Deal fairly with flexi time requests of working parents

As many human resources representatives of businesses of all sizes might have already experienced, requests for flexible working hours by working mums and dads on their teams are far from confined to statutory maternity and paternity leave. Nor are requests made solely by working parents with small children, who juggle their jobs with childcare arrangements and school runs. Employment law dictates that parents with children aged 16 years or under are entitled to request flexible working hours, and regardless of the ultimate outcome, employers are obliged to formally consider and respond to their requests.

This does not mean that employers should assume that failure to comply with such requests automatically results in employment tribunal action for breach of employment law. However, businesses should not flippantly dismiss flexi time requests as infeasible. They are well advised to delve in to the human resources records of both current and ex staff to ascertain whether they have set any precedents by allowing other team members to switch to flexible hours to fit in with their family lives. If businesses plan to turn down requests, they need to accompany their refusals with cogent written explanations as to why the suggested flexible hours are unsuited to the role and the business as a whole.

We, at NorthgateArinso, are amongst the UK's leading providers of outsourced employment law and human resources services. We can clarify to employers and employees exactly what their responsibilities to each other entail. If businesses do not currently offer flexi time, we can demonstrate to them how its introduction might work to their advantage, and help with its implementation. Whether or not flexi time is currently in operation in businesses, we work alongside them to ensure that requests made by staff are received and reacted to in accordance with current and future employment law.