06 January 2006
Public sector employers are three times more likely to offer flexible working practices than their private sector counterparts, according to independent figures.
However, the latest Labour Force Survey assessment of British working practices found that almost 60% of public bodies do not offer staff flexible employment schemes, despite legislation in 2003 that gives employees the right to request these.
The Trades Union Congress this week attacked the 'lack of strategic thinking' by the government and employers over working practices that are 'still far from flexible'.
According to the LFS Microdata study, 19.8% of public bodies allow flexitime working, compared with just 6.3% of employers in the private sector.
Public bodies also compare favourably with the private sector in offering annualised hours contracts, term-time working for parents and job sharing.
But 59.3% of public employers fail to offer any flexible working schedules to staff. In the private sector, 86.6% do not.
The total number of staff in Britain working flexitime, annualised hours or job sharing has fallen since 1995, despite the legislation.
PFjan2006
