Flexible working
40. Part-time and flexible working is not a 'women's
issue'a number of sectors of the workforce would appreciate
the opportunity to change the hours they work or vary them over
the course of the year. These include older workers (especially
in sectors with a culture of long hours[80]),
men with caring responsibilities, and fathers who would just like
to spend more time with their children. However, given the fact
that domestic responsibilities still fall predominantly upon women,
and that many women wish to vary the hours of paid work in order
to achieve 'a better work/life balance', the issue of the availability
of flexible working hours currently has a greater impact on women
than on men.
41. Part-time jobs are concentrated in the less skilled
sectors and occupations, and, on an hourly basis, are significantly
lower paid than full-time jobs.[81]
Moreover, the longer an employee stays in part-time work, the
greater the differential between her/his hourly rate and that
of the full-time employee: for each year of part-time employment,
hourly wages decrease by one percent.[82]
It is widely recognised that the prevalence of women in part-time
work in the UK is one of the main factors contributing to the
gender pay gap.
42. One of the most striking findings from the EOC's
research projects was that a significant number of women who work
part-time have previously worked in jobs requiring more qualifications,
skills or experience, or more responsibility for the supervision
or management of staff, than their current job.[83]
More specifically, those who return to work after a career break
and wish to take part-time work often find that not only are they
unable to return to their former job, but also that they cannot
even return to their former employer.[84]
Women who move from full-time to part-time work and change employer
companies experience an 8.9 percent drop in pay per hour. The
decrease is greater after even a short period of non-employment.[85]
Furthermore, part-time employees are less likely to be offered
training, or to be promoted than their full-time equivalents.
Once in a part-time job, it becomes difficult for employees to
advance their careers.[86]
43. The EOC is undertaking further research in this
area to discover the reasons why women are taking less demanding
jobs when they move to part-time working. It told us that there
are four principle reasons: because of child-caring responsibilities;
because there are few opportunities for advancement in their workplace;
because they are simultaneously undertaking training to equip
themselves for a more demanding job; and because they are seeking
a better work/life balance. However, the EOC thought it difficult
to draw a clear distinction between women being forced to take
lower-skilled positions due to the unavailability of part-time
jobs at the right level, and women choosing to do a less demanding
job. Ms Wild of the EOC argued: "It feels, for most women,
like it is actually a compromise between what they would really
like to do and the hours. I think, for most women, they are choosing
to work part-time; they are not choosing to work below their potential."[87]
44. Some sectors have a more open-minded approach
to flexible working than others, with manufacturing presenting
particular problems because of the prevalence of shift work; but,
we were told, even here it was often possible for employers to
accommodate those who wanted to work non-standard hours, if the
employer was willing to think creatively.[88]
In other sectors, such as printing or some IT jobs, the problem
was more that of a prevalence of extremely long hours.[89]
In the course of the oral evidence relating to our recent inquiry
into Employment Regulation, Amicus told us that there had at first
been considerable resistance from both employers and workers when
the union had suggested changing work patterns to bring the industry
into line with the Working Time Directive limit of a maximum 48
hour working week. However, employers and workers were satisfied
with the shorter but more productive working week that had resulted.[90]
E-skills UK, the sector skills council for the ICT industry, also
suggested that the long hours required under some contracts for
the provision of IT services served as a major disincentive for
women to continue in employment in the sectorthough here
one of the options that they appeared to be adopting was setting
up their own companies to have greater control over when and for
how long they worked.[91]
Women leaving employment in order to establish their own companies
also appeared to be a trend within the financial services industry.[92]
Intellect, the IT trade association, was aware of the problem
of retention, and the industry had established a Women in IT Forum
to consider ways to address it.[93]
E-skills UK also pointed to a successful example of introducing
flexible or part-time working even within companies that provided
services such as 24-hour a day helplines: although the employers
had found it difficult to organise working time, they had found
the benefits greatly outweighed the difficulties, as they became
the local employer of choice, were able to recruit the best staff,
the quality of the service they provided improved and, as a result,
so did their profitability.[94]
45. More generally, we were told that the traditional
view in many industries is that part-time work is not compatible
with senior positions.[95]
UKRC said that this was one of the major barriers to women returners
achieving senior positions within the SET sector.[96]
The UKRC's view was that there was more scope for flexible working
even by team leaders and people in other responsible roles than
had been realised so far.[97]
46. Most of our witnesses did not favour legislation
to require employers to offer part-time or flexible hours. The
EOC thought that compulsion would not work.[98]
Others felt that it would be better to rely on the enlightened
self-interest of employers. Both representatives from Sector Skills
Councils suggested that those wishing to change employers' attitudes
should put the economic argument more strongly: that, if they
wished to have access to the best recruits and to increase the
productivity of their workforce, then part-time and flexible working
could help them achieve this.[99]
The Minister argued that, given the variety of flexible working
practices that employees might wish to adopt, it was undesirable
to introduce a statutory requirement which probably would be too
rigid. The Government, she said, felt the correct approach was
that adopted with respect to the parental right to request flexible
working: this had been designed following discussions with the
representatives of both employers and employees and allowed wide
scope for reaching a mutually satisfactory outcome to requests.
