Information Note

hh Flexible working policies in the

Research Office United Kingdom and Australia
Legislative Council Secretariat

IN26/2023

1. Introduction

1.1 Ever since the 1990s, many advanced member states of the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) have been making their
workplaces more flexible, 1 not only for promotion of a work-life balance culture
but also for unlocking the work potential of parents and caregivers. 2 In OECD, as
much as 87% of companies of the member states offered at least some forms of
flexible working time arrangements to at least some of their employees, with 60%
of employees easily allowed to take one to two hours off during a working day to
attend family matters. 3 After the outbreak of COVID-19, proliferation of flexible
working (“flexi-work”) practices particularly working from home over the world
was considered to have limited impact on overall labour productivity during
2020-2021. Based on global studies, it was estimated that one-fifth of labour force
in Asia-Pacific could work from home for 3-5 days per week without loss in
productivity after the epidemic. 4 While some work is not suitable for flexi-work,
broadly one-third of jobs could still be remotely done outside the office. 5

1.2 In Hong Kong, local workforce likewise accords a very high priority
over work-life balance, with 42% of survey respondents indicating the intention to
resign from current jobs without such a balance. 6 Moreover, 85% of staff cited
“flexible working arrangements” as the key non-monetary benefit in their work
choice. 7 There is persistent advocacy in society to increase workplace flexibility
so that some of the housewives or retirees may be encouraged to make good use of

1
There are many forms of flexible working arrangements, including (a) shorter or flexible
hours of work each day/week; (b) flexible start or completion time; (c) compressed
workweek or part-time work; (d) flexible work location like working from home; (e) job
sharing; and (f) combination of work in office and work from home (i.e. hybrid work).
2
Based on a global survey covering more than 160 000 respondents, 57% of them cited
“work-life balance” as an important driver in their work choice, next to “wages” (61%) only.
See Randstad (2022).
3
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2017).
4
APEC Economic Committee (2021).
5
Some 31% of jobs in Europe and 37% of jobs in the United States could still be remotely
done at home after COVID-19. See KPMG (2022).
6
Randstad Hong Kong (2023) and 香 港 01(2023a).
7
Ibid.
their limited or irregular spare time for productive work, mitigating the acute
manpower shortage right now. 8 As an indication, the labour force participation
rate (“LFPR”) for local females in the prime working age of 25-54 was
significantly lower than the male counterparts, by 20 percentage points in 2022. 9
Some 370 200 persons in the same age band were economically inactive,
reportedly due to housework and caring duties at home. 10 At present, the
Government relies on voluntary measures and publicity campaigns to encourage
employers to adopt flexi-work practices, but the overall workplace system is still
alleged to be quite rigid after the epidemic, resulting in public calls to follow the
practice of OECD to make the workplace system more flexible. 11

1.3 At the request of Hon CHAU Siu-chung, the Research Office has studied
measures to boost flexible working in the United Kingdom (“UK”) and Australia.
In line with the common practice seen in some of the member states of OECD,
both places have enacted laws to grant the statutory rights to request flexible
working to employees. These laws lay down a statutory procedure for employers
to handle the flexi-work requests of individual workers, without making the entire
workplace system too complicated. While such statutory rights were first granted
to mainly parents and caregivers in the UK in 2003 and in Australia in 2010,
they were extended to more eligible workers in the next two decades. This
Information Note begins with recent discussion in Hong Kong on flexi-work
practices and major issues of concerns, followed by a quick review of recent
policy developments in the world. It will then switch to the salient features of
statutory rights to request flexi-work in the UK and Australia, along with a table
for easy reference (Appendix).

2. Recent discussion over flexible working in Hong Kong

2.1 Conceivably, increased flexibility of working time and work location is

beneficial to most of the stakeholders. As employees have more work-life balance
and work autonomy, their senses of belonging to the enterprises and job
satisfaction can be enhanced. 12 For employers, not only are motivated staff more
productive, enterprises should also find it easier to attract and retain talents on the
one hand, and reduce absenteeism on the other. 13 While enterprises may need to

