Maternity, paternity, adoption, caring. Each of these has a framework of legal rights. Recent years, in the UK at least, have seen these rights increasing. We expect that this is only going to continue in the future.
First things first. You don’t really need a policy to cover any of these areas unless you are going above and beyond the statutory minimum. Instead, you can just refer people to the relevant Government guidance.
Nearly as importantly as the first thing, here is the second thing. Flexible working is not just for the people who fit into these categories.
What people want out of work is changing. The 9–5 was invented around the time of the industrial revolution, when work came out of homes and into the factories. It is merely a tradition of work, and one that we can choose to break if we want to do so.
For some people, flexible working is about their family responsibilities. For others it is about other things entirely. One of us has a flexible working day to accommodate a love for Zumba (you can decide which of us). It isn’t unusual for managers to be reluctant about accommodating flexible working. Our view is quite simple. If you want to attract and retain the best people (and why wouldn’t you?), flexibility needs to be a fundamental part of your benefits offering, and for many employees it will more attractive than some of the monetary ones that they receive as standard.
Objections to flexible working tend in our experience to fall into several categories. We have heard them all.
• If I say yes to one person, I’ll have to say yes to everyone.
• It’s not the sort of job where people can work flexibly.
• It’s not the sort of company/industry where people can work flexibly.
• It’s not fair on the rest of the team if one person has flexible working.
• It’s too difficult operationally.
• We can’t offer it to every department so we shouldn’t do it for anyone else.
• I won’t be able to manage the person effectively.
• It will impact upon the customer.
When it comes to flexible working, in many respects, it is easier to say no than it is to say yes. It is also easy to focus on the potential problems as opposed to the potential benefits. It is true that there are some roles that don’t accommodate flexibility all that well, such as those where a physical presence at given times is required. But equally, there are many roles in which it can work extremely well assuming there is genuine intent on both sides to do so.
Recommendations for dealing with flexible working:
• Try it before you deny it.
• Educate your line managers that flexible working is OK. That you won’t have to say yes to everyone. That you won’t upset everyone else as long as you communicate well.
• Use trials. The answer to whether or not a particular pattern can work for both parties, is to try it. That way you will either have proof that it doesn’t work – or (more likely) it will all turn out fine and everyone will wonder what the fuss was about.
• Linked to that point – don’t underestimate people’s ability to make stuff work if they want to!
Now back to the family stuff.
Being a parent is hard. Becoming a parent for the first time brings extra complications. New parents inevitably experience a shift in their priorities. The “carefree” days of excessive working hours and going to the pub after work are generally over (for a while at least). There may be the odd occasion where the baby is ill or childcare arrangements break down and leave is needed at short notice. But guess what? That does not make a new parent any less committed to doing a good job or to pursuing their career goals and we’d expect people to understand that. This is 2018 not 1915. However, a look through media headlines will tell you that some employers and managers have failed to notice. There are plenty of horror stories around from women who have been put in very difficult positions during pregnancy and maternity leave.
It is estimated that thousands of woman every year feel forced to leave their jobs, and many more even find themselves made redundant on their return. At the same time, this isn’t just a female issue. Many men want to spend more time with their children too, and the new statutory regime in the UK allows for that. However, many men still don’t take even the basic two weeks paternity leave available to them – some say that this is down the fact that it is only paid at the statutory rate.
You know what pregnant staff members and returning mothers need? A little bit of support. You don’t have to do much that’s out of the ordinary: we’re all busy and we’re all trying to manage businesses and personal lives and goodness knows what else. In fact, all your staff will need support in some aspect of your life.
All you really need to do is treat people decently through whatever is going on for them. You may or may not be able to offer extra pay or leave. Do what you can within your budget. But always do the basics. Don’t make things hard for people when it comes to appointments, keeping in touch days, leave notifications. This stuff you can control. And really important – don’t forget about people when they are on leave!
Recommendations for family leave:
• Make sure that you agree a way to keep in touch.
• If people want to do keeping in touch (or “KIT”) days, encourage them wherever possible.
• Respond promptly (and positively wherever possible!) to flexible working requests.
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