Is flexible working?
Think tank: Institute of Economic Affairs
Author(s): Len Shackleton; Annabel Denham
February 6, 2026
This report from UK think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs examines the costs and benefits of flexible working.
The costs of flexible working requirements have rarely been properly assessed and could extend to undermining growth, increasing unemployment and the rise in post-Covid withdrawal from the workforce.
Employers and employees, negotiating in the ‘particular circumstances of time and place’, are better suited to undertake these evaluations. Government should take its hand from the tiller and allow businesses and employees to come to arrangements that best suit their own needs and requirements.