8
Local labour force shrank by a total of 219 000 or 6.0% between 2018 and 2022, upon net
people outflow during the three epidemic years. See Census and Statistics Department
(2023a).
9
LFPR for men and women aged 25-54 was 92.4% and 72.1% respectively in 2022.
10
For detailed analysis of the reasons for married women staying out from the labour market,
see Legislative Council Secretariat (2019, 2023).
11
香 港 01(2023a), 周 小 松 (2023) and 阮 穎 嫻 (2023).
12
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2016a, 2016b, 2017).
13
Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (2023).
2
incur extra investment and administrative costs to create a more flexible working
environment (e.g. procurement of personal computers and information technology
equipment for remote working and team coordination), these expenses could be
offset by productivity gains or savings in office rentals. 14 For those jobs
unsuitable for flexi-work (e.g. those jobs requiring face-to-face discussion), they
need not be converted into flexible mode. For society as a whole, on top of
promotion of maternal employment and gender equality, additional manpower
resources induced by more flexible workplaces can boost the wider economy.
A recent global study projects that potential gains from flexi-work could amount to
10% of GDP in the United States under the best case scenario, if many
economically inactive persons were motivated and facilitated to engage in the
workforce. 15

2.2 More specifically for Hong Kong, increased workplace flexibility may
be able to encourage more women to bear children, arresting the downtrend in
fertility rate which fell to a record low of just 701 births per 1 000 females in
2022. 16 More importantly, it is seen as a solution to chronic manpower shortage in
the local economy, both in the short term and the longer term. 17 If offered a job
with flexi-work arrangements, it is believed that some of the economically inactive
people may come forward to work, either on a full-time or part-time basis. Here
are two major indicative examples on the size of such potential workforce:

(a) Homemakers at prime working age: According to the Census and

Statistics Department (“C&SD”), there were 370 200 persons
aged 25-54 who did not work due to housework and caring duties in
2022 (Figure 1). 18 More than two-thirds (69%) of them were
women. Based on another survey published by C&SD in 2019, at
least 50 000 or 10% of female homemakers aged 30-59 had
indicated their willingness to work if “suitable job conditions” such
as flexible working hours came up; 19 and

(b) Older persons in good health: Amongst the 507 800 older persons
aged 60-69 who did not work in 2022, many of them are believed to
be still in good health upon improved healthcare in society. Some of
these retirees may wish to work again, but in accordance with

14
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2017).
15
Centre for Economics and Business Research (2019).
16
姚 超 雯 (2023) and 陳 雅 妍 (2023).
17
Based on the latest projection of the Census and Statistics Department, local labour force is
projected to stay generally flat around the level of 3.5 million till 2032, with modest annual
decreases during 2026-2029.
18
Statistics provided by the Census and Statistics Department on request.
19
Other conditions included “work place near home” and “high or reasonable salary”. See
Census and Statistics Department (2019).
3
 their own rhythm and on a more flexible basis (e.g. working fewer
hours each day or fewer days each week). As a matter of fact,
LFPR of persons aged 60-69 in Hong Kong is low by global standard,
suggesting that enhanced workplace flexibility could be a catalyst
for increased employment among older persons. 20

Figure 1 – Size of selected groups of economically inactive persons in

Hong Kong

(’000)

Source: Census and Statistics Department (2023b).

2.3 So far, C&SD has not compiled any statistics on flexible workplace
practices in Hong Kong, but scattered surveys conducted by recruitment agencies
in the private sector could be used as broad indication, bearing in mind their
limitations in sampling sizes and methods. During the epidemic, some 57% of
local enterprises offered flexi-hours to their professional employees in 2020, with
another 69% offering remote working. 21 Upon return to normalcy after the
epidemic at end-2022, most of local employers revert to regular workplace
practice, although some larger enterprises particularly those in the financial sector
still keep the flexi-work options open. 22 Reportedly, 44% of local employers still
offer flexi-hour options to their employees for retention of talents in 2023, but
the implementation details and the number of beneficiary employees are little

20
In Hong Kong, LFPR for persons aged 60-64 was 48.3% in 2022, and 26.5% for persons
aged 65-69. Both were lower than the respective figures of 55.7% and 29.1% in OECD.
21
Hays (2020).
22
U港 生 活 (2022).
4
known. 23 Yet this figure still looks pale when compared with (a) 87% of
employers in OECD offering some forms of flexi-time option to at least some of
their employees even before the epidemic; and (b) most (85%) of the respondents
in Hong Kong indicating that flexible working arrangements are important in their
work choice. 24 These prompt renewed calls to increase flexi-work practices in
Hong Kong. 25

