Work-Life Balance Study, 2013: Employers' Survey

DOI

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.In 2000, the Government launched the Work-Life Balance Campaign, targeting employers to promote the benefits of flexible working for all employees. Although this campaign was not specifically aimed at parents or carers, the legislation restricted rights to apply for changes in the hours, timing or place of work to those employees with caring responsibilities. The then Department for Education and Employment (later the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)) carried out the first Work-Life Balance Survey (WLB1) in 2000 (held at the UK Data Archive under SN 4465). It was used to assess how far employers operated work-life balance practices and whether employees felt that existing practices met their needs. The first survey was followed up in 2003 by a second survey, a two-part survey of employees and employers (WLB2) (held under SNs 5079 and 5080) and by a third wave in 2006 and 2007 (WLB3) (held under SNs 7028 and 5787). The fourth employee survey was carried out in 2011 (held under SN 7112) and the fourth employers survey was completed in 2013 (held under SN 7775).

The fourth Work-Life Balance Survey of Employers was carried out between June and August 2013 and was designed to add to the time-series data on the attitudes and behaviours of employers in relation to assisting work-life balance for their staff. It covered the period following the Work and Families Act 2006, over which time there were additional and significant changes in the regulatory landscape including the extension of the right to request flexible working to parents of older children (2009) and Additional Paternity Leave Regulations (2010). In addition to rights such as statutory holiday entitlement and rights to paternity, maternity and parental leave, this legislation meant employees with children under the age of 17 (18 and under if disabled) and co-resident carers had a right to request flexible working. Other changes included the introduction in 2011 of additional paternity leave and pay, which enabled fathers to take up to 26 weeks of additional paternity leave. In addition, there were Coalition Government commitments on flexible parental leave and the extension to all employees of the right to request flexible working: Consideration was also being given to providing support to individuals who have a temporary need for flexibility.

Main Topics:

The main topics covered by the questionnaire are: workplace characteristics; availability and take-up of flexible working; managing requests for flexible working; maternity leave; paternity leave; parental leave, emergency time-off and special leave provisions; general attitudes to flexible working and leave arrangements; default retirement age and working time.

One-stage stratified or systematic random sample

Telephone interview

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-7775-1
Metadata Access https://datacatalogue.cessda.eu/oai-pmh/v0/oai?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_ddi25&identifier=fd03da7a7591a992df7e6161008c1607e119c69d9c31517db1c2c5e467036aa6
Provenance
Creator Institute of Employment Studies; Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Labour Market Analysis; IFF Research
Publisher UK Data Service
Publication Year 2015
Funding Reference Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Rights <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/re-using-public-sector-information/uk-government-licensing-framework/crown-copyright/" target="_blank">© Crown copyright</a>. The use of these data is subject to the <a href="https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/app/uploads/cd137-enduserlicence.pdf" target="_blank">UK Data Service End User Licence Agreement</a>. Additional restrictions may also apply.; <p>The Data Collection is available to UK Data Service registered users subject to the <a href="https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/app/uploads/cd137-enduserlicence.pdf" target="_blank">End User Licence Agreement</a>.</p><p>Commercial use of the data requires approval from the data owner or their nominee. The UK Data Service will contact you.</p>
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Numeric
Discipline Jurisprudence; Law; Social and Behavioural Sciences
Spatial Coverage Great Britain