The government reportedly agreed that the right of an individual worker to opt out of the maximum 48-hour week, set under European Union law, should be phased out.
Source: The Guardian, 9 December 2005
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2005-Dec
A report said that flexible workers thought that they were more productive at work than those who had no flexibility. Part-time workers felt themselves to be the most productive of all, by a significant margin.
Source: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO Limited, Is Less More?, Working Families (020 7253 7243)
Links: Working Families press release (Word file)
Date: 2005-Oct
A report examined ways of addressing the 'long hours culture' in the workplace. Potential benefits included enhanced customer service, retention of skilled staff, improved morale, and less absenteeism.
Source: Managing Change: Practical ways to reduce long hours and reform working practices, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500) with Trades Union Congress and Confederation of British Industry
Links: Report (pdf) | DTI press release
Date: 2005-Sep
An article said that awareness of the employee right to request flexible working had increased significantly since the right was introduced in 2003.
Source: Heidi Grainger and Heather Holt, 'Results of the Second Flexible Working Employee Survey', Labour Market Trends, July 2005, Office for National Statistics, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Article (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jul
A new book said that 84 per cent of employers believed flexible working practices had a positive effect on retention. These initiatives could also help organizations tackle recruitment difficulties by attracting under-used groups.
Source: John Stredwick and Steve Ellis, Flexible Working, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (020 8971 9000)
Links: CIPD press release
Date: 2005-Jul
A study used the first twelve waves of the British Household Panel Survey, covering the period 1991-2002, to investigate the extent of constraints on desired hours of work within jobs and the degree of flexibility of the labour market for a sample of women.
Source: Richard Blundell, Mike Brewer and Marco Francesconi, Job Changes, Hours Changes and Labour Market Flexibility: Panel data evidence for Britain, Working Paper W05/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Abstract
Date: 2005-Jul
A paper summarized an accounting system bringing together the activities of paid work, unpaid work and consumption, through measures of the time devoted by different sorts of people to each of them.
Source: Jonathan Gershuny, What Do We Do in Post-industrial Society? The nature of work and leisure time in the 21st century, Working Paper 2005-07, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jun
A report said that workers in the United Kingdom worked longer hours than almost all their European counterparts.
Source: Marc Cowling, Still at Work? An empirical test of competing theories of the long hours culture, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report (pdf) | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2005-Apr
A survey found that nearly 65 per cent of workers in 2005 were aware of their right to request flexible working, compared to 41 per cent in 2003.
Source: Heather Holt and Heidi Grainger, Results of the Second Flexible Working Employee Survey, Employment Relations Research Series 39, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5177)
Links: Report (pdf) | DTI press release
Date: 2005-Apr
Researchers examined the career paths of male and female part-time workers. Women were still much more likely than men to work part-time: but whereas there had been no upward trend in part-time work for women, there had been a large increase in the proportion of men who worked part-time. Part-time work was a relatively stable labour market state for women, but a relatively transitional labour market state for men. The wage penalty for working part-time was much greater for women than for men.
Source: Marco Francesconi and Amanda Gosling, Career Paths of Part-time Workers, Working Paper 19, Equal Opportunities Commission (0161 833 9244)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Feb
A report said that more than half of all part-time workers were in jobs that they felt failed to capitalize on their qualifications, skills, and previous management experience.
Source: Part-time is No Crime So Why the Penalty?, Equal Opportunities Commission (0161 833 9244)
Links: Report (pdf) | EOC press release | Observer report
Date: 2005-Feb
Researchers found that more than half of respondents were dissatisfied with their working hours, with the majority preferring to work fewer hours. There was overwhelming support for making flexible working available to everyone. Those working in small and in large organizations (rather than middle-sized ones) were most likely to have flexible working available to them.
Source: Laura Williams and Alexandra Jones, Changing Demographics, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report (pdf) | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2005-Jan