2.4 The Labour Department (“LD”) largely resorts to voluntary measures

and publicity campaigns to encourage employers to adopt “employee-oriented”
good human resource management (“GHRM”) and family-friendly employment
practices (“FFEPs”). 26 LD advises that the FFEPs should be “progressive and
practicable”, with due regard to individual circumstances and scale of enterprises
on the one hand, and the needs of their employees on the other. Meanwhile, LD
published FFEP guidelines for selected sectors (e.g. retail, catering and tourism),
including flexi-hours recommendation. However, critics were disappointed over
the lukewarm response of employers to FFEPs and questioned the effectiveness of
such voluntary measures. 27 At a meeting of the Panel on Manpower of the
Legislative Council held in April 2019, some Members called for “legislative
means” in FFEPs adoption. 28 The Government nonetheless responded that
“it would not be appropriate to prescribe GHRM culture and FFEP initiatives
through labour legislation”, given wide diversity of (a) industries; (b) enterprises;
(c) family situations; and (d) preferences of individual employees.

3. Recent policy developments around the globe

3.1 In OECD, the policy objective of advanced places to enhance

workplace flexibility was initially meant to encourage more mothers and
caregivers to join the labour market, but the targeted beneficiaries spread to
other segments of population (e.g. men and retired persons) upon emerging calls
for more work-life balance after the millennium. 29 In the light of the fact that
(a) not all sorts of work are suitable for flexi-work; and (b) needs for flexi-work of
individual employees could vary widely, it is impracticable to ask the
enterprises to prescribe a workplace system tailor-made for each and every worker.

23
Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (2023) and PwC Hong Kong (2022).
24
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2017) and Randstad Hong Kong
(2023).
25
JobsDB (2023).
26
FFEPs comprise many initiatives, including (a) flexible work arrangements; (b) family leave
benefits; and (c) family support for employees (e.g. medical protection and child care
services). See Labour and Welfare Bureau (2019) and Legislative Council Secretariat
(2019).
27
Panel on Manpower (2019).
28
Ibid.
29
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2016a) and Randstad (2022).
5
Instead, a need-based approach is adopted, by laying down a transparent statutory
procedure for both employers and employees to follow when the flexi-work
requests come up.

3.2 In OECD, at least 10 advanced places (e.g. UK, France, Netherlands,

Germany, Finland, Portugal, Spain, Iceland, Australia and New Zealand) have
enacted specific laws to grant employees the statutory rights to request shorter
working hours or flexible working arrangements. Put it simply, eligible
employees can write to their employers, asking for a change in the terms and
conditions of work in terms of hours, times or location of work. Employers must
respond quickly and fairly and a majority of such requests are usually accepted.
Employers can refuse the requests if they can provide valid explanations
(e.g. additional business cost or detrimental operational effects). So far, such
statutory rights appear to have exerted very limited adverse impact on business
operation in OECD. 30

3.3 This apart, tax incentives on flexi-work are offered in some places.
For instance, employers in Malaysia can apply for double tax deduction for the
expense incurred in execution of flexible workplace policy (e.g. working from
home) as from July 2020, subject to an annual ceiling of RM500,000
(HK$925,000) per enterprise for three consecutive years. 31 In Canada, tax
deductions are offered to employees instead. Each Canadian employee working
from home can claim deduction of C$2 (HK$12) each day for home office
expense (e.g. electricity charges, office supplies and computer consumables) under
a simplified rule, subject to qualifying requirements and an annual ceiling of
C$500 (HK$3,010). 32 Similar tax incentives for employees are also seen in
Australia which will be discussed in Section 5 below.

3.4 In Singapore, another sort of financial incentives was given to

employers under the Work-Life Grant (“WLG”) launched in 2013. In short,
employers were offered a subsidy of S$2,000 (HK$11,640) for each employee
converted to flexi-work regularly, subject to a biennial maximum of S$70,000
(HK$407,400) per enterprise. 33 This incentive scheme seemed to have worked
pretty well, with the share of Singaporean employers offering flexi-work
arrangements on a sustained basis rising from 53% in 2019 to 71% in 2022. 34

30
International Labour Organisation (2017).
31
Consultation fees and software fees are examples of such expense. See EY Malaysia (2021).
32
NerdWallet (2023).
33
Legislative Council Secretariat (2023).
34
Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (2023a).
6
However, the WLG policy was aborted in August 2020 because flexi-work
practice was “increasingly normalized” in Singapore during the epidemic years,
dampening the need for such incentives. 35

