2024年4月23日发(作者：小米个人中心)

Flexible Working

Revised August 2010

This factsheet gives introductory guidance. It covers:

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what is flexible working

the context of flexible working

the potential benefits of flexible working

implementing flexible working practices

the legal position

the CIPD viewpoint.

What is flexible working?

The term flexible working relates to an organisation’s working arrangements in terms

of working time, working location and the pattern of working.

A CIPD survey ‘Flexible working: impact and implementation’ explored the extent to

which employers are making use of flexible working practices. These included (with

descriptions based on Acas guidance):

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Part-time working: work is generally considered part-time when

employers are contracted to work anything less than full-time hours.

Term-time working: a worker remains on a permanent contract but

can take paid/unpaid leave during school holidays.

Job-sharing: a form of part-time working where two (or occasionally

more) people share the responsibility for a job between them.

Flexitime: allows employees to choose, within certain set limits, when

to begin and end work.

Compressed hours: compressed working weeks (or fortnights) don't

necessarily involve a reduction in total hours or any extension in

individual choice over which hours are worked. The central feature is

reallocation of work into fewer and longer blocks during the week.

Annual hours: the period within which full-time employees must work

is defined over a whole year.

Working from home on a regular basis: workers regularly spend time

working from home.

Mobile working/teleworking: this permits employees to work all or

part of their working week at a location remote from the employer's

workplace.

Career breaks: career breaks, or sabbaticals, are extended periods of

leave – normally unpaid – of up to five years or more.

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The list above is not exhaustive. The expression flexible working could also include

practices such as employee self-rostering, shift swapping, or taking time off for

training.

Our research found that the most common forms of flexible working in organisations,

in order of popularity, were:

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part-time working

job-sharing

flexitime

term-time working.

Flexible working arrangements can be made available to employees on a formal or

informal basis. Working from home is the type of flexible working practice most likely

to be offered on the basis of informal arrangements according to the survey.

Evidence from Cranfield

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is that senior workers (who tend to be men) are more likely

to make informal arrangements about where they work and that lower grade workers

(who are mainly women) are more likely to seek formal arrangements in their working

hours. This was confirmed by speakers from BT and HBOS at a CIPD Diversity

Conference in May 2008.

Flexible working is also an approach used in the management of workforce planning.

According to our Workforce planning guide over half of organisations use flexible

working as part of their approach to workforce planning.

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Go to our guide on Workforce planning

The context of working flexibly

According to the 2009 report Flexible working: working for families, working for

business by the Family Friendly Working Hours Taskforce 91% of employees have

access to some form of flexible working. Of those who have access to flexible

working 62% are working flexibly or have taken up at least one flexible working

arrangement in the last twelve months. Women are more likely than men to work

flexibly, although the number of men taking up the option of flexible working is

increasing.

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Go to the Family Friendly Working Hours Taskforce report

Some factors contributing to the increased interest in the use of flexible working

include:

Its potential value as a recruitment and retention tool in a tight labour

market.

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The changing profile of the workforce (for example, with more women in

the labour market and an ageing population it is increasingly common

for workers to have caring responsibilities outside the workplace).

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Advances in technology (facilitating, for example, remote working and

hotdesking arrangements).

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An increasing need for businesses to be able to deliver services to

customers on a 24/7 basis

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The economic situation - some organisations have offered part-time

working or sabbaticals as a method of avoiding or minimising

redundancies.

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The increased demand for an effective work-life balance.

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The potential benefits of flexible working

CIPD research on employee attitudes and the psychological contract demonstrates a

correlation between a flexible working and positive contract - Go to our factsheet on

the psychological contract (CIPD resource).

An employee survey carried out for CIPD by Kingston University/Ipsos MORI found

that 'workers on flexible contracts tend to be more emotionally engaged, more

satisfied with their work, more likely to speak positively about their organisation and

less likely to quit'

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Flexible working also enables employees to achieve a better work-life balance.

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Go to our factsheet on work life balance

Implementing flexible working practices

Effectively communicating and implementing flexible working in an organisation is

likely to require effort and energy. The kind of challenges employers might encounter

include:

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Overcoming concerns about operational pressures and meeting

customer requirements.

