Flexible working can create problems if employers offering it fail to bring the interests of their business and their staff together, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has warned.
When implemented successfully, flexible working can give firms access to a wider range of potential employees and these people can help the business to find new ways of making money, a CIPD report said.
But skewing the balance too far in favour of either employer or staff can create resentment, it warned.
Earlier this year a CIPD survey of 585 of the organisation’s members showed that the proportion of employees using flexible working was far smaller than the proportion of employers that were prepared to offer it.
Just 26% of employees took up flexible working, although 84% of employers viewed it positively.