3.5 In 2017, “tripartite standard” on flexible work arrangements was

launched on a voluntary basis in Singapore, covering some 27% of employees in
early 2022. 36 However, many women still complained that their requests for
flexi-work were not handled fairly. In the White Paper on Singapore’s Women
Development published in March 2022, the Singaporean government declared that
it would take “a stronger stance” against unfair employment practices against
women, pledging to introduce a new set of tripartite guidelines so that employers
can consider flexi-work requests “fairly and properly”. 37 The first meeting of the
tripartite workgroup was convened in September 2023, aiming to release updated
guidelines for implementation by 2024. 38 At this juncture, the Singaporean
government is still non-committal about whether it will introduce a legislation,
cautioning that turning flexi-work practices “into something rigid could be
detrimental to businesses, and even to workers themselves”. 39

3.6 Turning to the Mainland, the Guangdong Province has been promoting
flexi-work practices tailor-made for mothers of younger children aged below 12
(so-called stay-at-home mothers (媽 媽 崗 )) in recent years. The policy objectives
include (a) promoting gender equality; (b) fostering women employment; and
(c) boosting fertility rate. 40 In April 2023, the Human Resources and Social
Security Department of the province released a consultation document, urging
enterprises to offer flexible working hours and family-friendly practices (e.g.
provision of childcare services) for working mothers. 41 The Zhongshan City has
been a pioneer in implementation since August 2021. While employers can receive
a monthly subsidy of RMB400 (HK$465) for each stay-at-home mother hired by
the enterprises, mothers can also receive a monthly subsidy of RMB300 (HK$349)
themselves. By September 2023, altogether 4 423 such mothers have secured jobs
in the City accordingly. 42

35
For the period April-August 2020, WLG application amounted to S$180 million
(HK$1.01 billion) for 90 000 employees in 8 000 enterprises. The Singaporean government
stopped accepting new applications as from 18 August 2020. See Ministry of Manpower,
Singapore (2020) and Legislative Council Secretariat (2023).
36
Tripartite guidelines are the joint work of the government, trade unions and employers. See
Legislative Council Secretariat (2023).
37
Singapore Government (2022).
38
Ministry of Manpower, Singapore (2023a, 2023b).
39
Ibid.
40
China Daily (2023) and China Plus (2023).
41
廣 東 省 人 力 資 源 和 社 會 保 障 廳 (2023).
42
廣 東 省 總 工 會 (2023).
7
4. Recent policy developments in the United Kingdom

4.1 Both work-life balance and flexible workplace system are accorded high
priority in the policy agenda of political parties in the UK, especially the Labour
Party. Although LFPR for women in the prime working age of 25-54 in the UK
stood at a relatively high level of 75.1% in 1997, about eight percentage points
higher than OECD, there were continued concerns over long working hours and
childcare challenges faced by the working parents (Figure 2). 43 After its
re-election in June 2001, the Labour government led by the Prime Minister Tony
Blair set up the Work and Parents Taskforce in the same month, seeking “a light
touch legislative solution” on flexi-work, without placing “onerous burdens on
business”. 44 The Taskforce submitted their recommendations a few months later
and they were all accepted by the government, kick-starting a series of legislative
amendments in the next two decades.

Figure 2 – Labour force participation rate for women aged 25-54 in selected
places

Sources: Census and Statistics Department (2023a) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(2023).

4.2 With effect in April 2003, the Employment Act in the UK was amended,
laying down the statutory procedures for eligible caregivers (i.e. initially parents of
children aged below six or disabled children aged below 18) to request flexible
working. This Act was successively amended in April 2007 to extend such rights

43
CMS Law Now (2001).
44
Eurofound (2001a, 2001b).
8
to caregivers of adult dependents, and further in April 2009 to parents of children
aged below 17. 45 With a view to providing more support to needy families
throughout the UK, a new law namely the Children and Families Act came into
effect in June 2014, extending the statutory rights to all UK employees having
worked for their employers for at least 26 weeks. 46

4.3 At this juncture and based on these two laws (and bearing in mind that
more enhancements are coming on stream in April 2024 after enactment of a new
law to be discussed in paragraph 4.5 below), the salient features of the existing
statutory mechanism in handling flexi-work requests in the UK are summarized
below:

