Do you have a legal right to work from home? Can you insist on working a four-day week for the same wage? What if your employer refuses? In this blog post, we look at what UK law says about your right to work flexibly and the reality of the situation facing many employers and employees.
With the lifting of the remaining coronavirus restrictions across the UK, there is now no requirement for those who can work from home to continue to do so. As we have seen, however, the past two years have shown many people that they can do their jobs just as well from home and have a better work-life balance. A YouGov survey conducted at the end of January found that 71% of people preferred to work from home and 58% felt more productive when they did so. While some employers have been flexible, a number, such as Goldman Sachs, have insisted on staff returning to the office and the daily commute. Are they within their rights to do so?
First of all, it should be noted that currently there is no legal right to work from home, or to be granted another type of flexible working—unless a person’s contract of employment says otherwise. The right is only one to make a request to work flexibly and have the employer consider that request “in a reasonable manner.” It is nothing more than that. The employer must, however, show that they have considered it reasonably—simply dismissing the request out of hand would not be legally acceptable.
The right to ask for a variation...
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