After hearing in May that the federal government was consulting with Canadians on bringing the right to request flexible working to all federally regulated employees, I thought it was about time Canada considered the issue. It’s no secret that the way we work has changed dramatically in the past decade and labour laws need to keep up.
I waited with anticipation to see what would come. My interest is twofold: Firstly, I’m a strong advocate for accommodating employees’ different needs around where, when and how they work. Secondly, I was living and working in Britain when that country brought in the right to request flexible working for all employees and I wanted to see how Canada would react.
Since 2003, Britain has legislated that parents with children under the age of six have the right to request flexible work. In 2007, it extended the right to any employee who cared for an adult family member and then, in June 2014, to any employee.
Read: Employers and employees disagree on right to request flexible working
As Britain implemented these new obligations, there wasn’t a lot of discussion around providing a reason for the request. British employees do have to first meet with their manager to discuss the request openly, so I’m sure the intention is they would provide a reason, if necessary, at that point in the process. But in the Canadian consultation, there was quite a lot of discord around whether or not employees should have to provide a reason for their request.
Benefits Canada’s weekly online poll at the end of September asked the same question and found 38 per cent of respondents believe employees shouldn’t have to give a reason. Nearly half (46 per cent) believe employees should have to.
I think this result is the wrong way to go with these regulations and basically contradicts the spirit of flexible working. I’m all for having some sort of formal process in place for requests in the same way an employee would ask to take vacation. But I don’t think I should have to provide my employer with a reason. When I take holiday, it doesn’t matter if I’m going to Europe, staying at home or having cosmetic surgery. The reason isn’t any of my employer’s business.
Read: 75% of global employers offer flexible working
The same principle should apply to flexible working. It might be an extreme example, but consider this scenario: An employee asks to work flexibly in order to take an ill family member to a doctor’s appointment, while another needs a flexible day to have an abortion. Is an employer going to treat both of these instances the same? And, more importantly, does the employer have the right to know that level of detail about their employees’ private lives?
When I spoke to Nora Spinks, chief executive officer of the Vanier Institute of the Family, after the release of the consultation results, she said when managers feel they have a right to know the reason for the request, it changes their role and responsibility. “One of the things we’ve seen in best practice is the employees that don’t have to give a reason for their flex, those workplaces are much more equitable and much more fair . . . and much fewer complaints,” she says.
She provided an example as well that’s slightly less extreme than mine but nonetheless appropriate. One employee asks to work flexibly to take a five-year-old child to cancer treatment and another makes a request to attend a yoga class. “If the manager feels they have to say yes to the cancer treatment but they’re going to say no to yoga because they think it’s stupid, then one employee gains while the other loses,” says Spinks.
Read: Liberals launch flexible working consultation
“Whereas, if they simply say, I request flex and this is how I’m going to get my work done, regardless of the reason, then it changes the dynamic and the manager focuses on how the work will get done and how productivity will be maintained.”
And that, to me, encapsulates the whole issue. The very central point of legislating the right to request flexible working is to provide employees with the freedom to work when and where it’s most convenient to them. As long as they’re getting their work done, the reason doesn’t matter. If employers are able to demand a reason and compare one request to another, it completely inverts the freedom and autonomy flexible working is meant to provide.
Jennifer Paterson is managing editor of Benefits Canada.