Flexible Working Bill | Over half of UK workers ready to take advantage of new flexible working laws

Businesses are being advised to brace themselves as a new study reveals more than half (55%) of employees are planning to make a new request for flexible working when new rules come into UK law this weekend.

The changes introduced by the Flexible Working Bill on April 6 - allowing workers to ask for flexible working from day one of their employment (previously six months) - look set to lead to a sharp increase in flexible working requests even though 74% of employees report already having some degree of flexibility.

The research conducted among 1,000 UK desk workers by the AI-powered platform for work, Slack, is designed to help businesses anticipate what the rule changes could mean to them and better understand employee expectations when it comes to work. Today, many UK employees regularly work from home (56%), have flexible working days (54%), or work a four-day week (30%). Yet a quarter of people (25%) are not currently offered flexible working.

The repercussions of not offering flexible working, from missed talent to a decline in growth

The majority of workers believe the ability to work flexibly boosts their productivity (80%) and will help their company grow quicker (74%). Yet the top reasons for employees believing their employers have declined requests for flexible work, are due to concerns it may negatively impact productivity (17%) and work quality levels (17%).