(a) Coverage of employees: All qualified employees in the UK are

entitled to request flexible working in writing now, after abolition of
the pre-conditions that they must be parents or caregivers in 2014; 47

(b) Qualifying length of service: Yet the employees must have worked
for their employers for at least 26 weeks. Moreover, each eligible
employee can make only one application for flexible working each
year;

(c) Permitted scope of flexible working: Based on the statutory code

of practice published in June 2014, applicants can ask for flexible
hours, frequency and location of work. 48 There are many flexi-work
options, with examples like (i) shorter, compressed or flexible
working hours; (ii) part-time work or shorter workweek; and
(iii) job sharing and working from home; and (iv) working on
specific days or specific weeks. In writing, applicants need to
provide information on the expected effect of their requests on the
employers;

(d) Reply procedures of employers: Upon receipt of the requests in

writing, employers must give “reasonable” consideration to it and
should talk with the applicants before making final decisions within
three months (including appeal procedure). 49 If approval is granted,
employers need to write to the applicant and change the terms and
conditions of employment contracts accordingly;

45
House of Commons Library (2018) and Department for Business Innovation and Skills (2010).
46
The key objective of the Children and Family Act was to provide more support to vulnerable
children and their families, with policy measures straddling across policy areas including
home-work balance. See House of Lords Library (2023).
47
ACAS (2023).
48
ACAS (2014a, 2014b).
49
Three-month limit could be extended upon agreements of applicants. See ACAS (2014a).
9
 (e) Rejections with valid business reasons: Employers can turn down
flexi-work requests, but only if there are valid business reasons.
Examples of such valid reasons include (i) burden of additional cost;
(ii) difficulty in work reorganization; (iii) staff recruitment difficulty;
(iv) negative effect on quality or performance of the enterprises; and
(v) inability to meet customer demand; 50 and

(f) Appeal in writing: Applicants may lodge an appeal to employers if

their requests are rejected. Employers are required to consider such
appeals “as quickly as possible”. Unsatisfied applicants may take the
case to the independent Employment Tribunal as the last resort.

4.4 On policy effectiveness, the “statutory right policy” seems to help create
a flexible work environment in the UK, without causing significant inconvenience
to the business community. First of all, it is estimated that just about 4% of the
UK employees requested flexi-work under the statutory mechanism each year,
based on the post-implementation review released in 2021. 51 The likelihood for
women to make such a request was about twice that for men. Secondly, a “vast
majority” of employers approved such flexi-work requests, with a rejection rate of
just 9% in both 2013 and 2018-19. Thirdly, as more than half of the UK
employers admitted that they had a duty to help employees achieve work-life
balance, three-fifths (61%) of enterprises had formulated their own written policy
on flexi-work for their staff in 2018-19, up from 52% in 2013 (Figure 3). These
voluntary policies helped reduce the need for employees to trigger the statutory
mechanism on flexi-work. Fourthly, taking account of both statutory requests and
voluntary practice of employers, most (86%) of employers reported at least one
staff member taking up flexi-work in 2018-19, predominantly in the form of
part-time work. Fifthly, more than 60% of employers reported “positive effect” of
flexi-work on employee relations and staff commitment, while the remainders
mostly indicated “no effect”. Sixthly, the UK government concluded that it “has
not found evidence of any unreasonable costs or administrative burdens on
business” as a result of the extension of such rights to all UK workers in 2014.

50
ACAS (2014a).
51
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2021).
10
Figure 3 – Key findings of employers’ survey on flexible working in the UK

Proportion of employers: 2013 2018-19

1. Having a written policy on flexible working 52% 61%
2. Having at least one staff member taking up flexible work N.A.(1) 86%
(a) Part-time 80% 75%
(b) Reduced hours 29% 34%
(c) Flexible hours 29% 34%
(d) Compressed week 13% 19%
(e) Working from home 14% 19%
(f) Job sharing 12% 11%
3. Reporting positive effect(2) of flexible working on
(a) Employees relations 67% 62%
(b) Motivation and commitment 68% 63%
(c) Productivity 49% 48%
Notes: (1) Data not available.
(2) The rest of employers mostly indicated “no effect”, with very few claiming “negative effect”.
Source: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2021).

