Survey and Research Data

The "hidden brain drain" countered

 A March 2005 survey conducted by the Hidden Brain Drain task force (a coalition of 19 US and UK companies and law firms) received responses from 2443 professional women and 643 professional men and revealed that:

1. 54+hour-plus work weeks were common for those in the professions of law, medicine and business;
2. 37% of professional women voluntarily dropped out of the workforce for an average of 2.2 years (often for family concerns) and only 5% said they would be interested in returning to their former employer;
3. 66% of women reported that flexible work options were extremely or very important;
4. 42% of female respondents reported that flexibility was more important than earning a big salary;
5. 82% female respondents gave reduced hours a high priority;
6. 24% of professional men also dropped out of the workforce (more than likely for a career change). [13]

 Job sharing boosts loyalty

 According to the Society for Human Resource Management job sharing peaked in 2001 when 26% of firms offered it as a flexible work option. The number of companies using job sharing fell to 17% in 2004, and was 19% in 2005. Job sharing was not in widespread use according to the Families and Work Institute's 2005 National Study of employers which revealed that 46% of organizations with 50 employees or more allow some employees to job share and only 13% allow all or most employees to do so. It was believed that when two employees share one job and split the duties employers can reap dividends including improved job performance, retaining valued employees, retention of institutional knowledge, and boosting morale and loyalty. [6]

Flexible Work practices commonly available

 A 2003 MORI Social Research Institute survey on UK flexible work practices which involved 2,300 respondents representing organisations with five or more employees reported that:

• 17% had requested changed working hours
• 29% of mothers, and 12% of fathers, requested flexible working hours
• 29% of employees desired part-time hours
• 23% wanted to change when they worked
• 77% of requests were agreed to and 20% refused

Commonly available flexible working arrangements were:

• Part time work (67%)
• Reduced hours for a limited period (62%)
• Flexitime (48%)
• Job-sharing (41%)
• Term-time working (32%)
• Compressed working week (30%)

Respondents reported that the following flexible working patterns might have a negative effect on careers:

• Working reduced hours (51%)
• Inability to work beyond contracted hours (42%)
• Taking leave to care for children/dependants (37%)
• Working different work patterns (32%)
• Working from home (25%)

Men were more likely than women to consider that such working patterns could be detrimental to their career prospects/job security. [14]

Flexible work arrangements – company size matters

In a 2005 survey of 1092 US organisations by the Families and Work Institute, respondents answered questions concerning employer flexibility plans as follows;

Note: Small companies = 50 to 999 staff, and Large companies = 1000 or more staff). [6]

Flexible work arrangements sought by job seekers  A  British government commissioned survey of some 5,000 UK job seekers revealed that most employees were no longer driven by huge salaries or perks but by a good quality of life and a balance between home and work. Of the respondents:

1. 70% of job seekers wanted the choice of working flexibly;
2. 33% would sacrifice 1,000 pounds a year if they could move from the 9 to 5 routine to more flexible hours;
3. 50% would rather have flexibility in working hours to having a company car or free gym membership;
4. 25% of managers and directors considered a work-life balance a major factor in deciding whether to apply for a new job, and 80% of job seeking parents with children under six agreed with them;
5. 60% considered work-life balance as an important factor in assessing a potential new job. [15]

lexible working arrangements for non-managerial staff in the UK  

Researchers analysed the 1998 UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey data (WERS98) in relation to working at home practices. The researchers found a total of 277 workplaces (12.6% of the total surveyed) allowed non-managerial staff to work at or from home in normal working hours if they wished to do so, and 33% confirmed that some staff did work from home although only 9% had more than 5% of their workforce doing so on a regular basis. The study concluded that in workplaces where non-managerial staff were allowed to work from home:

