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A new survey suggests parents and employers are split over the business benefits of working from home to help balance the demands of family and job.
It finds that while 'flexi-working' benefits are as high a priority as salary size to UK working parents, demand from parents is causing increasing conflict, with 70% of UK employers reluctant to free staff from the office, fearing the impact it will have on productivity.
The study - from computing organisation Microsoft - reveals a rift between workers and employers that is likely to continue to grow as more parents look to take advantage of the flexible working legislation introduced in April. The new law gives all parents with children under six or handicapped children under 18 the right to apply to their employers to work away from the office to better balance work and childcare demands. With 3.7 million UK parents falling into this category, the legislation, says Microsoft, is expected to make a major impact on workplace culture.
Microsoft's Mike Pryke-Smith says that UK employers need to "wake up to flexi-working".
"I know from experience," he adds, "that bringing up children is a full-time job in itself. Parents need help balancing the 24/7 with the nine-to-five ... Introducing flexi-working will mean a major cultural change for an organisation. But if in the long term it helps the organisation benefit more from a 3.7 million strong, highly skilled workforce, then that?s a change for the better?
The benefits of flexible working, as Microsoft perceive them, are:
To the home worker:
- Flexibility both in work hours and in managing care of dependants.
- Less time spent commuting.
- Lower travel costs.
- Less stress and better health.
- Improved quality of life.
- Improved productivity.
To the employer:
- Higher productivity.
- Lower absenteeism.
- Greater job satisfaction.
- Greater loyalty.
- Lower overhead costs through reduced office space - but can be offset by higher phone bills.
- Higher customer satisfaction and easier recruitment.
To Society:
- Reduced traffic congestion.
- Reduced air pollution.
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