How do employers feel about the new employment law?

New legislation on flexible working hours has been welcomed by employees in a recent Equal Opportunities Commission survey, which found that 73 per cent supported it. So, do employers also welcome flexible working with open arms, or do they view it as a costly, complicated procedure?

The party line

Patricia Hewitt, Trade and Industry Secretary, sees the new legislation, allowing employees to formally request flexible working hours, as the beginning of effective communication between employer and employee. She says: "The sensible way to make progress on this is to get employees and employers sitting down and agreeing not only what is going to work for that individual employee in that job but also what is going to work for that business."

A happy work force makes business sense

Some high profile companies have been quick to state their satisfaction with the changes, and assert that they were already adopting the practices before this act came about.

Caroline Waters from BT says, "Flexitime, part-time and home-working are just some of the patterns enjoyed by BT people, allowing them the freedom to balance their personal and professional lives. Increased flexibility has enabled BT to recruit more effectively and our retention rate has improved with some employees turning down offers of more highly paid employment in favour of the flexibility we offer."

It costs, on average, £3000 to recruit someone new to a job, so it makes good business sense for employers to hang on to employees who, in their turn, will be loyal and motivated.

Big versus small

Despite the benefits, the act has not been without problems for employers. While large organisations have adapted relatively easily, small businesses have struggled to take on the changes. There are 3.7 million businesses in the UK, of which 99.9 per cent are small businesses. Of these, 97 per cent have fewer than 10 employees. Juliana Leonard, Head of Employment Policy at the Federation Of Small Businesses, says that although flexible working practices do occur in small businesses, they tend to have much less formalised procedures.

A lack of resources in small businesses

"The reason why employment legislation is so difficult for small businesses is because they do not have Human Resources departments to cope with these types of issues," says Juliana Leonard, "The person in charge of a company tends to have sole responsibility for being aware of the legislation. On the whole, it is not a lack of willingness to embrace these changes, more a lack of resources and knowledge of the facts."

For some businesses, offering flexible work isn't realistic. If you run a village shop, for instance, you need someone behind the till between certain hours.

Fear and trepidation from employers

While most employers are keen to do the right thing by their employees, this new legislation has been met with a certain amount of bewilderment and trepidation.

Peninsula, the UK's biggest employment law firm, recently conducted a survey revealing that more than half of employers aren't aware of the new family friendly laws, and over 50 per cent of them believe that the laws are unnecessary. Of the 2562 employers polled, 68 per cent felt that such flexibility would not increase the productivity of their employees and 82 per cent felt the government were simply adding to the already considerable barrage of red tape.

Soaring stress levels

Peter Done, Managing Director of Peninsula, points out, "Small firms will suffer because they will no doubt lose out on key players within their business. If a small firm loses one or two members of staff then this is critical and can be damaging to the business. In addition, monitoring who takes what leave is going to add to the monstrous amount of paperwork that businesses have to deal with. While employees stress levels are being reduced the stress on employers is set to soar."

The tribunal threat

The biggest threat for small businesses is the prospect of tribunals brought by employees who feel that their requests for flexible working have been unfairly turned down. Current estimates suggest that the flexible working regulations could result in 100,000 more employment tribunals per year.

The concern is that the DTI has laid down procedures which, if not followed to the letter, could end in an employer losing a tribunal case even if he/she had a good business reason for refusing flexible work. In addition to this, female members of staff who feel they have not been fairly treated have recourse to claims of indirect sexual discrimination legislation, which packs a far harder punch.

Sparking divisions amongst employees

Many employers are also worried about the divisive nature of the legislation. They foresee a situation in which non-eligible groups become disgruntled with covering for absent colleagues. The rule about children under six means that parents of older children still needing to work flexibly, will not be eligible.

"While the new legislation is to be well received by working parents, the new laws could spark huge divisions in the workplace",, warns Peter Done. "What happens to those employees without dependents who are not given the opportunity to work flexible hours? The question will be why should they be discriminated against for not having children? Employers could be looking at a prospective minefield of tribunal applications on the grounds of discrimination in an area that they have very little control over."

It's early days yet to make any sort of firm pronouncement on how employers will ultimately view the latest employment legislation. What is certain is that the government will keep a beady eye on developments.

Gary Bowker says, "In the modern economy, flexible working has a key role to play and will continue to do so. I can see that in the absence of any genuine commitment from employers, that the government would seriously consider making flexible working a right rather than simply a right to request." On the other hand, it could be that further action is unnecessary and employers and employees settle down into a situation where the majority of the people are happy for most of the time.