Last week, the federal government announced it would amend the Canada Labour Code so federally regulated employees would have the right to request flexible working options.
The announcement was the result of a consultation with stakeholders by the Ministry of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, which also included a survey of 1,082 Canadians employees. It found 73 per cent of respondents had asked for the opportunity to work flexibly in the past five years, but 30 per cent of those requests were turned down.
Read: Employers and employees disagree on right to request flexible working: report
The consultation found employees should be required to go through a formal process requesting flexible working, but no consensus was reached on what this process should look like. The issue of justifiable reasons for flexing working requests was also raised, along with the question of who determines what should be considered reasonable.
Read: 71% would turn down a job that offered no flexibility: survey
So should employees provide reasons for their flexible work requests or is it none of their employer’s business? The issue is the topic of this week’s online poll. Don’t forget to have your say.
As for last week’s poll, which asked whether government should speed up their work on regulating pooled registered pension plans, the results were close. More than half (57 per cent) thought recent changes to the Canada Pension Plan made PRPPs less of a pressing concern. But a significant minority (43 per cent) thought PRPPs are an important retirement savings option and that governments should stop dithering.
Read: PRPPs continue to languish as provinces vary in enthusiasm for new option