Flexible Working: Provision and Uptake Genevieve Bach, CIPD Presentation to ONS Labour Market Statistics User Group Conference

About the CIPD The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Over 130,000 members internationally HR, learning and development, people management and consulting – across the private, public and voluntary sectors Independent, not-for-profit “Championing better work and working lives”

Topics for discussion Trends in flexible working Provision and uptake of flexible working Benefits and barriers Focus on zero hours contracts

Flexible Working: Provision and Uptake Published May 2012 Survey of over 1,000 employers and 2,000 employees Flexible working provision; access and uptake; benefits of flexible working; barriers to introducing flexible working; flexible working trends

Flexible working trends Provision of flexible working by employers has increased significantly over the past decade:

Flexible working trends The extent to which uptake by employees has increased is less conclusive:

Provision of flexible working The vast majority (96%) of employers offer flexible working

Provision of flexible working Flexible working provision most commonly governed by a formal policy Small employers more likely to have informal arrangements in place Employers fear competing requests Very few employers have had problems complying with right to request legislation Majority of flexible working requests are agreed – 41% refuse no requests Reasons for refusal include customer demand (39%), inability to reorganise work (30%) and impact on performance (16%)

Uptake of flexible working Around three quarters of employees report their employer offers flexible working:

Uptake of flexible working Employees more likely to work flexibly if they work for smaller organisations Flexible working increases with seniority Many not already working flexibly would like to The vast majority (83%) have never had a flexible working request refused Employers need to do more to communicate availability of flexible working

Barriers to flexible working There are a number of barriers to employers improving their flexible working offering:

Barriers to flexible working Large employers more likely to state line management attitudes and ability to manage flexible workers (44%) Financial constraints are the biggest obstacle for smaller firms (37%) Public sector employers more likely than private sector to cite financial constraints (39% compared to 25%) For employees, the nature of their work is the biggest issue (34%) – attitude of other employees significant in larger orgs (21%) Employees in smaller orgs report fewer barriers

Zero Hours Contracts “Zero Hours Contracts: Myth and Reality” published in November 2013, surveying 1,000 employers and 2,000 employees Case studies with employers Legal guidance with Lewis Silkin LLP Separate survey work among CIPD members

Extent and use of zero hours contracts Just over 1 million UK workers employed on a zero hours contracts (3.1% of the UK workforce) Just under a quarter (23%) of employers use zero hours contracts Most prevalent in public (28%) and non-profit (48%) sectors High proportion of employers in education (38%) and healthcare (29%) Zero hours workers commonly employed as cleaners (27%), care/social workers (19%) and administrative workers (16%)

Employer use of zero hours contracts Flexibility lies at the heart of employer decisions to use zero hours contracts:

The employee experience Almost half (47%) of zero hours workers are satisfied – 27% are dissatisfied 80% are never penalised for not accepting work – 17% are penalised sometimes Most (52%) do not want to work more hours 40% receive no notice of cancelled shifts 9% are never allowed to work for another employer The majority of employers pay zero hour workers either the same (64%) or more (18%) than permanent employees

Exclusivity clauses The vast majority (81%) say exclusivity clauses are never justified: 77% say Government should ban exclusivity clauses where there is no guarantee of work

Exclusivity clauses A majority (60%) would like Govt to provide more focused guidance on the use of exclusivity clauses: 65% say an employer-led Code of Practice would encourage more transparency

g.bach@cipd.co.uk www.cipd.co.uk Thank you g.bach@cipd.co.uk www.cipd.co.uk