- Conference
- 2022 Virtual Higher Education Conference
- Date
- 13 October 2021
- Decision
- Carried
More than four in five workers in Britain want to work flexibly according to a Trade Union Congress (TUC) report on The future of flexible work published in June 2021.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was inequality in access to genuinely flexible working. As the TUC report notes, “Too many people in working-class occupations were closed out of genuine flexibility and instead had worse terms and conditions masquerading as ‘flexibility’ forced onto them in the form of zero-hours contracts and other forms of insecurity.” In Higher Education (HE), many staff in lower paid jobs often have had requests for flexible working turned down on grounds that the ‘business needs’ of the institution cannot accommodate flexible working in their role.
The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the landscape of flexible working. From March 2020 to July 2021, all those who could work from home were expected to do so. In HE, this meant that the majority of staff have worked from home. However, a significant number of staff, including cleaners, security, catering, technicians and portering staff, continued to work on campus.
For the 2021/22 academic year, many HE institutions and student unions are adopting hybrid working practices. In some cases, hybrid working – where staff can mix working from campus and from home – is being introduced on a trial basis and at others it is a permanent change. In general, hybrid working is being offered only to staff in desk-based roles. Cleaners, security, catering and other non-desk based roles are excluded.
Hybrid working and the increased ability to work flexibly is welcomed by conference. However, there is a danger that staff in lower paid jobs on campus will continue to be ‘locked out’ of flexible working. Conference should also have concerns over the type of hybrid working models being introduced and the danger they may pose to working conditions.
Conference believes there needs to be fair access to flexible working and that flexible working must be of benefit to all staff working at universities, helping them balance their work and home lives. Increased access to remote working must not come at the price of reductions to pay, increased intrusive remote surveillance, unsafe working environments, lack of access to union representatives, an increase in unpaid hours worked and draining, ‘always-on’ cultures. Nobody working in a university should be denied the chance to return to working on campus and be forced to work from home as the result of money saving office closures.
Conference resolves:
1)To campaign for all university staff, including outsourced staff, to have fair and equal access to flexible working;
2)To recirculate bargaining guides to branches: Covid-19 pandemic Bargaining over working from home with model policy and Bargaining on working hours. UNISON has produced these useful guides and model policy on working from home/ hybrid working and working hours.
3)To collect examples of best practice of flexible working generally and hybrid working specifically and share with all branches.
4)To negotiate with Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA) for agreed sector wide standards that include Health and Safety, provisions of equipment, and for this to be extended to and include outsourced workers.
5)To campaign on the right to disconnect from work and to have a genuine balance between work and personal/private lives.