Low paid Scottish workers have the least flexible working, and the gap between the number of flexible workers on the lowest and highest salaries has increased in the last year.
New figures released by Flexibility Works also revealed that half (51%) of all Scottish workers earning less than £20,000 a year work flexibly, compared with 80% of workers earning more than £50,000.
The figures are from Flex for Life 2023, an annual analysis of flexible working in Scotland by social business Flexibility Works, with support from the Scottish Government and The Hunter Foundation.
The report is based on research with 1,011 Scottish workers, 248 Scottish employers and 216 unemployed Scottish adults looking for work.
Nikki Slowey, director and co-founder of Flexibility Works, said: “We’re concerned that while the pandemic has increased flexible working in Scotland overall, the benefits are skewed towards workers on higher incomes where good flexible working keeps getting better, while little changes for workers on the lowest incomes.
“Initially we thought this was because more low paid workers are in frontline roles, such as in the care, manufacturing, and hospitality sectors, where employers need to be more open-minded and creative to create flexibility.
“But our figures show this isn’t the case - frontline or not, the higher earners always have significantly more flexibility than lower earners.
“Lack of trust is likely to be part of the problem because we know some employers still expect workers to ‘earn the right’ to work flexibly; but the full reasons are something we need to explore further.“
Wellbeing Economy and Fair Work Secretary Neil Gray said: “This research shows an increase in jobs offering flexible working arrangements in recent years, but underlines that more can be done to continue encouraging employers to unlock more vacancies to flexible work at the point of hire and to support workers in lower paid roles into better and more flexible work.
“Although the legal powers governing flexible working are reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is committed to working with employers directly and through their representative bodies to explore ways of promoting flexible, agile and inclusive workplaces that benefit all workers.
“Improving access to flexible working is an important means to support people who are managing care commitments or long term health conditions to enter, or remain in paid work and will enable employers to access and retain valuable skills and experience in the workplace.”
The new figures show a consistent gap between the number of flexible workers on the lowest (less than £20,000) and highest (more than £50,000) salaries across frontline and non-frontline roles.
Frontline jobs are often done face-to-face or at a specific location, such as roles in hospitality, retail, health and social care, manufacturing and education. Non-frontline roles are often office-based.
A total of 51% of low paid frontline workers have flexible working, compared with 77% of high paid frontline workers; a gap of 26 percentage points.
A total of 54% of low paid non-frontline workers have flexible working, compared with 83% of high paid non-frontline workers; a gap of 29 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the growth in flexible working in Scotland as a result of the pandemic has stabilised.
A total of 61% of Scottish workers are working flexibly, up 1% on last year. Pre-pandemic, 46% of Scottish workers said they worked flexibly.
Desire for flexible working remains high but stable too.
One in five (21%) Scottish workers don’t work flexibly, but would like to, which together with the 61% who work flexibly, means 82% of Scottish workers have or want flexible working. This compares with 84% last year, and 73% pre-pandemic.
In the year government social distancing and ‘work from home’ guidance ended, 79% of Scottish workers with flexible working have been able to maintain or even increase their flexibility. But one in five (21%) of all Scottish workers say they now have less flex than a year ago.
And while 61% of all Scottish workers have flex, more than a third (36%) still don’t have any flexibility at all.
Looking ahead to the next 12 months, most Scottish employers (70%) expect to maintain or further increase flexible working opportunities, but nearly one in five (18%) expect to reduce flexible working in their organisation.
Increasing flexible working supports the Scottish Government’s Fair Work agenda.
Two in five Scottish workers say they need flexible working, or can’t work at all, illustrating how crucial flexible working is to enable and equalise access to jobs.
Public sector employers also have a legal duty to consider whether they can create more flexibility for lower paid workers, as set out in the Fairer Scotland Duty.
The legislation states public sector organisations must actively consider how they can reduce inequalities caused by socio-economic disadvantage when making strategic decisions.
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