Jo Swinson to lead research into flexible furlough’s impact on part-time work

Liberal Democrats former leader Jo Swinson will head up a research steering group looking at how flexible furlough has affected employers’ attitudes of part-time working.

Swinson, who was instrumental in introducing shared parental leave as employment relations minister under David Cameron, lost her seat in the 2019 general election.

She will chair an expert steering group at Cranfield School of Management that will include representatives from the likes of the CIPD, CBI and TUC as well as government departments.

Funded by a £300,000 grant from the Economic and Social Research Council, the 18-month project will seek to determine the degree to which “flexi-furlough” has changed perceptions and increased employer openness to part-time working.

Swinson, visiting professor at Cranfield, said: “Up until now, research into part-time working has focused on employees, looking at who would like to work part-time and why that is. To expand part-time working for those who want it across different roles and sectors, we also need to understand what employers think.

“We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity right now, as the furlough scheme draws to a close, to find out to what extent trying out a different model of working has broken down some of the barriers to implementing part-time roles for employers.

“Previous research shows that providing more part-time roles in different industries could be hugely beneficial to the economy and to society, reducing unemployment and helping us to make the most of everyone’s talents. So, let’s find out what needs to change to make this happen.”

Launched in July 2020, flexible furlough under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) allowed employees to work part-time and be part-time furloughed, and has effectively been an experiment in part-time working for many employers.

Employers made extensive use of it in some sectors, so the team will have a large evidence pool to explore, drawing on contacts in industry and conducting in-depth interviews with employers to examine their experiences of using part-time working under the scheme and whether this has changed their perceptions of its feasibility.

Part-time working is increasingly recognised as an alternative to unemployment in a recession, avoiding the costs of benefit payments, loss of tax receipts and some social and health costs of unemployment, while retaining skills in the economy. However, despite demand from many employees, particularly those in certain demographics, employers have often perceived part-time working as costly and inconvenient, struggling to create quality part-time jobs.

Around a quarter of the UK workforce works part-time, a large number of whom are women – particularly working mothers – but it is also the choice of many older workers, and increasing numbers of men.

The Cranfield research will be led by Clare Kelliher, professor of work and organisation, together with research fellow Dr Charlotte Gascoigne.

Prof Kelliher said: “What we want to see is – now they’ve tried it – will employers continue to offer their staff genuine part-time working? There’s a lot of talk about us entering a new world, particularly in relation to the way we work, but it remains to be seen to what extent that ‘new world’ will materialise after Covid.”

The furlough scheme – both full time and part time – ends on 30 September.

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