In addition, the Government had decided that the priority for
amending this right was to extend it to other workers, such as
those caring for older children or the elderly, not to introduce
compulsion.[100]
47. Amicus's view was that the main change needed
to the current 'right to request' was to provide some means of
questioning whether any refusal of a request was based on reasonable
grounds. This would allow, for example, a trade union to offer
some suggestions about how to overcome any operational difficulties
arising from the request.[101]
48. There is a long-established view that certain
jobssenior managerial posts, skilled manufacturing jobs,
key service industry postsare unsuited to part-time and
flexible working. This view is accepted far too uncritically:
there appear to be a number of good examples where it has been
perfectly practicable to re-arrange working hours while maintainingsometimes
even improvingproductivity and performance. There are already
indications that employers are re-thinking their attitudes, not
least in light of the success of the recent introduction of the
parental right to request flexible working. A number of employers
have already extended this and have indicated that they are willing
to consider requests from any of their employees. At present,
we would not recommend introducing an element of compulsion on
employers: the codification of best practice seems more likely
to facilitate its widespread adoption than any statutory requirement
would. However, we believe it would be useful to monitor the success
rate of such requests, and to examine the reasons for refusal
to see whether there are any grounds for instituting the sort
of mechanism to challenge an employer's decision that Amicus suggested
to us.
17 Connexions is the government service designed to
give information and advice (on careers, learning, health, housing,
work, money, relationships and rights) to young people aged between
13 and 19 years. It employs Personal Advisers in local areas. Back
18
Appendix 5, para 22 and Qq 2-3 (EOC); Appendix 9, paras 11-12
(TUC) Back
19
Ibid. See also Appendix 3, para 8 (CBI) Back
20
Q 181 Back
21
Ibid. Back
22
Cm 6476, February 2005 Back
23
Q 147 Back
24
Appendix 5, para 22 (EOC) and Q 29 (EOC) Back
25
Qq 182-183 Back
26
Q 149 See also, Q 37 (EOC) The EOC noted that the TUC was trying
to stimulate employer interest in non-traditional work placements:
Q20 Back
27
The programme offered 'taster sessions' for 120 pupils in non-traditional
sectors-boys went into hairdressing, childcare and care for the
sick and elderly, while girls experienced engineering and electrical
installation. Back
28
Q 151 and Appendix 8 Back
29
Q 150 and Appendix 3 (CBI) Back
30
Qq 32-33 (EOC) Back
31
Qq 113 (e-skills UK) and 31 (EOC) Back
32
Appendix 10, paras 5.3.1-5.3.3 (UKRC) Back
33
A partnership of ten organisations (including three from the
voluntary sector, two Higher Education institutes, Bradford Further
Education College, two Sector Skills Councils and the EOC) spread
throughout England and Wales which are all committed to and have
expertise in practically tackling occupational segregation in
the science, engineering and technology sectors. For more information,
see Appendix 10, paras 3.3-3.6 (UKRC) Back
34
Appendix 10, para 4.7 (UKRC) See also Qq 139-141 (UKRC) and 153-154
(LSC) Back
35
