As Australian employees increasingly demand more flexible hours, a flexible working survey from UK telecoms giant Orange has highlighted big business’concerns over informal policies.

The survey found that businesses leading the trend into flexible working have warned other companies offering informal flexible working arrangements to staff that they may be “sleepwalking” towards major problems.

Research by Orange revealed that one in four UK workers has an informal agreement with their employer on flexible working. This compared to 29 per cent having a formal approach to flexible working, and 47 per cent having no flexible working arrangements at all.

An informal procedure may make it hard for all parties to know the ground rules or discover how much flexibility is too much, Orange warned.

Philip Goad, a consultant who worked on the report, said: “Employers who simply permit or tolerate flexibility, but do not issue any clarification in this area, may be sleepwalking into unforeseen issues.”

Simon Kingsnorth, HR business partner at First Direct bank, which has more than 70 per cent of staff in part-time roles, echoed this warning. “Informal systems for flexibility can cause inconsistency across the business, where potentially two people in similar roles have different levels of flexibility,” he said. “This may lead to some staff being scared to ask whether they have the right to more flexibility.”

He added: “Formal procedures offer clarity – staff know what they are getting into and managers know what coverage they will get in the office.”

The government should change the law so that all staff have the right to request flexible working, he added.

A spokesman for telecoms giant BT, a pioneer of flexible working, also said a more formalised approach was desirable. Both BT and First Direct offer all staff the right to request flexible working, regardless of whether they are parents or carers.

Courtesy of Personnel Today. www.personneltoday.com