Work-Life Balance Employer Survey

The latest Work-Life Balance Employer Survey, commissioned by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) finds 95 percent of workplaces offer some form of flexible working for staff.

Although The survey of more than 1,400 workplaces found fewer people now work from home than in 2000 and that there has been little change in the number of people applying for job-sharing and flexi-time in the last four years

The amount of workplaces providing childcare facilities, or other arrangements to help parents combine work with family commitments, has more than doubled since 2003, from 8% to 18%.

Recent research also shows more men than ever are keen to work flexibly, making up 43% of employees who requested a change to working patterns in the past two years.

Minister for Employment Relations, Pat McFadden, said the survey was an endorsement for the Government's staged approach to introducing flexible working."The way we work is changing and in many cases, it is changing to fit in with people's lives...More people want to balance work with family and lifestyle and more employers are increasingly recognising that flexibility helps retain good staff."

Other findings from the survey were:

• Part time working is available in 92% of workplaces, up from 81% in 2003.

• Employers offering reduced hours working had increased (74%, up from 40% in 2003)

• Employers offering compressed hours working had increased (41% up from 19%)

• The availability of job sharing and flexi hours had increased substantially (59% up from 39% and 55% up from 39% respectively)

• 92% of employers said they would consider a request to change working patterns from any employee

• 7% of employers said they should make a special effort to accommodate the particular difficulties parents of young and disabled children face in balancing work and family life.

The Third Work-Life Balance Employer Survey was conducted with a random sample of 1,462 workplaces in Great Britain with five or more employees. The survey was carried out between March and August 2007 by BMRB Social Research on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.