Carol Beaumont: Opinion piece on flexible working hours legislation

What is it about Sue Kedgley’s Bill introducing a legislative right to request flexible working hours for some workers that is causing so much apparent concern among some in the business lobby? 

Opinion piece, Carol Beaumont, CTU secretary.
Dominion Post and Press newspapers, September 10 2007

What is it about Sue Kedgley’s Bill introducing a legislative right to request flexible working hours for some workers that is causing so much apparent concern among some in the business lobby?   

This Bill is not about imposing compulsory flexibility in all workplaces in all situations.

Rather, the Bill sets up a process for handling requests from certain employees for flexible working hours.  It is giving some workers the right to ask the question, and have that question listened to and responded to.

And the Bill provides several grounds on which to turn down a request, including inability to reorganise work among existing staff, detrimental impact on performance and the burden of additional costs.

Essentially then, some in the business lobby are opposed to a group of workers having the right to ask that question of their employers.  It is very disappointing to see some business groups run scare campaigns against the Bill, thereby stopping intelligent discussion on it.  There are many, many more important areas that need our attention as a country on the future of our workforce.  Why are they opposing something that will not only bring benefits for employers, but for the country as a whole?

At present the Bill's scope is restricted to people with care responsibilities.  This is an important first step, and gives business time to adjust.  We will continue however to advocate for all workers to have the right to request flexible hours.

Alongside 50 other groups including Parent Centres NZ and the NZ Federation of Business and Professional Women, our organisation is a member of the Coalition for Quality Flexible Work, whose members, representing hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders, are keen to see progress on flexible working hours legislation.  There are many important reasons why New Zealand needs this law, three of which I will suggest now.

Firstly, this Bill is a very important step to better recognition that in a tight labour market, skilled workers are one of the most important assets an organisation has, and giving workers the right to ask the question about flexible hours will send a strong message that workplaces are responding to the competing demands in workers lives.

Flexible working practices opens up the recruitment pool wider.  It will help employers attract and retain skilled workers, which will lead to increased morale and improved productivity.

Secondly a legislative right to request flexible working hours will help to tackle this country’s work-life balance problem.  One fifth of workers in New Zealand are already putting in 50 hours or week or more.  New Zealand is a trend setter in the worst possible way in this regard. 

The experience of many workers is that our long-hours culture, insecure hours and work intensification are having a negative impact on their family lives, and this is backed up by recent Department of Labour analysis finding that 46% of workers experience some degree of work-life conflict.

Sending a message to employees with caring responsibilities that is okay to raise the question with their employer about flexible work will go some way to addressing this work-life imbalance many workers face. 

Business has said there is already a high level of support for flexible work practices.  This is good to hear.  Giving workers a legislative right to ask the question should not be a problem then. 

Research has shown that fear, real or perceived, is a difficulty that some workers face when asking for flexible work, making it hard for them to approach their manager or organisation.  Although some employers already offer flexible working hours, many do not, and the right should be available not just for those who happen to work for progressive employers.

The third reason is that the experience in the United Kingdom has shown us that flexible working hours legislation can work.  And work well.

UK employers and employees alike are enthusiastic backers of their ‘right to request’ law, to the point where only 10% of requests for flexible work are turned down by employers.

Unlike the National Party who has joined the business lobby in opposing this measure here, the UK Conservative opposition leader is one of that country’s strongest supporters of the ‘right to request’, saying in June that flexible work was a “powerful tool deployed by business which, used intelligently, offers a route to competitive advantage and commercial success.  Far from being a threat or some new corporate fad it's a hard-headed response to new realities.” 

Indeed he is one of many in the UK now calling for the ‘right to request’ to be further extended. 

The time is right in this country for legislation to give workers the right to request flexible working hours. Legislation is not in itself the solution, but it does create a climate and culture of acceptance about the need for employer openness to requests - as well as a transparent process for employers to refuse requests.

This Bill is necessary for a modern workforce and modern workplaces, and New Zealanders are increasingly saying the time has come for it.  93% of 4,475 parents recently surveyed identified flexible working as the change that they would most like to see in workplaces.  Let’s get on and do it.