Day One Flex – who is most likely to use new incoming rights?
New Timewise research shows that 49% of workers would consider using incoming rights to ask for flexible working, from Day One in a new role. Who is most likely to do so, and what does this mean for employers?

What does the new legislation involve?
The government has confirmed that the right to request flexible working should be a day-one right for all employees. The legislation also:

• Enables employees to make two flexible working requests in a 12-month period, instead of one.
• Removes the requirement for employees to explain how their proposed arrangement could be work.
• Requires employers to consult with the employee and consider alternative options before refusing an application.
• Reduces the timeframe to process requests from three months to two.

New legislation, which includes the right to ask for flexible working from day one in a new job (informally known as Day One Flex), is likely to come into play in early 2024. While common sense suggests that this will be a popular change, and we and other campaigners have long believed that it’s necessary, there’s not really been the data to back this up – until now.

As part of a substantial new programme of research to better understand workers’ attitudes towards part-time, we have partnered with Opinium to survey 4,000 UK-based workers. We e asked if they knew about the new legislation and if so, if they’d take advantage of it – whether in a new role or in their current one.

Half of respondents would consider asking for flex from day one
When asked whether they would consider taking advantage of the new Day One Flex rights in a new role, almost half of our 4,000 respondents (49%) said yes. Additionally, 30% said they weren’t sure – and only 21% said no.

The research also dug into the detail of who would be most likely to consider using the new rights, and this threw up some significant variations, with three determining factors emerging:

• Ethnicity: 71% of respondents from a black ethnic background said yes, in comparison to 48% of workers from a white ethnic background.
• Age: Younger workers were also more likely to say yes than older workers (54% aged 18-34 versus 39% among those over 50).
• Caring responsibilities: Parents and carers were also more likely to answer yes (53%, compared to 45% of those without such responsibilities).

Interestingly, and unusually for the flexible working arena, one area in which there isn’t a sizeable discrepancy is gender, with 51% of women answering yes compared to 48% of men.

We’re undertaking further research to deepen our understanding of the variations among different groups, and will be exploring the intersection of a number of factors, especially ethnicity, age, class and caring responsibilities. We’ll be launching our report in the autumn.

This isn’t just about new recruits
While this part of the legislation focuses on the right to request being available from the first day in a new job, it’s important to remember that it won’t just affect new hires. Currently, the right to ask only kicks in at 26 weeks, so the change would directly affect anyone who has joined more recently than that.

And while respondents were more likely to use the new rights in a new role than in a current one, our findings also show a strong interest in using them to change existing working arrangements, especially among those who are less comfortable having informal conversations about flexibility with their manager. 40% of all workers said they would consider using the new rights in an existing role, in comparison to 29% who wouldn’t. And again, this figure rises among workers who are from a black ethnic background, young (aged 18-34) or have caring responsibilities.

It’s also worth noting that, despite all the talk about the pandemic driving a shift in flexible working, our research shows that this hasn’t been the case for the majority of workers – especially those in routine occupations. 41% of workers in managerial and professional occupations gained flexible working during the crisis and say they have maintained those arrangements, whereas only 9% of those in routine occupations said the same. So in many organisations, there is likely to be a pool of employees who will want to take advantage of the new right to request.

What does this mean for employers?
So if this is what the data is telling us, what should you do about it? It’s simple really; you need to be prepared to manage an increase in flexible working requests, and to respond to them fairly and consistently.

This means building capability within your organisation on the different types of flexibility that are available, and evaluating how they could be incorporated into different roles. It means equipping your line managers to respond to requests in a constructive way, which balances the needs of the individual with those of their team and your organisation.

It also means taking a proactive approach to ensure that open and transparent conversations about flexible working are possible for all workers, regardless of their role, and that the onus isn’t on the individual to have the confidence to request, whether formally or informally.

But as well as creating requirements for employers, the new legislation also creates opportunities. Yes, you need to comply with the legislation – but a much more powerful option would be to embrace it fully, and shift to a proactive approach.

One example would be to offer flexible working for all new candidates, and say so openly in your job adverts. Doing so is likely to widen the pool of candidates both numerically and from a diversity perspective, which would in turn have a positive impact on your organisational culture and employer brand. Of course, this will need to be backed up by flexible options for existing staff too.

So are you ready? The data says you need to be, and the clock is ticking; it’s time to get started.