Blaise Tapp: It’s all about finding that perfect work/life balance

There are a growing number of workers who regard the prospect of a genuine work/life balance as their top priority, and many have become confident enough to ask their bosses for flexibility in the days and hours that they work. Although requesting flexible working from the first day of employment with a company has been law for the past five months, employers are able to say no, but it is expected that the new Government will soon set the bar higher. If the plan goes ahead, bosses will be ‘encouraged’ to accept a request for, say, a four day week unless it is not ‘reasonably feasible’. To many, this seems a natural next step in the nation’s evolution of attitudes towards work although there are many who vehemently disagree.

These people say the growing number of requests for compressed hours – which typically means someone working four longer days in exchange for not working on the fifth – is symptomatic of a lack of commitment to work and is another reason for the UK’s poor productivity. This, of course, is total cobblers because, as a nation, we’ve struggled to keep up with other major nations for the past 15 years or so.

The days of most of us going to work and doing a Dolly Parton – working nine to five – are, thankfully, coming to an end, with many employers realising that clock watching isn’t the way to get the best out of their people. Although I do work five days a week, over the past nine years, I have been able to work flexibly as when I have needed it, and I like to think that I have repaid my bosses by going that extra mile when required.

While I have varied my hours in the past to fit in with family life, the need for flexibility isn’t just confined to those with children as many younger workers – those from Generation Z included – regard the need for a life away from the office as a right rather than a perk. The idea that people might work to live rather than the other way round has led to this younger generation being branded the most entitled.

The accusation is as bonkers as it is unfair and, if these proposed reforms do happen, it is to be hoped that a more motivated workforce that isn’t burnt out and has a life outside of the office will ultimately prove more productive.