Incentives for flexible and home working

After the furlough scheme finishes, provide incentives to employers and/or employees to encourage more flexible working opportunities and allow employers to keep employees working from home where possible. The political choice that has been made in recent years is to encourage economic growth by incentivising both parents to work as much as possible eg by aiming for longer nursery hours. I think we have to rebalance this especially as social distancing measures are likely to be in place until a vaccine is found. This could mean children are not going to be in full time school/childcare for at least a year. Employers should be encouraged to allow job sharing, more flexible shift patterns, reduced hours and home work for both men and women not just for now but for the future to allow parents to spend more time with their children, especially when the kids are in their very early years. This is particularly important when it may be unsafe for grandparents to do as much childcare until a vaccine is found. Child benefit should be increased so families are not penalised from having to cut working hours. As child benefit is means tested, I think this is the fairest way for families to be able to make the right choice for their individual circumstances.

Why the contribution is important

Home working can be very productive but there are allowances that have to be made to make it work efficiently such as good IT support from employers. The benefits of a better work/life balance from flexible working should be taken into consideration when making political choices rather than a continued pursuit of economic growth from encouraging both parents to work full time and leave childcare to others or grandparents. This will also mean that public transport will not be as busy and will be safer for people in jobs where working from home or flexible shifts are not possible.

by miaod1111 on May 08, 2020 at 12:51PM

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Comments

  • Posted by DevVeh May 08, 2020 at 17:26

    I dont think the public purse should be giving the incentives. If a business wants good employees this is stuff they should offer to be competitive
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