New flexible working rights for employees could create new challenges for shop owners, according to Fed members. 

From 6 April, all employees will be entitled to request flexible working arrangements from the first day of their employment. Before this date, store staff needed at least 26 weeks employment before making such a request. 

For example, an employee will be able to request flexible hours around childcare needs, such as school pick-ups or drop-offs, upon arrival for their first shift. Unlike today, employees will no longer need to explain the impact they expect their desired changes to have on the business, or provide a plan of how they would mitigate this impact. 

From 6 April, store owners will also have two months, rather than the current three months, to respond to a request, and will need to consult with the employee prior to refusing a flexible working request. Where a request is refused, employers should suggest alternatives. 

Flexible working includes moving to part-time, fewer days but longer shifts, term-time-only hours, job sharing, frequent start-and-finish-time adjustments and giving extra time off in lieu of extra hours worked. Failure to uphold these procedures or to refuse a request outside of specific grounds outlined by the legislative change could provide a basis for an employment tribunal claim against the employer. 

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Legal reasons for denying a request include it costing the business too much, being unable to reorganise other staff and planned business changes not compatible with the request. While the government states the changes will help cut rising levels of employee absenteeism and improve employee well-being, Fed members expressed concerns around maintaining rotas and store efficiencies. 

One Fed member and multi-site owner, who asked not to be named, told RN: “We have had challenges where we interview potential recruits, and they say they can work whenever needed. We then agree the hours, but four weeks later, they ask for changes due to other commitments. 

“The upcoming changes will make it more difficult for stores to manage their teams and more important than ever to have an external HR service you can depend on for advice. I know a lot of shop owners are really scared of getting things like this wrong.” Another Fed member told Better Retailing: “Both us and our teams benefit from flexibility, but only if it is agreed and both parties stick to the plan. It’s the last-minute requests that catch out store owners. The changes will create challenges in making sure the business’s needs, as well as the team members’, are balanced, but hopefully it will improve reliability.” 

A survey by employer-employee arbitration service Acas in December found 70% of employees were unaware of the upcoming changes. 

The body has also produced a new code of practice that fully explains the changes employers need to make, which is available on its website (acas.org.uk). In its response to the consultation on the changes, the ACS said flexible working requests in shops are normally informal conversations. 

However, guidance on the legislation urges all employers to keep complete written records of requests and decisions. The organisation said 79% of convenience store staff have commitments limiting working hours, significantly higher than the UK average. 

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