Requests For Flexible Working: How Do I Handle It?

Introduction

Employers want a well-educated and flexible work force that allows their companies to be competitive and employees want the flexibility that enables them to balance work and family life. Advances in technology have led to a changing working environment where remote working is becoming both increasingly accessible and popular, with the result that requests for flexible working arrangements are becoming more common. Flexible working has also been known to increase productivity and retain key employees in the workforce. 

In the UK, the provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 provide a statutory right for employees to ask their employer for a change to their contractual terms and conditions of employment to work flexibly, provided they have 26 weeks service. Such a request can be made every 12 months. There is no Irish equivalent to this provision, other than a statutory right to request changes to working hours or patterns of work, which is limited