Can new flexible working rules benefit both nurses and nursing employers?

New employment legislation gives nurses working in Great Britain the statutory right to make two flexible working requests a year.

The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 gives employees in England, Scotland and Wales the right to make a flexible working requests from their first day of employment.

Although the new legislation does not apply to Northern Ireland, the government there has said it will comply with the law, updating their NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook accordingly.

What is the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023?

The new law allows employees to make two flexible working requests every 12 months, instead of one.

Also, flexible working requests must be dealt with by the employer within a two-month deadline rather than the previous three-month window. Furthermore, employees aren’t required to explain what effect, if any, their flexible working request might have on their employing organisation.

In addition, the law requires employers to liaise with an employee before rejecting a flexible working request.

What do you think?

Do you think having the ability to make flexible working requests from their first day of employment could mean that more nurses stay in their current roles, instead of leaving either that role or the profession altogether?

Also, will the ability to request flexible working from day one of employment encourage more people to apply for nursing roles?

Flexible working is ‘absolutely critical’ for the future of the health service insists Jennifer Gardner, NHS Employers Assistant Director of Development and Employment.

‘Ensuring flexible working gives people across the NHS more choice about their working pattern, enabling them to achieve a better work-life balance and helping to ensure the NHS is an employer of choice,’ she said.

“In a context of more than 100,000 vacancies across the NHS, retention is critical and improving staff experience is the cornerstone of these efforts for employers.” - Jennifer Gardner, NHS Employers Assistant Director of Development and Employment.

‘The NHS handbook was updated in September 2021 to allow for the day one right to request flexible working. The NHS was leading the way, ahead of the statutory requirements, and setting a new standard. To see the national legislation catch up is welcome’ she explained.

Let us know what you think in the comments below

Given the pressure the NHS is under, do you think that having more staff working flexibly will lead to greater productivity, or will the measure end up instead being an incentive to try and keep nurses from leaving the NHS?

Please let us know what you think in the comments. Can an increased availability of flexible working arrangements benefit nursing employers as well as nurses, particularly against a backdrop of perpetual nursing shortages and over 100,000 seemingly permanent vacancies?