Access to flexible working arrangements should be made a statutory right for all employees, a seminar to mark Work Life Balance day was told yesterday.
Sally Anne Kinahan, director of general services with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), said the right to work flexibly already existed for some categories of workers in a number of EU countries.
Ireland was also one of the few preaccession EU states that did not provide paid parental leave, she said. Ms Kinahan told the seminar at Dublin
Castle that work life balance facilities had an important role to play in keeping staff, particularly parents, in the workforce.
Research carried out by Ictu indicated that 87 per cent of workers wanted access to some form of work life balance, she said. For many workers, the issue was now as important as pay. Accommodating workers’ needs was one of the surest ways to reduce stress and to improve workers’ health, commitment and morale. This in turn would underpin the retention of workers by their employers.
"But we are not convinced that this will happen unless it is made to happen through the creation of a culture in workplaces that facilitates employees in
adopting a more balanced approach to their working and life needs," Ms Kinahan said.
“Both employers and government have duties in this area and both need to deliver.” The most effective way to ensure this happened would be to make access to flexible working a statutory right, she said.
“We are calling for the development of employment law that will allow workers the right to request and be provided with at least one flexible working option and ensure that employers cannot simply dismiss such requests.”