Employees ‘to be able to ask for home working from first day in job’
Workers will be able to request home working from their first day in a job, under proposals expected to be announced this week.
Laws first highlighted before the pandemic protecting flexible working are set to be confirmed by the Government, reports say.
The proposed rules are likely to allow employers to reject the requests on business grounds – as they can do under current rules, which allow employees who have accrued six months of continuous service a legal right to request flexible working.
Businesses are allowed to take three months to make a decision, and can be taken to a tribunal if there are not reasonable grounds for a refusal.
The plan aims to enable women, disabled people and carers to balance their work commitments with their private lives.
Ministers will confirm the proposal on Thursday as part of a consultation, according to The Guardian.
A government source told The Times: ‘The business case is compelling. If you’re happy at work you’re less likely to leave, and companies benefit from motivated employees.’
The move will allow anyone to make a request from the start of their job.
But the Government has previously ruled out making home working a right for all white collar workers, despite calls to do so from Labour.
The opposition has now criticised the plans for not going far enough, with deputy leader Angela Rayner saying: ‘Labour will give workers the right to flexible working – not just the right to request it – and give all workers full rights from day one on the job.
‘This is a U-turn from the Conservative manifesto which promised to make flexible working the default and once again the Conservatives have sold out working people.
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‘The ‘new normal’ after this pandemic must mean a new deal for all working people based on flexibility, security and strengthened rights at work.’
Sue Coe, the TUC’s senior equalities policy officer, told the Guardian: ‘Of course, you can’t work from home if, say, you’re a train driver.
‘But what the pandemic has shown us is that flexible working is eminently achievable. What we need is the ambition to make default flexible working a reality rather than this limited fiddling around the edges of a policy that we have already seen has failed.’
Metro.co.uk has contacted the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy for comment.
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