reason why Im dismissing you is because of your protected characteristic. For more information on appealing a refusal of a flexible working request, see our article on what to do if your flexible working request is refused. The main focus of the article is to present the conceptual frameworks found in literature in relation to gender inequality at work and to relate the theories to practice by using Sri Lankan garment industry as an example. To help us improve GOV.UK, wed like to know more about your visit today. Unfortunately, parenting and caring is not protected characteristic under the Equality Act. Data breakdown is available on request. Law and guidance is changing regularly in this area. Flexible working is the name given to any type of working pattern which is different from your existing one. Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. The term flexible working has no hard and fast definition but essentially it means any working pattern that is different from the standard one operated by an employer. And most over-50s want to ease slowly into retirement . You suffer a disadvantage as a result of not being able to meet the requirement or practice. With more and more people thinking differently about how, when and where they work, flexible working is increasingly helping people access the labour market and stay in work. An increase in the use of different arrangements, such as flexi-time, compressed hours or job shares will empower people to have greater control and flexibility in their working life. Roundtable - Job sharing: two heads are better than one, Supporting Families in Site-Based Sectors, sponsored by Centrica, SMEs: opportunities and challenges of family-friendly employment practices, From Child to Adult: A guide to disability, transition and family finances updated 2019, 2017 Modern Families Index summary report. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has lost a sex discrimination case against an employee who wished to pursue work flexibly but had his request rejected. Having a wide range of flexible options is necessary to support the whole workforce and we want to see an increase in the uptake of all forms of flexible working, regardless of the type of work someone does or the region they're in. These roles tend to offer more autonomy and better bargaining power over conditions, including working from home. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. Printable PDF. The most common examples of flexible working include: 1. For some legal insight into grievances and tips on how to engage with your employer before it reaches this point, see our article ongrievances do more harm than good. Conversely, workers' requests for flexible working conditions may be driven by the need to better manage work and domestic or childcare responsibilities (Webster 1996). Increasing Overwork Creates Barriers to Women's Advancement at Work and Exacerbates Gender Inequality at Home. The ability to work from home or use flexi-time is key as well. In many ways, this period has also marked a setback, rather than progress, in the march toward gender equality. Sleep-in workers not entitled to Minimum Wage, Part-year workers to receive same holiday pay as full-year, World failing in duty of care to protect worker wellbeing, Night workers should get better pay and conditions, IoD sets recommendations on more diverse workforces, Ethical veganism now a protected characteristic, Ten of the biggest fraud and money laundering scandals. In a recently published paper in Gender & Society, Shelley Correll, director of the Clayman Institute for . "We are . This is known as the childcare disparity and the same principles could apply where women need flexible work because of other caring situations. This occurred in the higher education sector in Australia, and across workplaces around the world, as working at home was utilised as an urgent measure for social distancing and infection control. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Because of her caring responsibilities, Mrs Follows could not comply and she was dismissed. Recognize that tackling inequality is not the role of one, its the coming together of everyone, I was once told that Im scary, comments Teresa Boughey, founder of development consultancyJungle HRand author ofClosing the Gap. Flexible working options encourage organisational success by helping people to manage the demands of work with their personal life, and through this enhance satisfaction with . Please call our helplinefor more details. GEAR step-by-step guide for research funding bodies. Anna adds that there is a misconception about flexible working that it is about reducing output when she says it is about getting more from people rather than less. Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, comments: The requirement or practice cannot be justified by your employer a real need for the business. Household income inequality may decrease if household members can earn extra income through transport network companies. changing the part-time hours that you work, for example from weekends to weekdays. The CIPD is warning of the potential risks of creating a two-tier workforce after its analysis of official data found the use of different flexible working arrangements is unequal across the UK - with some areas exposed as 'flexible working notspots'. The Supreme Court has ruled that employees who only work for part of the year are now entitled to Read more Anti-money laundering service, SmartSearch, has reviewed ten of the most lucrative fraud and money Read more Government must finally deliver on workers rights, Club dancer was not firm employee, Tribunal finds, Law Commission recommends increased powers for Tribunals. Flexible working is any form of working arrangement that deviates from your organization's standard policy. 