On The Horizon – September 2024

A Strange Storm Over Ways of Working

As September beckoned, a curious storm arose across the media with the apparently ominous expression “four-day week” adorning several major newspapers. It began in the Daily Telegraph , was amplified by the Daily Mail , and spread across to Sky and even the BBC . The message was tempered by LBC , Metro , The Guardian and indeed Personnel Today , all of whom underlined that the government was not directly advocating a 4-day week under the Plan to Make Work Pay and the Employment Rights Bill.

Baroness Smith of Malvern, the minister for skills did indeed acknowledge to LBC that requesting to work full hours across fewer days is one of the many types of flexible working that might appeal to some, where work deliverables permit. What is puzzling about this media flurry is that compressed hours has been included in most discussions of the right to request flexible working since that right was first introduced in 2002 . So, pointing to this as a type of flexibility that workers may request is not really new news.

And is ‘making flexible working the default’ (promised by the proposed Employment Rights Bill) really so out-of-the-blue-new, either? The Queen’s Speech of December 2019, under Boris Johnson’s premiership promised an Employment Bill, explaining “Subject to consultation, the Bill will make flexible working the default unless employers have good reason not to. This can be found on p44 of the Background Briefing Notes.

Perhaps it does not matter that the media like to catch our attention with slightly shock tactics? After all, we know that’s the business they’re in, right? However, commenting on a perceived drop in business confidence among Institute of Directors (IoD) members, Anna Leach, their Chief Economist explained on 1 ^st September: “The newsflow in recent weeks on employment rights and Autumn tax rises has dented confidence in the environment for business in the UK.” So, what is reported does have an impact on readers.

Again, however, headlines need some examination. Under the banner: “Confidence fizzles out in August”, we learn that “The IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index, which measures business leader optimism in prospects for the UK economy, fell back to -12 in August, following a three-year high of +7 in July 2024”. We go on to read that the Index is “based on 715 responses from across the UK”, however, 89% of these are leaders of businesses with fewer than 250 people and 43% are micro businesses (fewer than 10 people) or sole traders. Microbusinesses and sole traders are of course an important element in the life blood of the UK economy and culture; but these findings may not necessarily fully represent large employers. It seems important that we continue to dig deeper, beyond any headline.

Consultation on the Plan to Make Work Pay

The promised conversation about the Employment Right Bills is underway is with major businesses, representative organisations and trade unions. The responses seem broadly supportive and positive. However, a warning about the need to avoid or reduce “unintended consequences” is repeated by the IoD, the British Chambers of Commerce and the CBI (Confederation of British Industry). So, the need to involve employers in shaping the plans is real.

Ben Willmott, Head of Public Policy for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has said : “It would make sense for the government to take stock of the impact of recent changes introduced only in April to enable people to request flexible working from day one of employment, before seeking to make further changes.” This does seem wise as those changes are quite similar and have only just come into play.

As discussed previously in this blog, the proposed Employment Rights Bill also includes the aim to “Ban exploitative zero hours contracts”, “End fire and rehire”, “Introduce basic rights from day one to parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal”, “Strengthen the collective voice of workers, including through their trade unions”, and strengthen the minimum wage, removing age bands, and changing the remit of the independent Low Pay Commission “so it accounts for the cost of living”. There will be a Fair Work Agency to enable enforcement, which is also an idea that goes back to at least 2017, when former Prime Minister Theresa May looked to implement recommendations of the Matthew Taylor review of modern working practices in the UK.

There are also plans to introduce a Right to Switch Off under the Employment Rights Bill which the CIPD similarly says needs consultation and “needs to be applied flexibly”. It is likely that businesses will draw up a code of practice with workers, setting out their normal working hours and when they can expect to be allowed to ignore work calls and emails, with exceptions for emergencies.

The UK is, Apparently, Good for Women

“The UK is the sixth best country in Europe for working women”, according to research by Digital PR Agency, through a points-based index system using available data. It analysed the number of women in leadership positions, female employment, the gender gap index and maternity policies in each country. This yielded an equality index score of 5.78/10 for the UK (with 8.27/10 for number of women in the workplace, the highest score out of every country). The Scandinavians continue to show the way for gender equity: Norway was top with a total gender equality score of 7.11 out of 10 and Iceland was second with 6.75 (and the best gender gap index score of all countries analysed (10/10).

The number of employers failing to report gender pay gaps is also falling. The EHRC (Equality & Human Rights Commission) names employers which have not submitted gender pay gap data despite reminders. This year, this has fallen to 6 organisations versus 8 in 2023 and 28 in 2022. It will of course be important to track compliance too with Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap reporting under the government’s proposed Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. 

The good news on gender pay gap reporting aside, the TUC (Trades Union Congress) has found the amount of time women spend out of paid work because of caring responsibilities is one of the most significant contributing factors to the gender pensions gap. The TUC designated 14 August as Gender Pensions Gap Day: the day when the average retired woman effectively stops receiving their pension while men continue to benefit. TUC analysis shows nearly 1.5 million women who are not in paid work are undertaking unpaid caring responsibilities. “Women are nearly five times more likely than men to be out of work because of caring responsibilities, while black and ethnic minority (BME) women are 6.5 times more likely”. Women aged 25 to 34 are most likely to be undertaking unpaid care while not in paid work compared to men of the same age. 

