Flexibility: Should it go any further?

May 6 2008 by Elaine Barnett, Evening Gazette

SHOULD all Tees employees be allowed to work from home or should legislation, which currently limits the right to request flexiworking to certain individuals, stay as it is?

Only parents of young and disabled children and carers of high dependency adults have the statutory right to ask the boss to work from home, but the Government is looking at extending the freedom to parents of older children.

Manufacturers’ organisation EEF Northern has urged the Government to delay its plans until the current legislation, which was introduced in 2003 but extended last year, has bedded in with employers. It says extending the right now will increase the likelihood of staff with legitimate reasons for asking to work flexibly being refused.

Alison Valente, assistant director at EEF Northern, said: “Manufacturers need to be given time to prepare both their workplace and workforce before this right is extended to more employees.

“If it is extended, they are more likely to say ‘no’ and some people who really need to work flexibly could then miss out.”

The right to request flexible working was introduced in 2003 for parents of young and disabled children. provided they have worked for their employer for 26 weeks. In 2007 the law was extended to cover carers of certain adults.