Part 1 – Becoming More Family and Female Friendly
In this series of articles, I take a look at the HR and workforce trends that are building momentum to help businesses understand what the workforce of the future will look like and how they can prepare for these workforce evolutions. In this article we take a look at how workplaces are becoming more accessible to those with family and caring responsibilities.
Informed employers will be aware that a number of new acts that recently (June 2023) received Royal Assent including:
- The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act – whereby parents of newborn babies admitted to neonatal care can take up to an additional 12 weeks leave (in addition to their maternity or paternity leave)
- The Protection of Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act – which extends the existing redundancy protections of those who are on maternity, adoption and shared parental leave to additionally cover those who are pregnant and for a period of time after they return to work from these leaves
- The Carer’s Leave Act – giving employees a new statutory entitlement to take 5 days unpaid from work to care for dependants with long term care needs
- The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill – amendments to existing flexible working practices meaning employees can make up to two requests within a year and employers must respond to requests within two rather than three months. There is also the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
Following their Royal Assent, these bills are likely to become law in 2024. In addition to the above, there are a number of pending bills in the pipeline which are currently working their way through Parliament including:
- The Infertility Treatment Bill – proposing to give employees paid time off to attend fertility treatments and unpaid leave for partners to support them
- The Miscarriages Leave Bill – proposing paid time off for employees who have suffered a miscarriage
Earlier in 2023, the Government also announced in its Budget, their intention to offer free childcare hours to parents of children from 9 month old. Currently, free childcare is offered to working parents with children from 3 years of age, so this is another massive shift in childcare and working options for young parents. It also affirms the Government’s commitment to make work more accessible to individuals with childcare responsibilities. It is proposed this extended childcare support will come into effect as early as September 2024. Gov.uk explains that the Government is committed to ensuring the UK is the best place in the world to work and the need for the UK to have a strong and flexible labour market which supports participation and economic growth. A commitment that can clearly be seen in the approval of these acts and the extension of free childcare hours.
All these developments are moving towards making work much more accessible to all and widening the labour market. Particularly being inclusive to those with caring and parental responsibilities, which in the majority of cases are generally females. The bills outlined above also offer additional protection to those who have traditionally suffered more disadvantage or discrimination as a result of their caring and / or parental responsibilities. These developments are givubg employees greater access to flexibility and work-life balance including how, where and when they work. Evidence from the CIPD has highlighted that those with greater flexibility in their work report high levels of job satisfaction, wellbeing and performance.
Some well-known companies including Co-op and Natwest are already implementing policies that adhere to these bills, despite them yet becoming law. These companies have recognised the benefits of being ahead of the curve on these developments, and how beneficial being a family and female supportive employer can be for their employer brand for attraction and retention purposes.
From a cultural perspective, now is the time for employers to work on building a culture and a reputation for being open, supportive and flexible where employees feel supported to work in different ways. In turn this will only help the business’ attraction and retention agendas. Considering the implementation of more flexible working practices and working options can open businesses up to wider talent pools and create fairer and more inclusive workplaces. With a momentous shift in attitudes towards flexible working and the support of women in the workplace, employers should be ensuring they take a positive and open response to these developments.
In our next articles in this series, we will take a looking at the following trends:
- Creating a flexible and fluid workforce
- Attracting the worker of tomorrow with ‘career experiences’
- Why to skills map and the ‘half-life of skills’
If you would like any advice on flexible working, the pending bills mentioned in this article, or HR trends, then please contact Kimberley Wallace, Senior HR Consultant on kim@nockoldshr.co.uk or 0345 646 0406.