The UK’s flexible labour market may no longer be a source of competitive advantage

Historically, it has often been claimed that the UK has a more flexible approach to working arrangements than other European countries, but this research shows that this is not the case.

Only 48% of UK organisations offer flexitime to their employees compared to 90% in Germany, 94% in Sweden and 92% in Finland, and just 20% offer
tele-working compared to 44% in Germany and Sweden, 40% in Norway and 39% in Denmark.

The proportion of UK organisations using other flexible working arrangements is more comparable to the rest of Europe including part-time working (97%), job-share (55%) and home-working (32%) but these results provide little evidence of UK superiority in terms of flexible working.

The statistics are revealed in the latest Cranet (Cranfield Network) survey of comparative human resource management (HRM), carried out by a worldwide network of 40 business schools, coordinated by Cranfield School of Management in the UK.

The latest survey contains data from 8,000 organisations across 32 countries between 2003 and 2005.

Professor Shaun Tyson, director of Cranfield School of Management’s Human Resource Research Centre, said: Whilst there may be more restrictive labour laws in some European countries, than in the UK, the development of flexible working time and flexibility of contract is almost universal. Some of these practices are seen by employees as part of the social contract in that they produce family friendly working conditions, as well as offering efficiency savings for employers.

The Cranet survey also provides a range of other information regarding HRM within organisations. It is an international comparative survey of HRM policies and practices in 32 countries including the UK, France, Germany, USA, Canada, and Australia. The survey covers areas such as the HR role, flexible working, employee relations and communication, pay and rewards and training and development.

Dr Emma Parry, Research Fellow said: The Cranet Network provides an invaluable source of data for informing the academic and HR practitioner community. The survey is the only one of its type in terms of content and magnitude.