Covid-19 has amplified workplace inequalities, with women, carers and those in frontline sectors among the hardest hit accordingly to a new report out this morning.
The report by Timewise finds that our working practices are changing.
From the homeworking revolution to the increase in hybrid working, the debate on productivity and flexibility is likely to rage on for some time.
These changes have also exposed and amplified existing inequalities, especially for part-time employees, who often work on the frontline in low-paid jobs.
Early in the pandemic, it immediately became clear that these roles were facing the brunt of job losses and changes in working hours.
Furlough has been effective in keeping millions of employees in work, but it is masking significant challenges, especially for part-timers.
And as we move towards economic recovery, there is a risk that the gap between the flex haves and have-nots, which existed before Covid-19, will widen significantly, leaving many frontline workers behind.
Emma Stewart, Timewise’s director of development, says employees feel like they are “clinging on to jobs that will soon disappear”.
She says part-time workers could “effectively be locked out of work” after analysis of job adverts revealed just 8% of UK job vacancies are advertised as part-time.
The report says that there is an opportunity to harness the momentum of the flexible work revolution to influence change.
But that change has to be systemic, with policymakers and employers all playing a role, and all forms of flexible work considered, including part-time.
Timewise recommendations call on these actors to be the changemakers for an inclusive and fair flexible future. We are calling on the government to include the right to request flexible work from day one in their long-awaited Employment Bill, and to offer incentives to support flexible job creation and progression opportunities
in publicly funded job creation and support schemes across national, regional and local governments.
And we are calling on employers to embed fair flexible work across their organisations, leading change.
