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FOOL'S EYE VIEW
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Recent research has revealed a surprisingly high number of workers in central London wanting to quit their jobs within five years. According to human resources consultancy Chiumento, around 75% of City workers are unhappy with their lot. More than half of the respondents in the survey said they would change their careers tomorrow if they could while 78% said they didn't want to work in London anymore. Even more surprising is that only 7% of workers wanted to stay in their current job. This obviously has major implications for employers. What's the point of training someone who doesn't like their job? How do you recruit and, more importantly, retain your staff? Chiumento suggests that employers need to provide more motivation for staff by rewarding individual achievements and setting up a programme for regular career development and appraisals. But curiously, they don't mention flexible working as an obvious solution. Last month, new laws came into force, allowing parents of children under six or disabled children under 18 to apply to work flexibly. Employers have a legal duty to consider these requests seriously and can only turn parents down on clear business grounds. The methods of flexible working that parents can ask for are very varied: Annualised Hours Compressed Hours Flexitime Home Working Job-sharing Shift Working Term-time Working The onus is on the applicant to make a considered case for working flexibly and they can only make one application a year. If accepted, it means a permanent change to the employee's own terms and conditions of employment unless otherwise agreed, so employees need to think hard about which working pattern they want. One top tip from campaigning charity Parents at Work is that people who think their employers will turn them down outright for some spurious reason should suggest a trial period. It's much harder to refuse a request for a trial period and, once you've proved it works, it's then even harder for them to refuse flexible working on a permanent basis. Companies who already have these types of schemes in place have found flexible working arrangements pay dividends. They retain skilled staff, thus reducing recruitment costs and the increased staff morale significantly cuts absenteeism. It has also resulted in greater productivity, higher maternity return rates and reduced staff turnover. For instance, the AA operates a flexible working scheme for its staff with many of them working from home. They say home workers have a 30% higher productivity rate than those working in AA offices. Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) operates a Work Options scheme which allows all employees to apply for flexible working. Their reasons for making a request don't even come into it and requests are only refused if they have a clear, negative impact on the business. Lloyds points out that it costs them about £10,000 to recruit and train even the most junior staff and up to £50,000 to replace a senior employee, so if someone leaves after, say, having a baby, the expense of replacing them is considerable. Since introducing flexible working patterns, the bank says maternity return rates have increased from 75% ten years ago to 91% today. It's unfortunate the new laws only apply to parents of children under six or with disabled children. If employers extended them to all staff, they might not be facing the planned exodus that employees in the City seem to have in mind. More: Flexible Working Rights | Parents at Work The author holds shares in Lloyds TSB
This means working time is organised on the basis of the number of hours to be worked over a year rather than a week, making it much easier for parents to take time off during the school holidays.
This allows employees to work their total number of hours over a shorter period. For example, employees might work from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Thursday instead of 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. They would thus be paid for a full time job.
This enables employees a choice about their working hours by selecting different start and finish times from the usual 9am to 5pm schedule whilst still working a standard length of day.
This speaks for itself and obviously doesn't have to be on a full-time basis. For example, it may suit an employee to divide their time between home and the office.
This typically involves dividing the responsibilities of one full-time position between two members of staff. Both are paid according to the hours they work.
Much like flexitime, employees have a choice about when they work and it enables employers to keep their businesses open for longer than the usual eight-hour day.
This allows employees to take unpaid leave during the school holidays.