Flexible working benefits workers and businesses

Whether working from home, part-time, flexitime or job sharing – flexible working has been found to provide benefits all round, according to a recent survey.

An AAT study compared the productivity of a group of workers who set their own hours or working location against those who are not doing so, and found that they benefit from feeling happier and less stressed.

Under provisions set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996 and regulations made under it, all employees have a statutory right to ask their employer for a change to their contractual terms and to work flexibly, provided they have worked for their employer for 26 weeks continuously at the date the application is made.

The main benefits employees see from working flexibly are:

• Feeling happier (said by 38% of respondents)
• Having more time to spend with their families (said by 36%)
• Feeling less stressed (said by 35%)

Employers will be interested to learn that a quarter of flexible workers said they work longer hours in their new flexi routine than they did when they were sticking to normal office hours, putting in an extra 6.7 hours more each week on average than they did when they were at their desks in the office.

Fifteen per cent believe they are simply not as productive in a traditional working environment, and 21% said they are ‘much more productive’ after moving to a flexible schedule.

Olivia Hill, Chief HR Officer at AAT, commented, “Flexible working has a huge number of benefits for employees and employers alike.

“In this connected world, all many people need to work is a laptop and a stable internet connection, which can be found in many places other than the office environment.

“It seems employers are also becoming more likely to allow flexible hours as well as flexibility with location – assuming that as long as the job gets done, it doesn’t really matter when and where it happens – the most important thing is strong levels of productivity.”

To find out more about contracting please contact Jaime on 01442 795 100 or email jaime.thorpe@dolanaccountancy.com.