Fridays in Parliament can be strange. The House of Commons rarely sits for general debates and the corridors of power feel, well, powerless, as MPs head home to their constituencies for local visits, to see family, and campaign. However, occasionally, whilst conventional politics in the chamber pauses, the House sits for Private Members’ Bills. This gives the chance for MPs of all parties to introduce new legislation on an issue they feel passionate about. Today I’ll be doing just that, as I continue my campaign to widen access to flexible working.
The pandemic provided a snapshot of the benefits of flexible working. Between March 2020 and late 2021, the workplace evolved beyond any recognition. To name just a couple of examples, it allowed some parents to complete the school run for the first time in years and supported unpaid carers to better balance their time between work and caregiving. People no longer spent hours of their week unproductively commuting into the office, nor did they sit rigidly at their desk from 8:59am to 5:01pm. A new way of working became the mainstream – but as time passes, we cannot risk losing this progress which has liberated so many.
It is for this reason that I chose to focus on flexible working, and why my Employment Rights (Flexible Working) Bill seeks to change the legal framework to allow flexible working requests from day one of employment. It will also double the number of requests that an employee can make per year. The most radical change within the Bill will be to remove the existing requirement which stipulates that the employee must explain the business impact for their flexible working request – an implicitly negative appraisal of flexible working. I am glad to say that this Bill is supported by all parties, including the Government, and barring any mishaps should head to the House of Lords before ultimately achieving Royal Assent later this year.
When drafting this Bill, I met with multiple campaign groups. However, the one which stood out the most was Pregnant Then Screwed. In my work with them, I heard so many cases of women stemming their career development because employers refused to accommodate even the most minor of flexible working requests, such as working from home, compressed hours, or dropping to part-time hours. And of course, by stemming their career development they had no choice but to leave their job to support their loved ones. With the natural divisions of caring labour, it is usually always women who are impacted by employers’ inflexibility when it comes to working conditions. But it’s not just this anecdotal evidence that I found concerning; a survey of working mothers by the Trades Union Congress found that 50% had had their flexible working requests rejected by their employer. Women are losing out in the workplace because of unnecessary rigidity.
Perhaps most frustratingly, there is evidence which shows that this need not be the case. Flexible working works: the data shows it. Not only does it work, but it can actually improve staff retention, as employees feel valued and trusted, which in the long run saves businesses money. This can also in turn lead to higher productivity, increased innovation, and more diversity – all aspects of successful and flourishing businesses. Factor in that women are also twice as likely to excel in their career if their partner supports with childcare, the case for widening flexible working, to me, and hopefully fellow Grazia readers, is clear.
What’s more, if we properly support women in the workplace and the wider economy, we will unlock wider social and economic potential which remains untapped. A study by McKinsey found that if we fully utilise women in the British economy, by 2030 this would translate to a seven per cent increase in our Gross Domestic Product. Right now, at a time of anaemic growth and with no plan to fix it, supporting women in the workforce and wider economy could go a long way to solving this wider issue.
As an employer myself, with a team of six supporting my work as an MP and Shadow Women and Equalities Minister, I have always attempted to practise what I am preaching. Over the 13 years that I have been an MP, I have welcomed and approved requests for job shares, allowed staff to work compressed hours, supported staff to work from home long before it was fashionable to do so, and have even encouraged staff to study part-time whilst working in my Parliamentary office. In my experience, and I can only speak for that, this has created a positive working environment and I have seen an increase in productivity in each staff member. A little bit of trust and compromise can go a long way to making a big difference to employees’ lives, and in turn, employers can also reap the rewards.
This Bill is by no means the be all and end all. It will not solve all issues employers and employees face, but what it does do is go a long way to shifting the dial on attitudes to flexible working and will ensure that the progress felt during the pandemic is not lost as perceptions of the workplace revert to type.
Yasmin Qureshi is the Member of Parliament for Bolton South East, first elected in 2010, and serves on Labour’s frontbench team as Shadow Women and Equalities Minister.