UK Employers Worry Flexible Work Expansion Could Ignite In-Fighting

Nearly all employees in the UK will now be allowed to request flexible working schedules, a right previously restricted to parents and caregivers. Any worker who has been on the job at least six months – about 20 million people – may ask their employer for schedule leniency, and the employer must provide its reasoning if the request is denied. The prospect has support from unions and workers’ rights groups, but a Squire Patton Boggs survey of more than 100 UK-based companies shows serious concern that the new rule could leave to “potential resentment and in-fighting” among coworkers. About 84 percent of respondent businesses said they were concerned about  inter-office spats, and 55 percent said they expect the policy change “to have an adverse impact on the day-to-day running of their business.”