Personnel Today’s top story this week is about a report by charity Working Families showing that the right to request flexible working introduced in 2003 isn’t having an effect. Employers deny this. Now there’s a turn up for the books. Come on boys, let’s get real.
British management culture is still in the dark ages when it comes to the concept of home-life balance. The long hours culture is alive and well in UK plc. Women who go part time often end up doing a full week’s work in fewer days. A man who opts to work part time to spend more time with his family might as well kiss his career goodbye. The result of this? Presenteeism and stress-related ill health. In the modern world parents are working more and more employees are carers, not least because of the ageing population. Read business psychologist Cary Cooper’s views on this on his blog.
The traditionalist approach doesn’t even make business sense. I recently went to a conference organised by the Beginnings campaign for disabled jobseekers and heard Robin McKenzie, director of strategy and transformation at BT, say that work life balance is the most important factor to BT graduate recruits. Seven out of 10 BT people work flexibly and productivity is higher among home workers. Do we really want to go on forever cramming ourselves with other commuters on public transport at the same time every morning and evening? Flexible working has my vote any day of the week.