Flexible Working Rights - Small Business Guide

Many people who come out of employment to start their own business have a clear vision about how that business will treat its employees.

Often this will relate to how they were treated in their previous job, especially if it was with a big company with lots of rules that had to be obeyed.

One of the things employees hate about big companies is lack of flexibility. If you are bringing up children, have other commitments or just want a better work-life balance, flexibility is paramount to fitting everything in.

In fact it can have as much impact on an employee as their salary. That makes flexible working rights a key weapon for any small business in the fight to retain their best staff.

But what does being flexible actually mean to your business? Typically it covers the time your employees spend at work, and where they do the work (i.e. at your premises or at home).

It’s not just a one way street. Genuinely being flexible can be of huge benefit to your business as well as your employees. You can achieve longer opening hours; attract talented staff from bigger competitors, and react to the market more effectively, making you more competitive.

Flexible working rights include lots of different options:

• Part-time: Where employees work less than standard full-time hours
• Flexi-time: They can work at any time outside of your business’s “normal” hours
• Staggered hours: Where employees have different start and finish times. This is a clever way to extend your opening hours without having to recruit new staff
• Compressed working hours: Employees can do their 40 hours a week in fewer than five days
• Job sharing: Two people share a single job and agree the hours between themselves. This can work very well for some business owners, who don’t need to find holiday cover for key roles
• Home working: Where your employee works from home! They might spend part or all of their time doing this. Typically the business will provide the tools of the job, such as a laptop and broadband
• Shift swapping: Less stress for managers as workers arrange their shifts themselves. It’s their responsibility to ensure every shift is covered… it doesn’t matter who does which shift
• Self rostering: Workers state a preference for shifts and the employer has to match individual requirements to shifts that need to be covered
• Time off in lieu: Employees do extra hours and get time off instead of extra pay
• Term-time working: Your employee stays on a permanent contract but can take leave in the school holidays – and it might be unpaid leave
• Annual hours: A worker’s contracted hours are calculated over a 12 month period. Most shifts are allocated, but some hours are kept in reserve in case the business faces a rush of work at short notice
• V-time working: Known as voluntary time, this is used by businesses that experience a brief drop in work and need to reduce their operating costs quickly. Workers agree to reduce their hours for a fixed period with a guarantee of full-time work again in the future
• Zero-hours contracts: Workers are effectively casual but on contract. They work hours as demanded
• Career break: When you let a member of your team take a long period of time off, normally unpaid. Some businesses pay their employees during these breaks as a way of ensuring they return!

The law states that any employee can ask for flexible working rights. The right is to ask – not automatically to have them.

Employers must seriously consider any application made by employees, especially those who have worked for them for more than 26 weeks and meet one of a number of conditions. They include if the employee:

• has a child under six or a disabled child under 18
• is responsible or their spouse is responsible for the child as a parent or guardian
• is applying to care for the child
• is a carer or expects to be a carer for a spouse or other person

Employees in these situations are encouraged to follow a specific application process, which is detailed at the Direct Gov website.

As an employer you are allowed to turn a request down if there is a good business reason not to.

You should of course bear in mind all the reasons listed above for granting flexible working. A happy workforce tends to be a productive one.

Remember to get professional advice from a qualified person before taking any action. Don’t rely purely on information contained in this article.