Partner Article

Maternity and flexible working rights: drain on business?

There is a common perception that maternity benefits cripple small businesses. Jane Crosby from law firm Hart Brown, argues that maternity benefits and flexible working can in fact have a positive impact on businesses.

It is a very emotive subject and produces polarised viewpoints because there is a knee jerk reaction that maternity benefits lead to a substantial financial outlay with little reward for a company. There is also the dilemma for employers of losing an employee for up to a year from its workforce with the resulting costs.

Maternity pay involves a complex system of rules but the current maternity rights, subject to eligibility, are six weeks pay at 90 per cent of an employee’s earnings together with a standard rate for 33 weeks after that which is currently at £135.45. An employer should remember that there are ways of recouping these benefits from the Government, for example, if a business has National Insurance contributions of £45,000.00 or less then they can recover 100 per cent of their Statutory Maternity Benefits plus an additional amount of compensation. The monetary argument about the financial cost to a business of a pregnant employee therefore begins to get eroded away.

The next argument often put forward against maternity benefits is that employers will lose a valuable employee for a period of 12 months. However if businesses offer improved maternity benefits to women who are providing a positive impact on the business then these women will be more likely to show a commitment to the business by returning to work and therefore increasing productivity in the long term. Business will therefore decrease the likelihood of losing key employees.

Flexible working may make a significant number of employers run for their stopwatches shouting “nine to five only” to their employees, but in an increasingly twenty four hour society with instant access to advice and information through the internet isn’t it sensible to adjust the rigid working hours to accommodate a working mother’s needs. This will lead to a greater flexibility for the consumer by extending the availability of a business and in certain circumstances help to provide businesses with a competitive advantage. The Government is looking to extend flexible working rights which can only be a good thing for commerce.

Employees should be the most valuable asset to any business and rewarding them for their loyalty means they are more likely to stay and contribute to the business long term. I would contend that these types of employment rights are beneficial for both the employee and the employer, as an unhappy and unstable workforce will show little benefit to a business resulting in a high turnover of staff which in turn increases the costs of recruitment, training and replacing staff.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jane Crosby .