Hi all,
Now I think this may be me fundamentally misunderstanding/overthinking this bill, so apologies for the possibly dimwitted questions in advance.
Example scenario: you hire a full time employee, and on their first day they can show up and request to work only 3 days per week. I think the bill require employers to consider this request, e.g., hiring another part timer for the 2 days not worked?
But then what happens if that two days a week person wants to reduce to one day? Etc.
I know we can refuse requests, but won't this just cause an awful lot of admin and more importantly, resentment? What's the point of the bill? How are employers meant to workforce plan if employees can be constantly requesting to change hours? You think you've secured a great full timer, but actually they want to be part-time but three other employees now want less hours as well, but they may all change their minds in a few months. In my experience of working somewhere that already default considers more than one flexi working request in a 12 month period, people don't know what they want and switch and change things up a lot.
I thought it sounded good at first, but thinking about it in practice, it seems like it'll just cause headaches all round (provided I've understood it, which I'm not convinced I have).