2017 Working Families. Step 3: Setting up a Gender Equality Plan. Inconvenience will not normally be a good reason, nor added costs, if this is the only reason for rejecting the change. In other areas the inequality of men and women is even larger: for example, in Japan, the same metric went from 1% to 2% and in North America from 15% to 18%. All employees can ask at any time to change: hours of work (over a day, a week or year) days of work. You can alsocontact us for advice. Step 5: Monitoring progress and evaluating a Gender Equality Plan. We cannot provide advice on employment rights in Northern Ireland as the law is different. Her employer could not objectively justify the requirement, so the tribunal upheld the claim of indirect associative disability discrimination. Firstly, they decide whether you have provided sufficient proof that an act of unlawful discrimination has taken place. A flexible work arrangement is an agreement between a workplace and an employee to change the standard working arrangement to better accommodate an employee's commitments out of work. The EHCR Employment Statutory Code of Practice, which tribunals must take into account, gives the example of allowing a disabled person to work flexible hours to enable him to have additional breaks to overcome fatigue arising from his disability as a potential adjustment that an employer might be required to make. You should seek advice before making this argument. For more information on the CIPD's Flex From 1st campaign visit: www.cipd.co.uk/FlexFrom1st. A survey of employers by XpertHR in 2013 found that almost half (47.8%) have up to 20% of their staff working flexibly. In addition to teaching . An employer can refuse an application if they have a good business reason for doing so. While location-based flexibility improved, time-based flexibility worsened, potentially regressing gender equality. Some roles are less compatible with flexible working 38 The relationship between seniority and flexible working is unclear 39 Conclusion: Corporate policies play an important role . The present study investigates the effects of flexible working-time arrangements on cognitive work-to-home spillover for women and men in Germany. November 03, 2022 10:58 AM. Of course there are several theoretical arguments to relate flexible working to less work-family conflict, and therewith higher well-being since conflict and well-being are clearly related (Back-Wiklund et al. It can allow people to balance their work and home lives, is important in promoting equality at work and can lead to improved recruitment and retention of workers for employers. When faced with deadlines or a stressful time at work, staying positive can help keep your team members motivated. A recent employment tribunal case (Follows v Nationwide Building Society) established that a claim for indirect disability discrimination by association is possible, although this area of law is not quite settled. Flexible working can give back this control and offer you the chance to work in a way that suits your individual needs. To address this and to boost the number of people using a variety of flexible working arrangements, the CIPD is calling for organisations and the Government to make the right to request flexible working a day-one right for all employees through its #FlexFrom1st campaign. Leaders need to demonstrate advocacy and an inclusive mindset, but also encourage everyone to commit to calling out inequality and involve them in decision-making., Mothers guilt is an incredibly powerful emotion that can lead to catastrophic consequences, notesDr Lucy Davey, a medical doctor and coach for professional and executive mothers. The pandemic has seen more businesses than ever embrace flexible working and proved it can be successful in most industries, says Janthana Kaenprakhamroy, CEO of business insurance providerTapoly. flexible working benefits. Throughout this year, we will be marking the centenary of women's suffrage and highlighting the programmes and initiatives helping to . In my work, I have encountered many professional and executive mothers for whom motherhood brings a loss of identity. How flexible working can help tackle inequality. Organizations are burdened with how to balance their employees work . This type of discrimination could occur when an employer refuses a flexible working request, or imposes a working pattern that puts those parenting or caring for someone with a disability at a disadvantage compared to those who do not parent or care for someone with a disability. Stand up against violent and inappropriate behavior Every employee should feel safe when they're at work no ifs or buts. Today is the tenth anniversary of the Equality Act becoming law, a decade since new legislation was passed protecting anyone, in and out of the workplace from discrimination. Unfortunately, parenting and caring is not protected characteristic under the Equality Act. Try to keep communications friendly if you can. She was described as lazy when she requested time off to look after her son whereas the other parents were not. Incorporated by Royal Charter, Registered Charity no. Whitehouse, who runs the popular Mother Pukka blog, is calling for families to discuss how they divide up household chores and childcare, and for more men to push for flexible working. Registered Charity No. To compound the problem, a 2014 World Bank report shows that, on average, women earn 10%-30% less than men for comparable work.". Furthermore, by October, perceived control over contracted . Remain positive in interactions. . All employees have the legal right to request flexible working - not just parents and carers. It will also help organisations to foster more diverse and inclusive workplaces and can improve wellbeing and productivity. Here six female leaders share their recommendations for what leaders should be doing next to tackle workplace inequality: 1. The most basic form of flexible working can be as straightforward as choosing your own start and finish times. It has been