Flexible working hitting companies, says CBI
Businesses are being hit as more parents with young children request flexible working hours, the CBI claims.
A survey of 420 firms for the CBI finds an increase in those reporting a negative impact as businesses spend more time dealing with requests from parents for flexible working.
The CBI/ Pertemps Employment Trends Survey shows that employment legislation introduced since 2000 means more staff are wasting time on related administration. Just under 60 per cent of firms reported that valuable senior management time was being diverted to comply with such laws.
CBI deputy director general John Cridland said the survey provided a “disturbing insight” into the impact of new employment legislation – and cautioned the government not to widen employment laws covering parents with older children.
“Companies still need to get the job done. The temptation to overwhelm them with unjustified employment law, just to placate the trade union movement, must be resisted,” he said.
But the TUC insists flexible working is one of the most important rights introduced by the government.
“The right for new parents to request flexible working, to which employers can too easily say no, is one of the most popular rights introduced by this government as a result of union campaigning,” said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.
He continued: “For the CBI to see this as simply a way of placating trade unions, rather than a key way of retaining and motivating staff, says a great deal about their attitudes to the modern world. But at least working parents now know who to thank for their new right.”
But the survey does show most companies now offer a variety of working patterns following the implementation of the Employment Act in 2003, which gives workers with children under the age of six the right to ask for flexible arrangements.
Most companies, 85 per cent, now offer part time working, a total of 39 per cent of employers offer flexi-time and 35 per cent offer job sharing, according to the survey.
The survey also highlights what employers see as “unhelpful” EU legislation – such as the draft EU Agency Workers Directive, which would give all temporary workers the right to equal treatment with permanently employed colleagues.
Tim Watts, chairman of the Pertemps Group said temporary workers were an important part of the economy, and the proposed legislation would hit those trying to employ temps.
The issue of pensions was also covered, with the survey suggesting the cost of providing pensions is forcing more companies to move away from final salary pensions. Twenty-six per cent of companies now offer final salary pensions, against 30 per cent in 2004 and 54 per cent in 2002.
The survey also finds a strong demand for migrant workers, with around 20 per cent of employers recruiting from outside the UK last year.
