Other changes are poised to have a much broader impact. Labour’s pledge to establish flexible working as the ‘default’ option for all workers from day one could pose challenges to firms’ mandates for returning to the office, according to Ben Smith, Senior Associate. The right to request flexible working under current law is limited, but Labour seems to be proposing a presumption in favor of flexible working that would put the onus on employers to demonstrate when it is “not reasonably feasible,” he added.
“It makes it more difficult to justify those return-to-the-office mandates. Employers are going to have to think a lot more carefully about the specifics of why they actually need people back in the office,” Smith said.