Line managers’ current ability to manage flexible working effectively.

Line managers’ current attitudes toward flexible working.

The existing organisational culture.

A lack of support at senior levels.

The following tips can help effective implementation of flexible working:

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Establish a clear process for how flexible working operates in the

organisation.

Ensure that there are clear roles and responsibilities for employees, line

managers and HR.

Assess the current levels of support offered to line managers and

ensure it is sufficient.

Invest in ongoing communication and awareness raising.

Assess how conducive the organisation culture is to flexible working –

and take action accordingly.

Make use of pilots (when introducing new initiatives) and trial periods

(for individual flexible working arrangements) in order to highlight

potential problems with flexible working arrangements.

Build in opportunities and mechanisms to monitor and evaluate

progress with flexible working.

Supporting homeworking and teleworking

There are some particular things to bear in mind with teleworking or working from

home.

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Teleworkers and homeworkers are generally provided with a computer with an

Internet connection, a printer, a mobile phone and office furniture. Employees need

to be able to demonstrate (for example) time management skills, the ability to work

without close supervision, self-motivation and flexibility.

The nature of teleworking or working regularly from home means that often

employees are invisible and work non-standard hours. Thus the emphasis is on task-

oriented working - getting defined jobs done - and trust. Clear and effective

communication channels are therefore vital, as is the need to keep in touch with

colleagues and avoid isolation.

For line managers (who may be office-based or teleworkers / homeworkers

themselves) trust becomes more important than control. Some may have problems

adjusting themselves to this and may need training - a primary barrier to change is

managers not knowing how to manage workers at home.

Individuals’ employment contracts will need to be amended, though not in any major

way, to reflect teleworking / homeworking. If there is a trade union, it will need to be

consulted because it will wish to be assured that teleworkers / homeworkers are

treated the same as other employees. In any event, employees will need to be

assured that they will be treated the same as office-based staff with equal access to

development and promotion opportunities.

A Focus section of our Labour Market Outlook has looked in more detail at the issues

of homeworking.

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Go to Focus: working from home in Labour Market Outlook

The same rules for health and safety apply to home offices as to conventional

workplaces, so employers need to ensure that home office space and equipment are

safe and that teleworkers / homeworkers are sufficiently knowledgeable about health

and safety.

The Health and Safety Executive has produced a guide to the health and safety

issues involved in homeworking

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Further advice and practical examples of implementing flexible working can be found

in our guide Flexible working: the implementation challenge.

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Visit our guide on Flexible working (CIPD Resource)

The legal position

In April 2003 the government introduced the ‘right to request flexible working’. This

originally gave parents with a child aged under six (or parents of a disabled child

under the age of eighteen) the right to request flexible working arrangements from

their employer.

This right to request has been extended:

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from April 2007 to the carers of certain categories of adults; and

from April 2009 to the parents of children aged under 17.

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In April 2010 similar procedures were introduced to enable employees to request

some flexibility with time off work to enable them to undertake study or training.

CIPD members can find out more from our FAQ on flexible working, parental rights

and family friendly provisions. Recent developments in employment law can be found

in the Employment Law at Work area of our website.

The CIPD made a strong case to the flexible working review for the right to request to

be extended to all workers, since CIPD research, reported in an issue of Labour

Market Outlook, demonstrates that many of our members are already going well

beyond the statutory requirements in areas such as flexible working, maternity and

paternity provisions.

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Go to Focus: family-friendly work legislation in Labour Market Outlook

CIPD viewpoint

CIPD believes that flexible working arrangements can play a vital role in

organisational performance. The role of HR should be to identify where and how the

organisation can benefit from the great array of flexible working options and then to

work with the business, and in particular line managers, to put them in place. This is

evident in the use of flexible working as a means of avoiding redundancies. Flexibility

is an issue that has become negatively associated with women. The modern HR

manager can make a strong case for using flexibility as a strategic tool. Used

effectively it can support improved individual and business performance through

greater diversity and increased levels of engagement and commitment from workers.

Useful contacts

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Business Link: flexible working – the law and best practice

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Working Families

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