Flexible working rights for carers

To date, flexible working law in the UK has enabled parents with a child under 6 or a disabled child under 18 to make a request for flexible working, and places a duty on employers to consider such requests seriously and only reject them for good business reasons. But as of 6 April 2007 the law has been extended to include the right to request flexible working to carers of adults. Other available schemes include job-sharing and working from home. Sam Mercer, Chief Executive of the Employers Forum on Age comments: „This is great news for employees in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s who increasingly have caring responsibilities and once forced to leave work to support elderly relatives often find it difficult to return after their relative has died.“ Mercer is convinced that employers need to get much better at extending flexible working opportunities and that the experience from those who already offer this solution is positive: „It is often easier to offer flexible working than they first imagine and the impact on employee relations and the ability to retain key employees brings significant business advantage.“

Alter Sprache Englisch Work-Life