women's minister backs flexible working
Wed 2 Apr 2008
02/04/2008
Women's minister Barbara Follett has backed flexible working practices. She told People Management she had learnt a lot from being open to flexibility and encouraged employers to embrace flexible working. "The challenge is to do things differently. Don’t think the particular [working] model you have got now is the one that will go forward," she said. Flexible working should be seen as an opportunity and employers need "creative, innovative, adventurous" working practices to address gender inequality, she told the publication. She explained the new equalities bill would investigate the transparency of equal pay settlements, which will show workers why there remains a large gap between male and female salaries. Currently male workers are paid 17 per cent more than their female colleagues, a situation which has angered equal rights campaigners. The Fawcett Society has moved to outlaw the use of lap-dancing bars as meeting points for city firms' meetings.
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