4.5 In the light of further public calls and bipartisan policy consensus,
another law named as the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023
was enacted in the UK in July 2023 which will come into force on 6 April 2024,
offering more protection to employees asking for flexi-work. 52 In short, the new
law will (a) remove the eligibility threshold of 26 weeks of service and make
flexi-work request a “day one right” for all UK employees; (b) allow employees to
make two flexi-work requests within a year, instead of one; (c) cut short the
decision-making process of employers from three to two months; (d) make it a
mandatory requirement for employers to discuss with the employees before
rejection; and (e) remove the requirement of employees to state the expected effect
of their flexi-work requests on employers. 53 Reportedly, the UK government is
still revising the statutory code of practice on flexi-work and may bring in more
amendments. 54

52
Both the Conservative and Labour Parties pledged to expand flexi-work rights in their
campaigns for the General Election held in 2019. See House of Commons Library (2023)
and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2023a, 2023b).
53
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2023a, 2023b) and Department for
Business and Trade (2023).
54
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2023a).
11
5. Recent policy developments in Australia

5.1 Similar to the UK, Australian workers found it challenging to maintain

work-life balance after the 2000s, especially the working parents and caregivers
witnessing “high levels of conflict between waged work and care
responsibilities”. 55 In 2007, LFPR of women in the prime working age of 25-54 in
Australia stayed high at 74.8%, five percentage points above OECD (Figure 2). In
face of the challenges faced by women, the Australian Labor Party (“ALO”)
pledged to offer more “support for working families” and to reform the entire
industrial relations system in its campaign for the general election held in
November 2007. 56 Right after winning the election, ALO led by the Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd overhauled the nationwide labour legislation, laying down
National Employment Standards (“NES”) on ten minimum labour benefits (e.g.
minimum wage, working hours, leaves entitlements and flexible working
arrangements) for the first time, on top of other reforms beyond the scope of this
short note. 57 After extensive consultation with both employers and employees,
these reform initiatives were put into practice upon the enactment of the
wide-ranging Fair Work Act 2009 (“the Act”).

5.2 Under the Act, the right to request flexible working arrangements was
initially granted only to working parents or caregivers of children (a) under school
age or (b) aged under 18 with disabilities, with effect in January 2010. 58
In response to strong public demand, the statutory rights were extended to more
Australian workers (e.g. parents of older children, workers with disability, victims
of family violence and older workers) under the Fair Work Amendment Act
effective in July 2013. 59 This was followed by further extension of the statutory
rights to pregnant workers and enhancements in the procedural requirements under
the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Act effective
in June 2023. 60

5.3 As a whole, the salient features of the statutory rights to request

flexi-work in Australia are briefly summarized below:

55
University of Melbourne (2012).
56
Waterhouse and Colley (2010).
57
Lewis Silkin (2020).
58
University of South Australia (2014).
59
Department of Employment (2016).
60
Fair Work Commission (2023).
12
 (a) Coverage of employees: Unlike the UK, only a few categories of
workers are entitled to the statutory rights to request flexi-work in
Australia. They include (i) parents of school age children or
younger; (ii) recognized caregivers; (iii) persons with disability;
(iv) persons aged 55 and above; (v) pregnant workers; and
(vi) victims of family violence or their caregivers. These employees
are entitled to such rights, no matter whether they are working
full-time, part-time or on casual basis; 61

(b) Qualifying length of service: The aforementioned employees need

to have worked for their employers for at least 12 months
beforehand;

(c) Permitted scope of flexible working: Eligible employees need to

make a request in writing, explaining the reasons for their requests.
Flexi-work includes changes in the hours, patterns and locations of
work, such as (i) shorter, compressed or flexible working hours or
workweek; (ii) casual or part-time work; (iii) flexible start and finish
time, time or days off; and (iv) job sharing and working from home;

(d) Reply procedures of employers: Upon receipt of the request,

employers must respond in writing within 21 days. If approved (or if
the agreed flexi-work practice differs from what the applicants ask
for), employers need to confirm their agreements with employees in
writing within these 21 days;

(e) Rejections with valid business reasons in writing: Employers can

refuse the flexi-work requests only on “reasonable business
grounds”. Such reasons include (i) the requested arrangements being
too costly; (ii) impracticality of changing the working arrangements
of other staff or hiring new employees; (iii) significant loss in
efficiency or productivity; and (iv) significant negative impact on
customer service.