successfully argued that, because women tend to have more childcare responsibilities than men, insisting that women work long or inflexible hours can amount to indirect sex discrimination. If you wish to reproduce this press release in full on your website, please link back to the original source. However, your employer is not obliged to uphold your complaint. Some general principles have been developed by the courts in flexible working cases. InFollows, Mrs Follows was the principal carer for her disabled mother. The Employment Appeal Tribunal confirmed that women are more likely to find it difficult to work certain hours (for example, nights and weekends) or changeable hours (where the changes are dictated by the employer) than men because of childcare responsibilities. This perhaps accounts for the very low uptake of the right to request flexible working since it was made law in 2003 and expanded to cover all workers as of 2014. An employer can justify the requirement or practice if it is a real business need, and the employer could not achieve the need by less discriminatory means. Recognize intersectionality to further widen perspectives. You can find more information in our article ongrievances. Check benefits and financial support you can get, Limits on energy prices: Energy Price Guarantee, Contracts of employment and working hours, View a printable version of the whole guide, Acas: the right to request flexible working, assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the application, holding a meeting to discuss the request with the employee. But parents and carers who have their flexible working request refused may experience discrimination on the basis of sex, disability and marriage. Bemused by this I asked for further clarification, to be told Well, youre a woman, youre educated, experienced, you have a strong view and will challenge. The second notable development is that, as the pandemic worsened, flexible work schedules and supportive management have become even more important. We review how occupational status and flexibility experiences vary and shape work-life inequality, which we identify as a . A married person or a person in a civil partnership might be able to claim indirect marital discrimination, if without justification, she/he/they were not permitted to work flexibly, and suffered harm as a result. Erik Pietzka, who was a manager at accountancy firm PWC's office in Cardiff, was told by his employer that pursuing the idea of flexible working . This can allow parents to perform necessary tasks, like dropping off and picking up kids, while succeeding in their professional role at the same time. Often, employers can become defensive if accused of discrimination, but you can say if think you are being treated unfairly because of a protected characteristic. Conducted in partnership with LeanIn.Org, this effort is the largest study of women in corporate America.This year, we collected information from 333 participating organizations employing more than 12 million people, surveyed more than 40,000 employees, and conducted interviews with women of diverse identitiesincluding women of . It is mainly focused on dividing the workforce into core and peripheral groups. the right to make a statutory request for flexible working is limited to those who have been employed for 26 weeks, whereas rights under equality law start from the first day of employment. Wales could "lead the world" in gender equality by allowing employees to choose when they work, say campaigners. Instead of expressing worry, you can encourage yourself and coworkers by offering positive insight and inspiration to continue working. are a carer (under the Carer Recognition Act 2010) have a disability. Having a wide range of flexible options is necessary to support the whole workforce and we want to see an increase in the uptake of all forms of flexible working, regardless of the type of work someone does or the region they're in. And as a result, you will be able to eliminate gender inequality in the workplace. It follows a report which called for flexible working, childcare reform and . Regions with greater flexibility in terms of where employees work have the opposite problem, with less use of flexible hours and informal flexibility (Londoners have the best flexibility around where they work, but many don't have flexibility in their hours or informal flexibility with their employer). Leaders ought to take an intersectional and holistic approach to tackling workplace inequality, saysJustina Mutale, African Woman of the Year 2012, founder of the Justina Mutale Foundation and author ofThe Art of Iconic Leadership. These are that the employer: This argument can apply to employers who refuse aflexible working request, or a mothersrequest to work part time, or where require working patterns that are difficult to make work around childcare responsibilities. Atkinson's model of the flexible firm is an arrangement in which mangament offers employees different forms of flexibility practices namely functional,numerial and financial flexibility in order to optimize the use of human resources and quality of work. Finally, working women may now get higher salaries than in . Sample letter to request flexible working, Returning to work at the end of maternity leave, Flexible working and the right to request, Working during maternity and family leave and while receiving pay, Strike Out, Deposit Orders and Unless Orders in the Employment Tribunal, Discrimination, harassment and victimisation: Overview, Statement on the second reading of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill, Statement on the second readings of Carers Leave and Protection from Redundancy Bills, Leading UK employers call for flexible recruitment by default, Poll: Over half of UK working parents would consider leaving their job if they found another with better flexibility.

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