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Accountants shun flexibility; work-life balance is an option only for a small minority.

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorHayward, Cathy
PositionEmployment Law

The new rules on flexible working are of little help to employees aspiring to the boardroom, according to leading HR consultants. While senior managers' requests to work flexibly are treated with respect, employees further down the career ladder find that the long-hours culture is still rife.

"It's easier to tell your boss that you'll be leaving earlier on a Friday to pick your children up from school when you're in a position of authority, but it's not so acceptable when you're in a junior role," said Jim Matthewman, partner at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. "Firms are realising that flexibility and work-life balance is a priority even for employees in their twenties, and they are starting to respect requests to work flexibly--but you have to establish yourself first."

Matthewman's comments follow a survey by recruitment consultancy Robert Half, which has found that only 10 per cent of accountants would consider asking to work flexibly, for fear that it would damage their career prospects.

For employees in certain professions, including jobs that entail a lot of travel, flexible working would be an impossibility, Matthewman added. Chris Beer, managing director of consultancy Resources Connection, agreed. "There is a generation...

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