Minister calls for wider flexible working rights

British government ministers are considering giving all employees the right to ask for flexible working hours "from the beginning" of a new job as part of plans to encourage a fundamental shift in working habits.
The Work and Pensions Secretary, Yvette Cooper, says her office is working with employers and organisations such as the federation of small businesses to draw up new ways of supporting men as well as women and non-parents as well as parents working more flexible hours.
The current rules are limited to parents of children under 16 and carers, and Cooper wants to extend them. "You want people to offer flexible working from the beginning and we need to look again at how the legislation can support different ways of doing that, " she said.
"There will be some areas where it's not possible to fit round particular school hours or particular things where the nature of the business makes it hard - but what you need is the cultural change for everybody to think differently." Cooper's proposals come as the government announced that fathers will be given the right to six months' paternity leave.
There will be a legal right to take the mother's place at home for the last three months of a nine-month maternity break; they would receive £123 a week in statutory pay. Fathers would then be entitled to take a further three months' unpaid leave. The move was criticised by some business leaders.

(From: The Guardian, Friday 29 January 2010 -slightly adapted)

Minister calls for wider flexible working rights

British government ministers are considering giving all employees the right to ask for flexible working hours "from the beginning" of a new job as part of plans to encourage a fundamental shift in working habits.
The Work and Pensions Secretary, Yvette Cooper, says her office is working with employers and organisations such as the federation of small businesses to draw up new ways of supporting men as well as women and non-parents as well as parents working more flexible hours.
The current rules are limited to parents of children under 16 and carers, and Cooper wants to extend them. "You want people to offer flexible working from the beginning and we need to look again at how the legislation can support different ways of doing that, " she said.
"There will be some areas where it's not possible to fit round particular school hours or particular things where the nature of the business makes it hard - but what you need is the cultural change for everybody to think differently." Cooper's proposals come as the government announced that fathers will be given the right to six months' paternity leave.
There will be a legal right to take the mother's place at home for the last three months of a nine-month maternity break; they would receive £123 a week in statutory pay. Fathers would then be entitled to take a further three months' unpaid leave. The move was criticised by some business leaders.

(From: The Guardian, Friday 29 January 2010 -slightly adapted)

Companies in the rich world are confronted with a rapidly ageing workforce. Nearly one in three American workers will be over 50 by 2012, and America is a young country compared with Japan and Germany. China is also ageing rapidly, thanks to its one-child policy. This means that companies will have to learn how to manage older workers better.
Most companies are remarkably ill-prepared. There was a flicker of interest in the problem a few years ago but it was snuffed out by the recession. The management literature on older workers is a mere molehill compared with the mountain devoted to recruiting and retaining the young.
Companies are still stuck with an antiquated model for dealing with ageing, which assumes that people should get pay rises and promotions on the basis of age. They have dealt with the burdens of this model by periodically "downsizing" older workers or encouraging them to take early retirement. This has created a dual labour market for older workers, of cosseted insiders on the one hand and unemployed or retired outsiders on the other.
But this model cannot last. The number of young people, particularly those with valuable science and engineering skills, is shrinking. And governments are raising retirement ages and making it more difficult for companies to shed older workers, in a desperate attempt to cope with their underfunded pension systems.

Feb 4th 2010 | From The Economist print edition [adapted]

Companies in the rich world are confronted with a rapidly ageing workforce. Nearly one in three American workers will be over 50 by 2012, and America is a young country compared with Japan and Germany. China is also ageing rapidly, thanks to its one-child policy. This means that companies will have to learn how to manage older workers better.
Most companies are remarkably ill-prepared. There was a flicker of interest in the problem a few years ago but it was snuffed out by the recession. The management literature on older workers is a mere molehill compared with the mountain devoted to recruiting and retaining the young.
Companies are still stuck with an antiquated model for dealing with ageing, which assumes that people should get pay rises and promotions on the basis of age. They have dealt with the burdens of this model by periodically "downsizing" older workers or encouraging them to take early retirement. This has created a dual labour market for older workers, of cosseted insiders on the one hand and unemployed or retired outsiders on the other.
But this model cannot last. The number of young people, particularly those with valuable science and engineering skills, is shrinking. And governments are raising retirement ages and making it more difficult for companies to shed older workers, in a desperate attempt to cope with their underfunded pension systems.

Feb 4th 2010 | From The Economist print edition [adapted]

Companies in the rich world are confronted with a rapidly ageing workforce. Nearly one in three American workers will be over 50 by 2012, and America is a young country compared with Japan and Germany. China is also ageing rapidly, thanks to its one-child policy. This means that companies will have to learn how to manage older workers better.
Most companies are remarkably ill-prepared. There was a flicker of interest in the problem a few years ago but it was snuffed out by the recession. The management literature on older workers is a mere molehill compared with the mountain devoted to recruiting and retaining the young.
Companies are still stuck with an antiquated model for dealing with ageing, which assumes that people should get pay rises and promotions on the basis of age. They have dealt with the burdens of this model by periodically "downsizing" older workers or encouraging them to take early retirement. This has created a dual labour market for older workers, of cosseted insiders on the one hand and unemployed or retired outsiders on the other.
But this model cannot last. The number of young people, particularly those with valuable science and engineering skills, is shrinking. And governments are raising retirement ages and making it more difficult for companies to shed older workers, in a desperate attempt to cope with their underfunded pension systems.

Feb 4th 2010 | From The Economist print edition [adapted]