Younger workers less likely to be attracted by flexible-working benefits

Younger employees are less likely to take advantage of flexible-working schemes than their older colleagues, a new study has found.

Coming as growing numbers of employers offer benefits such as flexi-time and home-working to prospective candidates in order to make office-based positions such as accounting and finance jobs more attractive, research carried out by the management consultancy firm Mercer has revealed that those employees are tending to stick with the traditional 'nine-to-five' working day.

Indeed, where employers had introduced flexible working schemes, just 47 per cent of workers in their 20s had taken advantage, compared to between 67 and 70 per cent among workers in their later years.

Given that the needs of younger workers are different to their older colleagues, who are more likely to have families or need time off for illness, Mercer principal Tony Morgan has advised employers to look into introducing different benefits.

"More should be done to support them in meeting the financial burdens they face," he said.

"In particular the need to pay off student loans and secure their first homes."

Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has reported that two in three British employers are now looking into changing the way they work, with greater flexibility for workers set to be the main focus of many.

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