HR News also carried a warning that in the UK, 67% of women aged 25-34 feel anxious about their current financial situation, compared to less than half (43%) of men in the same age group. This comes from the nudge 2024 Global financial wellbeing report – with the main report showing only that overall men and women men are marginally (4%) more confident than women.

Ongoing Ambiguity Over Flexibility

Aside from the recent media excitement over compressed hours there remains a mixed reaction in the real world towards flexible working.

Mandy Garner wrote a thoughtful summary for WorkingMums of the recent research paper by Professors Heejung Chung and Hyojin Seo: Flexibility Stigma Across Europe in Social Indicators Research. The research finds ‘flexibility stigma’ hinders workers’ take-up of flexible working arrangements and can hinder career progression. Looking at how that stigma varies across Europe, the researchers found that “in countries with a more work-life balance work culture and more egalitarian gender norms, there is less flexibility stigma.” The UK sits below the Nordic countries with more negative colleague perceptions on flexibility and more of a sense that flexible working stigma can negatively affects people’s careers. As Mandy Garner highlights, “Mothers of very young children and women with other care responsibilities are more likely to believe that colleagues hold negative views against flexible workers compared to women without children or other care responsibilities. Mothers with children between ages 7–14 and women with other care responsibilities are more likely to say that careers can be negatively impacted by flexible working than women without care responsibilities.”

Apparently, even hybrid workers themselves are not so sure it is good for us! HRreview pointed to a recent survey by employee benefits and engagement company Pluxee UK, suggesting “hybrid workers are more likely than their fully remote or office-based counterparts to report that work is negatively impacting their mental health” with 42% of hybrid workers reporting adverse effects on their mental wellbeing, compared to 32% of fully remote workers and 30% of office-based employees. Hybrid workers reported skipping exercise and working long hours.”

There were also curiously vocal and mixed opinions on the wisdom of Starbucks new CEO Brian Niccol having a remote office on Newport Beach, California, while the main office is in Seattle. As he is likely to be mostly on the road, and his contract says he will be in Seattle as often as needed, it seemed something of a non-point, though the Financial Times considered it to be engaging news!

There’s always a new trend to encourage people into central offices. For advisors from Korn Ferry, it’s encouraging workers to have their parcels delivered to work, avoiding the rise in ‘Porch Piracy’ in the US. For Chris Ellison, Chief Executive at Australian mining company, Mineral Resources, the driver behind everything from coffee provision to childcare is to hold his staff “captive all day long”! Dramatic language aide, we do know from our Work+Family Snapshot as linked earlier, that 85% said employer-sponsored childcare helps them attend a place of work and 4 in 5 say the care enhances productivity.

Rising Expectations on Supporting Care

HR News reported Towergate Health & Protection’s research showing a rise in employers perceiving their workforce will expect expanded supports. This includes 29% expecting a demand for help with caring responsibilities. At Bright Horizons, we certainly know our clients value family supports and our research shows strong links with productivity, wellbeing, loyalty and more.

Another push for greater support – in this case for carers of adult dependants – comes from Carers UK, signalling that the productivity benefits of making the unpaid statutory carers leave into a right to paid leave would outweigh the ‘£5.5 to £32 million’ required to fund it. Carers UK says the gains could amount to an estimated at £8.2 billion a year modelled on savings made by carer-friendly employer, Centrica, through “increased worker retention, reduced recruitment costs and a reduction in other productivity costs”. Carers UK is urging the inclusion of Paid Carer’s Leave in the Employment Right Bill, to address “economic inactivity in the over 50s, a tight labour market, skills shortages, an ageing population and UK-wide productivity levels”.

Back to School Without the One-Word Ofsted Ratings; and Back to WorkEarly?

As the new school term begins, Bright Horizons Director: Early Childhood Regulation, Research & Development, Caroline Wright, has provided supportive advice for any parent helping their child join a new school, whether transitioning from one school up to another or moving to a new area.

Meanwhile, the sizeable transition greeting school leaders and staff is the news that Ofsted is removing the one-word headline grades for schools with immediate effect. The Department for Education press release explains: "For inspections this academic year, parents will see four grades across the existing sub-categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership & management”. The release goes on to signal the introduction of ‘School Report Cards’ from Ofsted from September 2025, an approach it says is supported by 77% of parents. Bridget Phillipson, Education Secretary, is quoted as saying: "The removal of headline grades is a generational reform and a landmark moment for children, parents, and teachers."

For those returning to work after maternity or similar parental leave, Pregnant Then Screwed’s survey of over 3,000 parents found that a quarter (28%) of mothers are returning sooner than they wished to due to rules meaning parents can only apply quarterly for the new government funded places for nine-month old children (which became available from 1 ^st September.). Scheme rules mean the parent must return to work within 30 days of applying for the funding so those who are due to return to work in October, November or December will need to go back by the end of September if they want to access funded childcare before the January window.