Ibid., para 5.6.2 and Q 142 (UKRC) See also Q 32 (EOC) Back
36
Qq 170-171 and Appendix 8 Back
37
Appendix 10, para 5.6.6 See also Q 155 (LSC) Back
38
Appendix 5, Summary and para 19 (EOC) Back
39
Ibid., para 19 and Q 17 Back
40
Q 22 Back
41
Ibid. Back
42
This also went some way to address the problem of the isolation
experienced by many young women training in non-traditional areas,
which we discuss below: paragraphs 32-33. Back
43
Qq 18 and 20; also Q 8 Back
44
Q 16 For the Government's description of the pilot schemes aimed
at women returning to work, see Q 184 Back
45
Q 184 Back
46
Appendix 12, para 6.7 Back
47
Q 155 Back
48
See paragraph 29 below. Back
49
Q 23 Back
50
Ibid. Back
51
Q 190 (DTI) Back
52
Q 110 (Financial Sector Skills Council) Back
53
Appendix 9, para 17 Back
54
Qq 66 and 71 Back
55
Of the Financial Sector Skills Council Back
56
Q 110 Back
57
Q 43 Back
58
Q 58 (EOC) Back
59
See, for example, Appendix 3, para 9 (CBI), Appendix 9, para 18
(TUC) and Qq 19 and 20 (EOC) Back
60
Qq 155 and 170 See also Appendix 8 (LSC) Learners tend to be women
aged between 26 and 45, in full-time, low-skilled, low-paid jobs. Back
61
Appendix 11 Back
62
Appendix 13 Back
63
See also Qq 162-163 (LSC) Back
64
Appendix 10, para 4.15 (UKRC) See also Q 21 (EOC) and Appendix
1, para 5.10 (Amicus) Back
65
Qq 123-125 Back
66
Appendix 4; for the SET industries' approach, see Appendix 10,
paras 5.3.4-5.3.7 (UKRC) Back
67
Qq 21 and 32 Back
68
Q 80 Back
69
Ibid. Back
70
Qq 169-171 Back
71
Q 80 Back
72
Q 69 Back
73
Q 194 Back
74
Though we note that the Women and Work Commission has stated its
intention to take forward work on the value attached to women's
occupations, especially in the caring professions: Interim Statement,
A Fair Deal for Women in the Workplace, 8 March 2005. Back
75
Appendix 10, paras 4.9-4.11 and 4.14 (UKRC) Back
76
Ibid., Figure 1 Back
77
Ibid., para 4.14 Back
78
Appendix 12, para 7.8 The PSA target is to raise the proportion
of women members of SET boards to 40 percent. Back
79
Qq 190-191 (DTI) Back
80
For example, the printing industry. Back
81
Appendix 9, paras 25, 31-33 (TUC) Back
82
Modelling gender pay gaps, Wendy Olsen (University of
Manchester) and Sylvia Walby (University of Leeds), EOC working
paper series No.17, 2004: cited in Appendix 5, para 30 Back
83
Appendix 5, paras 33-34 Back
84
Q 178 (DTI) Amicus reported that women were often forced to take
a lower grade job, not realising that is was illegal to make them
do so: Q 77 Back
85
Appendix 9, para 35 Back
86
Ibid., paras 20 and 21 (TUC) and Appendix 8 (LSC) Back
87
Q 41 Back
88
Qq 84 and 89-90 (Amicus) Back
89
Q 91 (Amicus) Back
90
See also Qq 91 and 93-94 (Amicus) on resistance by workforces
to changes to labour patterns better to accommodate women employees. Back
91
Qq 127, 117 and 115 One of the chief culprits in demanding contractual
provisions on availability of key personnel-meaning long hours
and enforced mobility-and thus making it difficult for women to
take such jobs-is the Government: Q 130 Back
92
Q 115 See also Appendix 3, para 13 (CBI) Back
93
Q 115 Back
94
Q 126 Back
95
Appendix 1, para 5.9 (Amicus) For common prejudices against part-time
workers, see the list in Appendix 9, para 21 (TUC) Back
96
Qq 136-137 see also Appendix 8 (LSC) Back
97
Q 138 Back
98
Qq 38 and 40 Back
99
Qq 126 and 129 Back
100
Q 195 Back
101
Qq 85-88 The EOC supported this. Qq 38-39 Back