Flexible working and The Employment Act

Twelve Predictions of The Impact on Our Working Environment, Including Death of the Job For Life, Emergence of Portfolio Careers, and Socio Economic Insecurities of Britain's Changing Workforce


Flexible Working and the UK Employment Act will redefine the traditional workplace mark the beginning of long lasting changes in how we Britain works, according to Flexible Working consultancy specialists, JBA Ltd. The company outlined the impact of the Employment Act on UK businesses, and made twelve predictions on long lasting changes it will have to our working environment.

The 2002 Employment Act comes into force on the 6th April 2003 and carries with it statutory rights for Flexible Working, affecting 3.7 million UK employees, with DTI quantified costs to employers of more than 600 million per year.

Flexible Working improves recruitment and retention, reduces absenteeism and increases motivation and performance, said John Blackwell, Managing Director of JBA Ltd. Unfortunately, many companies remain unprepared for the changes this new legislation will bring. Britons already work the longest hours in Europe with an average of 43 hours a week, compared with 40 hours in other countries. Forty percent of UK managers work in excess of 51 hours per week, and one in six work in excess of 60 hours per week. Research has shown that more than eighty per cent of us have felt under pressure to stay longer at work, even when the work day has finished. In addition to the immediate changes in the short term, we believe the Employment Act signals the beginning of pivotal changes in the workplace, attitudes to work, and the traditional infrastructure supporting it.

According to the Office of National Statistics, just seven per cent of the UK workforce or 1.8 million people presently work from home. By 2020, this figure is expected to be 25 per cent. The UK workforce will increase over next 10 years by 1.5 million. Eighty five percent of them will be women. With the ongoing pressure to find balance between work and home, Flexible Working will become a de-facto part of everyday working, rather than an exception to the norm.

Twenty five percent of managers today are female and seventy eight percent of UK women with children work, added Blackwell. Although legislation is behind the enforcement of Flexible Working, we believe socio-economic insecurities will also force a new set of workplace dynamics that more accurately reflect the lifestyles, demographics and needs of the changing workforce. We also believe it signifies the death of the 'job for life' as it will become more common place for people to have 'portfolio careers' with shorter assignments and multiple employers.

JBA has outlined twelve predictions on the long lasting impact of the Employment Act as it becomes both adopted and enforced in the UK. These include:

1) The traditional notion of the office as the company hub with fixed workstations at a fixed address will disappear.

2) Business agility will be the highest priority of company design, providing the capabilities of rapid response to mission changes, external and internal events, and organisational learning.

3) Companies will take a holistic view of the role and contribution of the office in relation to overall business competitiveness.

4) Adopting Flexible Working practices will fall equally on managers of physical and ITC assets, HR managers, and operational managers who design and direct work.

5) Flexible working will move beyond an alignment with business strategy, becoming synonymous with the continuous work improvement.

6) Workplace flexibility will transform from a collection of properties to a network of communities, places, and electronic connections.

7) Burgeoning legislation will drive Flexible Working service decisions through concise analysis of financial, property and business risks.

8) Increasing transactional and tactical functions will be outsourced.

9) Effective managers will transition from hierarchical leadership of subordinates to facilitators, coaches, and consensus builders among expert teams.

10) Web-based integration will merge HR, facilities and asset management to engage with supply and customer management systems.

11) Flexible Working will drive rethinking of the very nature of work - as seen through employees' eyes - all in the name of creating cost and process-efficient flexible-workplaces.

12) Thorough workplace transformation will require amending business processes and managing change throughout the corporate culture, with technology supporting this endeavour.


JBA have developed a modular approach to flexible working - a suite of proven, workforce-centric methodologies designed to help organisations realise immediate cost savings, operational efficiencies, and progressive structural change. Centred around a Flexible Working Maturity Model modular approach, JBA methodologies can be applied alone, or in combination, helping to assure rapid deployment, reduced risk, and customised value.

About JBA Limited

JBA Limited provides strategic consultancy on the business impact, organisational changes and corporate cost savings around Flexible Working. JBA advises organisations on how best to avoid the costs and overheads associated in complying with the UK Employment Act, while turning flexible working into tangible, business benefits that directly add to the bottom line profitability of a company. Customers include blue chip companies such as, HSBC, Insig, Royal & SunAlliance, Shell, Procter & Gamble, and Western Union to name but a few. Based in Henley-on-Thames, JBA is led by John Blackwell, a visiting fellow at three UK universities and author of the best selling book, Knowledge Management: A State of the Art Guide. He also has a forthcoming book titled, Who's Driving Us To Work: The Flexible Worker, which is due mid 2003.