A Work Life Balance?

05 May 2005

In recent years a consistent theme running throughout European and domestic employment legislation has been an attempt to improve the work life balance. The aim has been to help workers to balance work and family life commitments, leading to higher productivity and better performance. However, is it working in the UK, and where might we be going?

Working Time Directive (individual opt out)

The Working Time Directive 1998 (WTD) is a European led initiative that came into force in the UK on 1 October 1998. The WTD is principally a health and safety measure that aims, amongst other things, to limit the average working week to a ceiling of 48 hours. In practice, however, the net effectiveness of this part of the WTD has been reduced due to the retention by the UK of the individual opt out. This gives workers the right voluntarily to work more than an average of 48 hours a week (subject to the additional hours being acceptable in health and safety terms).

The European Commission’s (EC) figures show that 16% (4 million) of workers in the UK currently work more than an average of 48 hours a week and 8% (1.5 million) work more than an average of 55 hours a week. The UK is the only Member State where weekly working time has increased over the past decade.

With this in mind, the future of the individual opt out has been under close scrutiny. In September 2004, following a detailed review and consultation process, the EC recommended keeping the individual opt out while tightening up the conditions for its application. This is at odds with the decision in April 2005 of the employment committee of the European Parliament that voted to remove the individual opt out, by 2010. The issue goes to a European Parliament vote in the next few weeks, which then has to be ratified by the European Union’s Council of Ministers.

If the final decision made is to remove the individual opt out, businesses will be forced over the next five years to make significant changes to current working practices. Business groups in the UK are fiercely opposed to the removal of the individual opt out. It is argued that its loss would harm numerous sectors in the UK, including construction, transport, hospitality and leisure by reducing labour market flexibility. The removal could also lead to an additional burden on business caused by extra training and recruitment outlay as well as further pressure on wages.

Recent Domestic Measures

Recent years have also seen the implementation of a number of domestic employment measures aimed at enhancing the work life balance in the UK. These include extensions to maternity leave and pay, new rights to paid adoption leave, paid paternity leave, parental leave, the right for employees to take time off work to deal with family emergencies and the introduction of a new right to request flexible working hours for parents with children under the age of six or disabled children under the age of 18.

The Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) figures suggest that the right to request flexible working is beginning to have a significant impact on working patterns. In the first year since the right was introduced (to April 2004), the DTI claims that nearly 25% (800,000) of eligible parents made a request for a more flexible-working pattern, of which 75% were fully accepted by employers and another 9% were partly accepted or a compromise was reached.

The Future?

In February 2005, the DTI published its consultation paper entitled, “Work and Families: choice and flexibility”. The paper includes extensive measures designed to further improve the work life balance. The main proposals are:

• Extending the period for paid maternity and adoption leave to nine months, currently six months from April 2007, and further extending the period to one year by the end of the next parliament (2009/2010);
• The introduction of a new right for mothers to transfer a proportion of their maternity leave and pay to fathers, thus providing more choice to parents;
• Extending the right to request flexible working hours to employees who care for elderly or disabled relatives, and possibly to parents of older children;
• Help to employers, particularly small businesses, by giving them greater certainty about when employees are returning to work following maternity or adoption leave; and
• Simplify the administration of maternity leave and pay for employers, including consideration of whether the Government should pay parents direct through the Inland Revenue.

To date, there is inconsistent statistical evidence relating to the effectiveness of the employment legislation already implemented. Average weekly working time has increased over the past decade, yet we appear to be working more flexibly and taking advantage of the new family friendly policies. With more legislation planned, and with the possibility of the removal of the individual opt out from the Working Time Directive, it appears inevitable that businesses will be forced to make changes to current working practices. Businesses that resist could be ‘swimming against the tide’ both against the legislative framework and changing attitudes amongst workers.

For more information please contact Andrew Masters, Partner & Head of Employment.
 

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