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The purpose of this paper is to, first, explore flexible working as an important but under‐researched dimension of equality and diversity (E&D) and, second, contribute to employment relations debates by exploring organisational perspectives on flexible working and how these connect with business strategies and the regulatory context.

In depth semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 12 E&D managers in ten public and private sector organisations. Interviews explored the role of E&D managers in the construction of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) and drivers underpinning them.

Flexible working was most evident as a significant field of E&D practice where E&D was linked into business strategy and was well resourced. The key roles of E&D managers in relation to FWAs were policy innovation and monitoring. Four organisational rationales for FWAs were identified from the data. These were FWA constructed as: an individual employee benefit; a means of improving operational effectiveness; an integral part of organisational strategy; and as a means of addressing structural social inequalities.

While the sample is small, the research is of value to both researchers and policy makers, offering insights on an under‐researched area of E&D policy and practice.

This paper outlines different rationales for flexible working and shows how some organisation are able to develop flexible working policies that are more equitable and effective than other organisations.

The originality lies in the use of E&D managers as informants of organisational approaches to FWAs, which to date has been under‐researched in terms of its connection with E&D policy and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the “right to request” flexible working arrangements (FWAs), located in national policy and in organisational policy contexts, are brought to life in the workplace by employees and their managers. The authors seek to understand the nature and content of requests, the process followed in attending to requests, the scope of the arrangements which resulted and the implications for the work of both employees and managers.

The authors employ a case study method, investigating how formal “right to request” FWAs policies translate to practice within two large companies in Australia. The primary data focuses on 66 in-depth interviews with line managers, employees and key organisational informants. These interviews are triangulated with legislative, company and union policy documents.

Most requests were made by mothers returning from maternity leave. Typically their requests involved an attempt to move from full-time to part-time hours. The authors found a considerable knowledge deficit among the employees making requests and a high level of informality in the processing of requests. As a result, managers played a critical role in structuring both the procedure and the substantive outcomes of FWAs requests. Managers’ personal experience and levels of commitment to FWAs were critical in the process, but their response was constrained by, among other things, conflicting organisational policies.

The scale of the empirical research is possibly limited by a focus on large companies in the private sector.

The authors provide insight into the implementation gap between FWA policy and practice. The authors make suggestions as to how to make “right to request” policies more accessible and effective.

The “right to request” flexible working is an issue of critical importance to families, employees, managers, organisations and economies.

“Right to request” FWAs are relatively new in legislation and policy and thus the authors have an incomplete understanding of how they operate and come to life at the workplace level. The authors show a significant implementation gap between policy and practice and point to some of the critical influences on this. Among other things, the authors build new insight in relation to the interaction of formal and informal and the role and place of the direct manager in the process of operationalising the “right to request”.

This paper focuses on the possibilities of the long‐term development of flexible working as a work‐life policy, through understanding the power dynamics between the individual and the organisation. The study presents a framework which summarises the factors influencing the employee‐employer power dynamics, and leads us to the research questions. The methodology involves triangulation in case studies in two organisations based on surveys of representative samples in each organisation (n = 243 and n = 128) and interviews with the management. Findings support the long‐term development of employee‐friendly flexible working. There is a strong desire, and a lack of polarisation of attitudes, among employees for greater flexibility. Certain employee groups with stronger negotiating power have initiated the work‐life debate, but in doing so, they have increased the power of all employees through lowering ideological barriers, and creating knowledge of new possibilities and aspirations. Favourable external pressures and changing business needs also improve the position of employees.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the underlying conflicts associated with current work‐life balance and travel‐to‐work policies, as employed in organisations in the UK.

A mixed method approach is used to ascertain whether professional work‐group cultures limit the effectiveness of work‐life balance policy, and the extent to which spill‐over is present between work‐life balance and transport preferences, especially car use. These concerns are explored empirically using an in‐depth local level quantitative‐qualitative case study of Greater Nottingham (a regional employment centre in the East Midlands region of England).

The evidence presented in this paper suggests: work‐group cultures prevent employees, especially women, from achieving work‐life balance; there is spill‐over between work and non‐work activities, creating time allocation challenges, and stress, for dual career households attempting to achieve desired work‐life balance; and specific conflicts are reported in balancing work with travel‐to‐work, especially car parking.

The research findings suggest that transport, especially employee car parking, needs to be considered a focal point in the planning and implementation of human resource (HR) policies. Employers also need to reconsider their approach to flexible working to dissolve the negative repercussions that the “choice” to work flexibly has for the careers of highly skilled workers, especially working mothers. Increases in formalised home‐based teleworking, restructuring the gender balance in management, and positive discrimination toward certain groups offer potential routes for change.

This paper provides important recommendations for employers and HR managers, designing and implementing work‐life balance policies. Transport issues, presently considered largely external from the employer perspective, have central relevance.

This paper aims to assess the design of national-level flexible work arrangement (FWA) policies, evaluating their potential to serve as an effective resource for employees to work flexibly depending on how they set the stage for flexibility claims that will be subject to industrial and workplace dynamics.

