The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has said that the government should press ahead with plans to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees.

The institute has revealed new research indicating that only a tiny minority (4 per cent) of employers have had difficulties complying with the current right to request flexible working since it was introduced nearly 10 years ago.

The CIPD’s study, Flexible working: provision and uptake found that 96 per cent of employers offer flexible working arrangements to at least some employees, and seven out of ten employers report that flexible working supports employee retention, motivation and engagement. Almost two thirds of employers believe flexible working supports their recruitment activities and half believe it has a positive impact on reducing absence as well as on boosting productivity.

Despite fears that additional employment rights place a burden on small firms, the study finds that in fact small employers are least likely to report difficulties with the right to request legislation. People working for micro-and small firms are also more likely to be working flexibly in some way (90 and 78 per cent respectively) than those working for medium or large firms (67 or 29 per cent respectively).

Ben Willmott, CIPD Head of Public Policy, said: “The CIPD has long been calling for the extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees, despite claims from some quarters that the legislation is burdensome for businesses. Similar concerns were raised over a decade ago about the plans to introduce the statutory right to request flexible working for parents. Those fears have proved unfounded – regardless of size of organisation.

“Our report finds that just 3 per cent of micro businesses and small businesses, 4 per cent of medium-sized businesses and 5 per cent of large businesses have reported problems complying with the existing right to request flexible working. Micro and small employers are more likely than larger organisations to manage flexible working informally rather than through formal policies and procedures, which appears to more than compensate for any lack of formal HR support.

“The argument for extending the right to request to all employees is based on a broad business case... the government should hold its nerve and go ahead with the extension to all employees. The result will be good news for business, employers and the wider economy.”

The study, based on a survey of more than a 1,000 employers and a survey of more than 2,000 employees, shows the type of flexibility commonly used is quite limited.

While the use of part-time working (32 per cent), flexitime (25 per cent), home working (20 per cent) and mobile working (14 per cent) is comparatively common, other types of flexible working are hardly used. Just 5 per cent of workers use compressed hours, 2 per cent use term-time working, and 1 per cent job share.