New research by LogMeIn reveals that most Brits plan to ditch the 9am to 5pm workday and move to a more flexible work schedule. LogMeIn commissioned this research to assess how Brits’ working lives may change when new legislation comes into force on 30th June 2014, which gives all workers with at least 26 weeks of service the right to make a request for flexible working.
Key findings from the research include:
Brits prefer an early start. Almost half (48%) of Brits said that their ideal work day would start before 9am. The same goes for 53% of workers polled in Wales where 35% of those workers would like to start their day at 7am. Only one third (34%) of Brits prefer working 9 to 5.
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Many are benefiting from flexible working hours. One in twenty (7%) workers clock-in after 10am rising to one in five (22%) in London, over three times the national average. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Brits clock-in before 9am, with half (48%) of those people starting work at 8am.
Across the UK, 40% of workers aren’t offered any flexible working benefits by their employer at present. Only 23% of workers are given the opportunity to work remotely, while one in five (20%) Brits can take time off in lieu of working overtime and 18% have the freedom the change their daily working hours.
Only 24% of employers plan to offer more flexible working benefits to their staff beginning 30th June. However, two-fifths (40%) do not plan to make any changes of which 29% are not aware of the forthcoming changes to workers’ rights. A third (36%) of employers surveyed already offer flexible working benefits to their staff.
One in ten (11%) employers plan to introduce mobile working technology for the first time. Two-thirds (67%) of employers polled already offer mobile or remote working technology to some workers so that they can work while on the go or from home, and one in four (25%) plan to offer this technology to more workers in their organisation.
Employers do not expect staff to make flexible working requests. While more than half (56%) of workers polled are thinking about making a request for flexible working, less than one third (27%) of employers are expecting staff to make such requests. The top three requests that employers expect are for:
- Remote working (41%)
- Compressed hours (29%), which give employees the option of spreading a working week over a shorter number of days
- Time off in lieu (25%)
“The days of working 9 to 5 in a physical office are waning. Thousands of time-poor Brits are working increasingly diverse hours and in a wide range of locations, with many workers starting early and/or putting in hours away from the office to balance personal and professional commitments,” said Stephen Duignan at LogMeIn. “Our research suggests that more than half of workers would like to strike a greater work/life balance by taking advantage of flexible working, which means employers need to consider the benefits and the technology needed in order to offer staff the ability to do so. Affordable cloud-based technology that works across locations and devices such has join.me and LogMeIn Pro, is widely available, making it easier than ever for firms to introduce flexible working.”
