Parents driven out of jobs by lack of flexible working, TUC union warns
A union has said flexible working is still “stigmatised” and it is driving parents of young children out of work.
A lack of flexible working is driving parents out of jobs, unions are warning after new research showed many with young children have left work. The TUC said a study of 500 parents of children under the age of seven showed one in three have left a job because of a lack of flexible working, while a similar number said they had experienced informal flexible working requests being rejected in part or in full.
Three in four respondents said they were more likely to apply for a job if it included flexible working, while almost one in five said they did not know they had a right to request flexible working. The TUC said the polling showed flexible working was still “stigmatised”, with high rates of rejection and negative treatment for those who do work flexibly.
The union body says the high rejection rate and poor treatment of flexible working requests showed that the Government was right to take action to make flexible working the default under the Employment Rights Act.
TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, said: “As many parents return to work after the half term break, anyone with kids knows that being able to work flexibly isn’t a perk. It is a lifeline for working families.
“But the truth is too many parents are still being locked out of the labour market due to rigid and outdated attitudes in the workplace. Improving access to flexible working benefits workers, businesses and the economy – whether it’s through increasing staff productivity or higher retention.
“That’s why the Government is right in its ambition to make flexible working the default through the Employment Rights Act, but ministers must go further. It’s time we saw a legal duty on employers to advertise possible flexibility in roles to fit around workers’ lives.”