Before refusing a request in writing, employers need to discuss with

the applicants first, showing their genuine efforts to reach an
agreement or other arrangements to meet the needs of the employees
concerned. Also, they need to show that they have considered the
consequences of refusing the request; and

61
Casual employees need to have reasonable expectation that they will continue to work with
the employer on a regular basis in the future. See Fair Work Ombudsman (2023a, 2023b).
13
 (f) Seeking resolution from the Fair Work Commission (“FWC”):
If the employer and employee concerned still cannot resolve a dispute
over flexi-work, they can apply to FWC (i.e. an independent and
nationwide workplace relations tribunal in Australia) for resolution
after hearing. FWC usually attempts conciliation or mediation first,
and arbitration afterwards.

5.4 On top of these statutory rights, the Australian government has been
offering a tax incentive to employees working from home for a long time,
i.e. tax deductions for home office expenses. 62 For claiming such expenses, the
employees must (a) work from home to fulfil employment duties, not just simply
checking emails; (b) incur additional running expenses (e.g. costs on energy,
Internet, stationary, depreciation of computers and furniture) as a result of working
from home; and (c) keep valid records of time spent in home office. 63 While there
are several ways to calculate the deductions, the fixed rate method is presented
here for simplicity. 64 In short, each Australian worker can claim tax deduction of
A$0.67 (HK$3.64) for each hour of work in home office as from July 2022. 65
As an order-of-magnitude indication, assuming an Australian employee working
from home for eight hours daily under a five-day week for a full month, he/she can
claim a monthly tax deduction of around A$115 (HK$625). Almost five million or
one-third of Australian workers claimed such tax deductions in 2021-22. 66

5.5 On policy effectiveness, it seems that these measures have increased

flexi-work practices in Australia, with qualitative evidence showing “limited
regulatory impact” on the business community. 67 First, based on scattered
statistics available, the statutory mechanism for requesting flexi-work was used
“quite sparingly”, with only 0.9%-1.5% of Australian employees making such
requests to take care of children annually in 2011-12. 68 Secondly, employers are
generally supportive of flexi-work requests, as seen in the full approval rate of
64.3%, partial approval rate of 16.9% and rejection rate of 10.8% in 2014. 69

62
Australian Taxation Office (2023) and Tax Today (2023).
63
Ibid.
64
Taxpayers may choose actual cost method, but they need to keep track of records and written
evidence of such expense.
65
This rate is revised upward by 29%, compared with the old rate of A$0.52 (HK$3.04) laid
down in July 2018. On top of this hourly rate, taxpayers can also claim depreciation of assets
used in home office. See Australian Taxation Office (2023) and Tax Today (2023).
66
ABC News (2023).
67
Department of Employment (2016).
68
Australian Government (2012) and University of South Australia (2014).
69
Another 8% of employers were still considering the applications. See University of
South Australia (2014).
14
Thirdly, as much as 82% of Australian employers have a formal policy on
flexi-work in 2021-22, up from 71% four years ago (Figure 4). 70 These voluntary
firm-based policies reduce the need to trigger the statutory flexi-work mechanism,
and hence the regulatory burden. Fourthly, including both voluntary practice and
statutory mechanism, the proportion of Australian employees with an agreement to
work flexible hours held broadly stable at 33% in August 2017 and August 2023. 71
The respective share of those working from home regularly even increased from
31% to 37% over the same period. Fifthly, while some enterprises expressed
concerns over “business cost and regulatory burden”, the Australian government
concluded that the regulatory impact of these provisions was limited. 72

Figure 4 – Key indicators on flexible working in Australia

2017-18 2019-20 2021-22 2023-24

1. Proportion of organizations having a formal policy on:
(a) Flexible working 71% 76% 82% -
(b) Working from home - 35% 71% -
2. Proportion of workers(1)
(a) Having agreements to work flexible hours 33% 34% 36% 33%
(b) Working from home regularly 31% 32% 41% 37%
(c) Five-day week from Monday to Friday only 64% 65% 66% 67%
Note: (1) The reference periods are August 2017, August 2019, August 2021 and August 2023 respectively.
Sources: Australian Government (2022) and Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023).

6. Concluding remarks

6.1 In Hong Kong, 85% of workers valued flexible working arrangements

as a key non-monetary benefit in the work choice, but the share of employers
offering flexi-work options reportedly receded after the epidemic. Conceivably,
increased workplace flexibility could have positive effect on staff motivation,
productivity and retention of talents. On social benefits, enhanced workplace
flexibility is believed to be able to promote gender equality, revive fertility rate
and unlock the potential of latent labour force especially mothers aged 25-54 and
older persons aged 60-69 still in good health.

