The history and future of flexible working in the UK
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Recently, flexible working has been at the forefront of public opinion. The Covid-19 pandemic elevated the need for flexible working to previously unseen levels, with a huge swathe of workers operating remotely throughout. In this article, we look at how flexible working has developed over the years, and how it might look going forward.
The origin of flexible working
In 1967, Munich-based aerospace company Messerchmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) hired sociologist Kristel Kammerer to help alleviate internal issues regarding absenteeism, overtime, and lateness. As a company with more than 3,000 employees, MBB faced huge challenges with congestion to and from the site, leading to a culture of employees arriving late and leaving early.
Initially, Kammerer suggested abolishing fixed start and finish times, suggesting instead that MBB should opt for a staggered start and finish time, which allowed employees to arrive any time between 07:00 and 08:00 and leave any time between 16:00 and 18:00. This initiative lessened the traffic issues and spurred the company to take things further, expanding their policies to allow:
- Flexible lunch break times;
- employees to bank hours;
- and more staggered hours.
This was the first example of gleitzeit, or ‘flexible working hours.’ However, while MBB are widely recognised as the originators of flexible working, they were not necessarily the pioneers, especially with regard to British working practices.
Flexible working in the UK
In the UK, flexible working was not widely adopted until much later – although a trademark for ‘Flexitime’ was registered in 1971. Traditionally, flexible working in the UK was company-specific, with individual organisations setting their own standards. It was not until the early 2000s that government made legislative changes that allowed flexible working arrangements to be consolidated in law. Here, we outline a brief timeline of flexible working in the UK.
This timeline does not take into account informal flexible working arrangements. While such arrangements still require management’s approval, they do not necessitate a change of contract, and as such can be harder to quantify and assess. It is likely that many workers take advantage of ad hoc flexible working, as examples can be starting early to finish early, working from home on an infrequent basis, or taking a half day on a Friday.
Flexible working post-lockdown
Recently, more workers than ever before expect at least some level of flexible working arrangement to be made available to them. According to a study by the ONS, since the Covid lockdowns 85% of working adults want to utilise a hybrid approach of home and office working, and 36% of businesses expect their workers to spend the majority of their time homeworking. Also, job vacancies advertising homeworking in May 2021 were three times what they were in February 2020.
With the demand for flexible working arrangements being at the level it is, the UK government reinstated its Flexible Working Taskforce, first established in 2018, to assist its understanding of hybrid and flexible working and consider what can be done to promote it. Initially, the government settled on the position that working from cannot be a legal right, as such law could be counterproductive to those that are unable to homework. Instead, members of the taskforce have called for employment law regarding other forms of flexible working to be strengthened, and a spokesperson for the government has made clear its stance on the link between flexible working, productivity and work-life balance.
Flexible working at Hill Dickinson
At Hill Dickinson, we are continuing to review the progress of the pandemic, and plan to move to a hybrid model when we deem it safe to do so. We will also continue to accommodate employees that do not feel ready to return to the office. It is important to note that hybrid working does not mean the end of flexible working, and our flexible working policies and processes are here to stay. For more information, see below:
