Monthly FS Treasury Newsletter

What is the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3198

A Bill to make provisions, protecting the right of employees and other workers to request variations to terms and conditions of employment, including working hours, times and locations.

The discussion of flexible working arrangements continue in FS with most Treasury functions requesting 3-4 days office time in London vs 2-3 days outside of London.

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Among the key changes, the new legislation means:

• Employers must consult with their employees before a flexible working request can be turned down
• Employees can make two flexible working requests in any 12-month period
• Employers must respond to requests within 2 months (previously 3)
• Employees are no longer required to lay out how a flexible working request might impact the employer

For clarity, this bill itself does NOT guarantee the right to request job flexibility on day one, this is something that the government has pledged to do separately so we will likely see this legislated in the near future.

The aim is to find a common ground between employee and employer, to reduce burnout, increase diversity and as a result have better team engagement and improved productivity.

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Trends we are seeing across Treasury functions:

• Analysts and Senior Analysts want to be in the office 3-4 days
• Managers and Senior Managers wanting to be in office 2-3 days
• Treasury leaders, 1-2 days per week.

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In the June 2023 CIPD report https://shorturl.at/aluCO

• 53% of employees said remote working is key when looking for a new role
• 46% of employers said the number of people wanting to WFH has increased over the last 12 months.
• 38% of organisations say that more home/hybrid working has increased productivity (compared to 13% who say that it has decreased)