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Biscuit Recruitment welcomes Labour’s flexible working plans, warns against automatic entitlement

Frances Li said flexible working should remain a two-way arrangement, with employers considering requests fairly and employees maintaining productivity, communication and accountability.

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Biscuit Recruitment welcomes Labour’s flexible working plans, warns against automatic entitlement
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Frances Li, founder and director of Biscuit Recruitment, has welcomed Labour’s plans to strengthen flexible working rights but warned that remote working should not be treated as an automatic entitlement.

The proposals would require employers to properly consider requests to work from home and give clear reasons for any refusal.

Li said flexible working should remain a two-way arrangement, with employers considering requests fairly and employees maintaining productivity, communication and accountability.

Li said: “I welcome the Government’s move to strengthen flexible working. 

“If an employee has a legitimate reason for wanting to work from home, the role can genuinely be done remotely, and there is no clear business reason for an employer to refuse the request, then I think it is right that the decision is properly questioned and explained.

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“That said, we also need to be careful that employees don’t start to see working from home as an automatic entitlement rather than one form of flexible working.” 

Li added: “Not every role can be performed remotely, and even where it can, there may be genuine business reasons why a particular arrangement doesn’t work for a team, a client or a particular period.

“There is also a responsibility on employees. Flexibility works when there is trust on both sides. 

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“If an employer is giving someone the opportunity to work remotely, employees need to demonstrate that they can maintain their productivity, communication and accountability outside of the office.” 

She said: “The expectation shouldn’t be that working from home means working less.

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“Where I do have some concerns is around how the new requirements will work for smaller businesses. 

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“A large organisation may have a dedicated HR team to manage flexible-working requests, whereas in a ten- or twenty-person business, that responsibility may sit directly with the owner or a manager who is already stretched.”

She added: “If every refusal requires additional meetings, documentation and administration, that may sound relatively small on paper but can represent a significant amount of management time for an SME. 

“That’s particularly important at a time when smaller employers are already facing higher employment and operating costs and are being cautious about taking on new staff.

“Ultimately, I think the principle is right: employees should be able to ask for flexibility and employers should have to properly consider that request rather than simply saying no.”

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She said: “But the balance is important. We shouldn’t move from a culture where some employers are too quick to reject flexible working to one where employees assume every request must be granted.

“The best flexible-working arrangements are the ones where both sides understand what is expected, the business can still operate effectively, and the employee gets the flexibility they genuinely need. 

“That should be the focus of this policy.”

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