Help us to promote your flexible working needs
I did mention back in November that I was going to use members and readers as occasional guinea pigs – well here’s experiment 1. Phase II of global domination.
In a very dark room, where we keep our web programmers, a new website is being built to promote the ‘Supporting Parents In Business’ campaign as a standalone project.
Using various methods of guilt and hot-flushes we have managed to secure the support of many large firms from both sides of the Atlantic. Part of the deal being that they have to promote flexible work and post their flex jobs on hmp. In return they get a socially responsible pat on the back and the chance to put their logo on the site.
Flexible Working Bombshell!!
UK ministers are considering giving all employees the right to ask for flexible working hours “from the beginning” of a new job as part of plans to encourage a fundamental shift in working habits.
Yvette Cooper seems to have dropped any softly-softly approach to reforming the British labour market and dropped a big one on the business community, not least the business secretary Lord Mandelson.
Combined with yesterday’s announcement of the 3 month paternity leave, the right for everyone to ‘ask’ for flexible working arrangements clearly defines a new approach to Britain’s labour market in favour of lifestyle/family versus money/working hours. HR departments around the country are staring teary-eyed at the mountain of paperwork that awaits.
Harriet Harman Rocks! (that hurt)
New fathers are to be given the right to take six months off work in the UK after the birth of their baby.
Dads are only allowed two weeks off at the moment while mums get a year, with nine months of that paid.
But following proposals by Gordon Brown, Business Minister Pat McFadden is to push for laws allowing parents to split leave.
Wake Up Call: Parents Walking Out Through Lack of Flexible Work
UK parents are leaving work due to the lack of flexible working opportunities available to them, according to a new survey for Family Friendly Working. The cost of childcare is also forcing parents to stay at home.
The survey reveals that just over a third (34.6%) of parents who had left work after having children had done so because of lack of flexible work opportunities. Three in 10 (30.7%) cite the cost of childcare as a key reason to quit.
HR departments fail to bridge the gap between flexible working policy and practice
The majority of businesses claim to have a flexible working policy but 61% of employees never or hardly ever work from home.
According to a poll of 1,200 small and medium-sized businesses, over half (55%) do not see how remote working could increase employee productivity, for example, by allowing staff to utilise more of their day or by enabling greater opportunity to concentrate on thought-intensive tasks.
HR compared favourably with other sectors in the flexible working rankings illustrated below. But of the HR professionals interviewed, none works from home more than once per month even though one third stated they could do some of their work from home and a further third felt they could do most of their work remotely.
