Time off for Training
Story:
The proposed introduction of the
right to request time off for training for those employees who work for
organisations of 250 employees or more (with the intention of extending this to
employees in all organisations from April 2011 onwards is expected to
come into force on 6th April 2010, but with talk of a general
election in our midst watch this space for further clarification on this.
The good news is that there will be no need to get to grips with any new
procedures as the same process for the right to request flexible working will
apply. Therefore, as is normal practice, there is the same obligation on the
employer to seriously consider the employee’s request for time off work for
training purposes, to follow the specified procedure to the letter and to base
any decision to reject the request on one or more prescribed business reasons.
Likewise, employees will only be able to make one request in any 12 month
period.
You may be asking what ‘power’ this gives Joe Bloggs to pursue his
long-held passion for creating paper-maché models whilst there is a business to
run, but rest assured the object of the legislation is to encourage the
development of skills which benefit both the effectiveness of the individual and
business productivity and performance - so unless you are in the paper-maché
model industry, you are likely to have a legitimate business reason to refuse
the request!
And no doubt the next question on everyone’s lips will be whether the
employer will be required to finance the training. The answer is no - there will
be no requirement to fund such training, merely to ‘release’ employees for the
time to participate in the training - although there is nothing to stop you
funding training if you wish, particularly if you have policies already in place
to support training and development which will benefit both the individual and
the organisation.
Perhaps the main challenge employers will face when considering requests is
that employees can request the type of training they see as appropriate to
developing their skills which can take the format of accredited to
non-accredited courses, training on employer’s premises or distance learning, to
name a few, all of which will have different implications for balancing the
working day and the individual’s and their colleagues’ workloads and for
employers not to fall foul of the Working Time Regulations, etc if individuals
are required to make up the ‘lost time’ they are ‘released’ for training.
In reality, we predict that there is unlikely to be a mad rush by employees
to take this up – for those organisations affected first many may already
provide development opportunities through formal policies and those who might
not have this luxury have a year to prepare. We would even go so far as to
suggest this may prove to offer a solution to retain staff at a time when
business may still be slow for organisations as an alternative to lay off or
short time working options?
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