70
Australian Government (2022).
71
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023).
72
Department of Employment (2016).
15
6.2 In the UK, the statutory mechanism for handling flexi-work requests is a
need-based policy, minimizing regulatory burden onto business. While employers
must respond to such requests in writing within three months, they can turn down
such requests on valid business reasons. As three-fifths of UK employers have
formulated their own flexi-work policies, just around 4% of employees made
statutory requests for flexi-work annually. After successive extensions, all
employees with at least 26 weeks of service in the UK are entitled to these
statutory rights, bearing in mind that further legislative refinements will come into
effect on 6 April 2024.

6.3 In Australia, the statutory mechanism for handling flexi-work requests

was broadly similar to that of the UK, except that (a) the entitlements are limited
to several categories of workers; (b) it requires a longer qualifying service length
of 12 months; and (c) employers have a shorter reply period of just 21 days.
As four-fifths of Australian enterprises have formulated their own flexi-work
policies, just around 0.9%-1.5% of employees made statutory requests in 2011-12.
This apart, Australian employees can claim tax deductions for home office
expenses at an hourly rate of A$0.67 (HK$3.64) while working from home.
Reportedly, almost five million or one-third of Australian workers claimed such
tax deductions in 2021-22.

Prepared by Kari CHU

Research Office
Research and Information Division
Legislative Council Secretariat
21 December 2023
Tel: 3919 3181

Information Notes are compiled for Members and Committees of the Legislative Council. They are not legal or
other professional advice and shall not be relied on as such. Information Notes are subject to copyright owned by
The Legislative Council Commission (The Commission). The Commission permits accurate reproduction of Information Notes
for non-commercial use in a manner not adversely affecting the Legislative Council. Please refer to the Disclaimer and
Copyright Notice on the Legislative Council website at www.legco.gov.hk for details. The paper number of this issue of
Information Note is IN26/2023.

16
 Appendix

Flexible working polices in selected places by 2023

Hong Kong(1) United Kingdom Australia

A. Basic indicators on labour market
1997 2022 1997 2022 1997 2022

1. Total size of labour force (million) 3.1 3.5 28.3 34.0 9.2 14.1
2. Labour force participation rate (%):
- Total 60.3% 56.1% 62.5% 62.9% 63.1% 66.6%
- Men aged 25-54 97.0% 92.4% 91.7% 91.5% 91.1% 90.6%
- Women aged 25-54 59.7% 72.1% 75.1% 82.7% 69.3% 81.7%
- Persons aged 60-64 30.3% 48.3% 39.1% 56.0% 32.1% 60.3%
- Persons aged 65-69 13.2% 26.5% 10.9% 26.0% 12.1% -

B. Statutory rights for employees to request flexible working from employers

Employment Act and
3. Name of the legislation  Children and Family Act(2)
Fair Work Act

4. First implementation year  2003 2010

Parents, carers and
5. Coverage of employees  All employees(3)
designated workers(3)
6. Qualifying length of continued  26 weeks 12 months
service
7. Maximum annual number of  1 -
request
8. Scope of flexible working  Wide-ranging(4) Wide-ranging(4)
9. Time limit for employers to reply  3 months 21 days
10. Required valid reasons in rejection   
11. Estimated proportion of employees 
4%(5) 0.9%-1.5%(5)
making a statutory request (2018) (2011-12)
9%(5) 10.8%(5)
12. Rejection rate of employers 
(2018) (2014)
C. Tax deduction offered to employees for home office expenses
13. Tax deduction for each hour of A$0.67
working from home (under fixed  -
(HK$3.41)
rate rule)
Notes: (1) Labour market statistics for Hong Kong excludes foreign domestic helpers.
(2) In the UK, a new law namely the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 was enacted in July 2023,
but the exact implementation date is not specified yet. Major amendments are discussed in paragraph 4.5.
(3) Details on coverage of eligible workers in the two places are discussed in paragraphs 4.3(a) and 5.3(a).
(4) For instance, it includes part-time work, reduced hours, flexi-hours, job sharing and working from home.
(5) Findings from government surveys. Details are provided in paragraphs 4.4 and 5.5.

17
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23
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24
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Note: ^ Internet resources listed in this section were accessed in December 2023.

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