Using a capability approach, the authors conceptualize and operationalize two aspects of FWA policy design, namely accessibility and availability. The authors' analysis allows for an understanding of how the availability and accessibility of national FWA policies explicitly and implicitly restrict or facilitate flexible working in a structural manner. The study focuses on countries with differing working time regimes and gender norms on work and care: the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia.

The authors' findings highlight how FWA accessibility is broader when national policy is specified and FWA availability is not conditional to care. In Spain and Slovenia, access to FWAs depends on whether employees have care responsibilities, which reduces accessibility and reinforces gender imbalances in care provision. In contrast, the Netherlands provides FWAs universally, resulting in wider availability and accessibility of FWAs for employees regardless of their care responsibilities. Despite this universal provision, gender imbalances remain.

The originality of this paper lies in its conceptualization and operationalization of FWAs at the national level using a capability approach. The study adds to the existing literature on flexible working and provides insights for policymakers to design more effective FWAs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate employee perceptions of the flexibility they utilize or have available to them in an NHS Trust and relate these perceptions to the concept of control.

The paper adopts a constructivist approach and uses semi‐structured interviews, allowing employees, in their own way, to explain what flexibility policies, and practice mean to them. The paper conducted 43 interviews and one focus group across five directorates, to include a range of staff levels and job types.

The findings in this paper show that informal rather than formal flexibility was more widely used and valued; and that, although staff needed to be proactive to access formal flexibility, some staff did not see formal flexibility as relevant to themselves; and informal flexibility generated an increased sense of employee responsibility. Uses the perspective of employee control over their working lives, in order to interpret the impact of flexible working.

The paper shows that these findings may be context‐specific, and further investigation of informal flexible working is needed in different settings.

This paper shows that organizations need to communicate flexibility well, and train their managers' adequately but, critically, they need to understand what different forms of flexibility mean to employees, and how they are valued.

The paper shows the prevalence and value of informal flexible working, and its potential. Uses the concept of control to explain why different individuals value different forms of flexible working differentially.

Although flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are widely regarded as a desirable employee benefit, questions remain about which factors drive (or attenuate) applicant attraction to them. The authors offer a novel theoretical account by advancing the concept of lay theories (i.e. mindsets) around an individual's ability to juggle work and life responsibilities, defined as beliefs that the ability to juggle is either malleable (i.e. growth) or cannot be changed (i.e. fixed), which suggests greater efficacy increases attraction.

Utilizing an experimental policy-capturing design, 86 participants each rated a series of 64 job offers (N = 5,376) with several manipulated job attributes. Participants were randomly assigned into a growth or fixed mindset condition.

Multilevel regressions revealed that a growth (vs fixed) mindset caused participants to place greater weight on flexible work scheduling policies by reporting greater attraction to jobs with flexible arrangements.

Organizations may increase applicant attraction by taking steps to ensure that the value of work–life benefits is salient, such as offering concrete examples of how policies have been used.

This study questions the assumption that those who need flexibility are more attracted to FWAs and demonstrates that beliefs around one's ability to juggle work–life demands are a unique mechanism shaping applicant attraction.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and analysis of current legislation and various schemes and practices that are available to employers and employees in relation to work life balance, family friendly work arrangements, leave entitlements and diverse modes of flexible work in Ireland. Focuses in particular on the Library and Information sector.

Introduces the concept of flexible working, followed by a review of relevant literature. Outlines what flexible work practices are, giving details of various types of flexible working, both statutory and non‐statutory (in Ireland). Then, discusses why flexible work practices have emerged and details background legislation and the issues that the introduction of flexible working raises. Draws conclusions about best practice in relation to the management of flexible work practices.

It is argued that commitment to work life balance is now firmly in the mainstream and is part of the political agenda in Ireland and the rest of the developed world. Flexibility in work practice is becoming an integral part of employment, particularly in public sector organisations, which are in effect, leading the way on this issue. Flexible work practices have many advantages for both employees and employers. They also create challenges, especially in terms of management. It is important to balance the requirements of the organisation with those of the employees. Key factors in the successful implementation of flexible working are training and communication.

The article provides a firm basis for further investigation and discussion.

The present research aims to understand how and why flexible work arrangement (FWA) policy use by co-workers affects policy non-users by investigating perceived changes to work, fairness and organizational identification as factors that shape policy non-users’ job satisfaction.

A survey was distributed to 300 Canadian respondents solicited from an online panel owned by Qualtrics Inc. Hypotheses were developed and tested using a moderating mediation model. SPSS Macro Process (Hayes) was used to test the hypotheses.

This survey found that perceiving negative changes to work stemming from co-worker FWA use corresponded to policy non-user job satisfaction, fairness dimensions mediated this effect and organizational identification moderated the relationship driven by interactional fairness. Policy non-users who care most about organizations seem to be most vulnerable to the negative consequences associated with co-worker FWA policy use.

FWA use has been linked to many positive outcomes for policy users. However, the workplace adjustments that occur to accommodate policy use by co-workers could also have implications for policy non-users. This study explores the effects of FWA policy use by co-workers on policy non-users job satisfaction.