UK extends flexible working rights to all

Millions of workers would have the right to request flexible work  hours from today, as research showed that thousands of UK citizens were already working from pubs, on buses and in taxis, The Telegraph reported.

According to the study by O2 Business, there was a growing trend for people to work from a coffee shop, with two fifths of UK workers spending over four hours a week working there.

Other supporters of flexible working were finding more flexible ways to do their jobs, with 8 per cent admitting that they did them from the pub and 6 per cent said they worked while on the bus.

A further 5 per cent said they did some work in taxis, 10 per cent from bed while 7 per cent worked from the gym. Overall, UK workers spent 131 million hours a week working from coffee shops and 26 per cent of workers would choose this if they were given the choice by their employer in flexible working approach.

The right to request flexible working was a privilege limited to those who gave care and others who looked after children. The new measures would now require that employers would have to consider any request for flexible working in a ''reasonable manner''.

Every employee now has the right to request flexible working hours after the government extended the right previously reserved for carers and those looking after children.

The move has been welcomed by unions and employment groups.

The government expects older workers approaching retirement as also young workers looking for additional training while they worked would benefit most from the move.

According to The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, the change in the law was recognition of the growing importance of flexible working for both employees and employers.

The BBC quoted the institute's chief executive Susannah Clements, as saying employers increasingly recognised the strong business case for flexible working, including enhanced employee engagement and the attraction and retention of a more diverse workforce.

Many businesses already offered flexible working to their staff and Liesl Smith from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) told the BBC, that more than  three quarters of its members offered flexible working but there would be a small number of small businesses who just would not be able to do that, whether it was through cost or just from balancing their teams.