Top tips on flexible working requests

Flexible Working Bill 2024. Every employee in the UK, can now make a statutory request to make permanent changes to their contract from their first day of employment – not just parents and carers. Employees can also make two requests in any twelve-month period, rather than the previous one request. The benefits of offering flexible working centres around offering an improved work-life balance for the employee, it also brings great employer benefits in terms of improved employee recruitment, retention and efficiency. Here are some tips on making a successful request

CHECK YOUR EMPLOYER’S POLICY

Check in the staff handbook or intranet for the company’s own flexible working policy and follow what you are required to do to make the request to the letter, including meeting the required timescales and sending it to the correct person.

A company’s flexible working policy may go beyond the Flexible Working Bill 2024, so always make sure you check in advance.

DISCUSS IT WITH WHO IT WILL IMPACT:

Discuss your request with your team, both full-time in-house and other flexible workers, to make sure there’s buy-in and understanding. You no longer have to explain what effect, if any, your flexible working request may have on the organisation and how it could be overcome.

Employees can request a change to:

the number of hours they work
when they start or finish work
the days they work
where they work

MAKE SURE THE REQUEST IS IN WRITING

If your employer doesn’t have its own flexible working policy, the company must comply with the Flexible Working Act 2024

Employers must deal with requests in a ‘reasonable manner’.

Examples of handling requests in a reasonable manner include:

assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the application
discussing possible alternatives to the request
offering an appeal process

The employer must respond to your request within 2 months.

BE DETAILED AND BE REALISTIC

Put as much information into the request as possible, including, required hours and start date.

BE CONFIDENT!

MAKE IT WORTH THEIR WHILE

Try and anticipate what your employer might see as barriers to your request and address them with solutions before they can even bring them up. Suggesting a 3-month trial can always appease doubts.

TWO REQUESTS PER 12 MONTHS

You can make two requests every 12 months, so it’s beneficial to do your homework thoroughly and get it right, as you won’t be able to request an amendment outside of those parameters.