Small firms are more flexible

Smaller firms are better at implementing flexible working arrangements than big companies, according to a report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the British Chambers of Commerce.

More than eight million people work in small and medium-sized organisations - those with fewer than 250 employees. So, as Flexible working: good business - how small firms are doing it points out, "the way in which they run their business is important, not only to the economy but also to the well-being of a third of the UK workforce".

Researchers found that communication with staff in such companies was better because processes were "more direct and straightforward" and there were "few line managers to get in the way".

This lack of bureaucracy, they said, means that "small firms can provide excellent examples of working practices that benefit employees, customers and their own profitability."

Concluding that flexible working in small firms revolves around the way people are managed, rather than formal contracts or policies, the researchers said: "We did not see the gap between aspiration and delivery that can undermine the effectiveness of flexible working policies in many large organisations."

The report is available at www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/wrkgtime/flexwking/_flxwrkgdbs.htm