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.