1. A close overlap existed between the option to work at home and other flexible working practices such as parental leave, term-time working and job sharing.
2. The organisations were likely to:
• have quality circles or continuous improvement groups;
• seek employees` views and disclose management information;
• require staff to monitor the quality of their own output;
• be favourably inclined towards  trade unions
3. The jobs of the largest occupational groups were:
• more varied;
• allowed staff greater scope to determine how to carry out tasks;
• offered staff a greater say in setting their work pace.
4. Employee turnover was 12.1% a year compared with 18.3% in organisations that did not allow non-managerial staff to work at home
5. The organisations were likely to have the following characteristics:
• a smaller proportion of part-time contracts;
• a higher proportion of employees in managerial or professional grades;
• a higher proportion of employees with high skill levels. [16]

Teleworking increases productivity in UK  

The following findings were reported by the Social Market Foundation:
Teleworking is increasing productivity in UK companies by up to 30%

• 2.2m Britons now `telework` regularly, this figure having increased 13% year on year since 1997.
• Employees account for nearly 1.1m of the nation`s teleworkers, and the number of self- employed teleworkers has diminished slightly.
• Occasional teleworking has increased by 82% in the past five years
• Every year since 1998, the ONS Labour Market Trends survey has indicated that of all employees working from home, or on the road, on an occasional basis, never fewer than 70% have been classified as `managers and senior officials` or `professionals`.
• The latest Labour Market Trends survey revealed that 67% of UK teleworkers are male. [17]

Flexible working arrangements make workers happier and better performers, UK.

A survey commissioned by iOra, a supplier of solutions for managing mobile content, found there were increasing numbers of staff to able work anywhere. The main benefit that companies quoted was that enabling employees to work in a more flexible way produced happier employees who tended to perform better. 71% of companies said the main business benefit of enabling mobile workers was that employees were better able to service client needs. Another benefit quoted was cost savings due to people working from home thus avoiding the need for maintaining offices. More than 50% of companies said that they envisaged the number of mobile workers increasing over the next two years [18]

Flexitime popular across age groups in the UK

In 2005 Flexible Working Employee Survey carried out by the U.K Department of Trade and Industry a total of 3,222 employees were surveyed. Responses including the following:
14% of employees had requested a change to their working arrangements in the past two years.

Employees by age group requesting flexible work arrangements were:  

• 18% aged 16 to 24
• 17% aged 25 to 34
• 12% aged 35 to 44
• 10% aged 45 to 54
• 13% aged 55 to 64

The following types of flexible work were requested:  

• 25% part-time hours  
• 23% flexi-time  
• 16% reduced hours for a limited period
• 7% a compressed working week  
• 16% complex working patterns combining different working arrangements

Female employees who had requested a change to their working pattern were most likely to have requested to work part-time, at 30%, compared with 18% of male employees. [19]

Teleworking experiences significant growth

A UK Labour Force Survey (LFS) concerning teleworking found that in 2005 some 3.1 million people worked from their own home, or used their home as a base. 2.4 million used both a telephone and computer to carry out their work at home and 2.1 million could not work at home (or use home as a base) without using both a telephone and a computer. Most teleworkers (1.8 million) worked in different places using their home as a base. Relatively few people (0.6 million) worked mainly in their own home. The number of teleworkers had increased by more than 150% (1.5 million) since 1997 when teleworkers represented 40% of home workers and by 2005 this had risen to 77%. Most teleworkers were self-employed (62%). [7]

Teleworking by employment status and by age  

A 2002 survey concerning Telework in the U.K by the Office for National Statistics reported the following findings:

1. The employment status of all teleworker types was:
• Self-employed teleworkers 769,748 (total self employed = 3,231,896)
• Employee teleworkers 1,010,274 (total employed = 24,975.239)
• Total teleworkers 1,780.022 (total all workers 28,207,135)
2. The numbers in various age groups was:
• 16-25 teleworkers 51,799 (all 4,445,280)
• 26-35 teleworkers 395,239 (all 7,025,412)
• 36-45 teleworkers 585,088 (all 7,383,131)
• 46-55 teleworkers 494,247 (all 6,113,507)
• 56-65 teleworkers 219,444 (all 2,862,513)
• 66 and over; teleworkers 34,125 (all 371,292) [20]

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