The value of flexible working in all its forms is well established and is a major, if not critical, contributor to business effectiveness. However, there are many occasions when it seems that the government and HR have lost sight of the core criterion that should be applied in both the private and public sectors. This is the maintenance of standards and quality provided to the person or organisation that is purchasing goods or services.

The HR press in particular and wider media in general appear to take for granted the expectation that organisations should agree to any request for flexible working, however extreme. For example, an employee I know of recently asked her employer to allow her to return to her role after maternity leave and work only three days a week to suit her partner’s shift arrangements.