Flexible Working — Day-One Right
As of 6 April 2024, all employees have the right to request flexible working from their first day of employment, under the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023.
- Employees may make up to 2 flexible working requests in any rolling 12-month period.
- Requests must be made in writing and set out: the change requested; the date the employee wishes it to take effect; and (if applicable) what effect the employee thinks the change might have on KO and how that might be dealt with.
- KO will respond to a request (including any appeal) within 2 months.
- KO will only refuse a request on one or more of the 8 statutory grounds: burden of additional costs; detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand; inability to reorganise work; inability to recruit additional staff; detrimental impact on quality; detrimental impact on performance; insufficiency of work during proposed hours; or planned structural changes.
- KO will consult with the employee before refusing a request.
Right to Disconnect
While the right to disconnect is not yet enshrined in UK law, KO expects managers to model healthy working hours and not to routinely contact employees outside their contracted hours. Employees are not expected to reply to non-urgent communications outside their working hours.