Occupational hazards - May 2022

As things stand, however, this is not currently the case as an employee must have worked for a business for 26 weeks before it becomes available, something which we feel needs to be put right. That is why IOSH was delighted to contribute to a consultation around flexible working in the UK.

IOSH also called for a reduction in the time employers are allowed to consider and respond to flexible working requests based on the circumstances and that clear business reasons must be given for turning them down with the possibility of exploring alternatives.

Why do we believe this is needed? We see a reactive approach in employers managing flexible working arrangements based on urgent accommodation issues around individual urgent work-life events such as illness, eldercare, or childcare. IOSH believes that flexibility in working arrangements needs to be a more proactive and continuous process that requires management and business leaders to be open to exploring, experimenting and learning from innovative practices and open and constructive conversations with workers.

Let’s also not forget that flexible working benefits both workers and employers. Among the benefits for workers is having a greater work-life balance and associated benefits. Meanwhile, for employers the benefits include lower rates of absenteeism and presenteeism, an increased ability to attract and retain skilled staff, heightened morale among staff and the much greater productivity that all of this brings and, of course, benefits to health, safety and wellbeing and that all important culture.

To attain these benefits and have an efficient process, there must be transparency, objectivity, two-way discussions and interactions, all within a timely manner. We’d like to see the adoption of any necessary steps to avoid a polarised job market where flexible working arrangements are only available to some industries or workers. This can happen by incorporating changes in legislation that incentivise top-down and bottom-up processes and practices for work-life flexible requests and accommodations in the workplace, and through business management systems.

It’s about being holistic and recognising the need for workplaces to be more worker-friendly, responsible, and accommodating to individual needs, and essentially having a whole-person management approach that values and supports people.

IOSH also believes that legislative developments should incentivise employers to go beyond minimum legal requirements. And it recommends that developments integrate a firm gender-based commitment. 

The consultation, run by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), closed in December. At the time of writing, the results are yet to be published and we eagerly anticipate them. 

In the meantime, we encourage businesses which don’t offer flexible working to consider how they might do so. But we recognise there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach and smaller businesses may need additional support.

Organisations should determine what works best for their sustainable growth and development, but this information needs to be shared with workers, so that they can understand the reasoning behind decisions and that reasonable alternatives had been explored. Good quality and tailored conversations that adapt are essential to managing and communication effectively in these situations.

One way that flexible working can be introduced and adopted in organisations is through trials and pilots or through shorter-term offerings that could then evolve towards a longer-term proposition. These can help both employees and employers because they provide an opportunity, without commitment, to test a particular arrangement.

Allowing the space for these time-limited requests is important as in some cases workers (in particular those facing these arrangements for the very first time) can experience some disadvantages in the form of isolation from colleagues, issues regarding trust and supervision, lack of sense of belonging and social cohesiveness with others, communication barriers, mental health and wellbeing issues and so on. At the same time, employers might not perceive the expected benefits associated to flexible working conditions, for example disintegration of team dynamics.

It is undeniable that legislative frameworks can set the foundations and expectations and drive further take-up but may remain ineffective if not accompanied by a strong business and societal support and acknowledgement and with changes in how work is or can be organised and managed. IOSH recommends looking holistically at flexible worker-centric working models to provide greater independence and flexibility to employees in terms of when, where and how they work.

Ruth Wilkinson is head of health and safety at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. For more information, visit www.iosh.com