Q: We’ve recently hired a candidate for a senior role, which we’ve struggled to fill for quite some time. The candidate performed exceptionally well during the interview process and commenced work last week. However, he has now requested flexible working conditions, specifically to work from home, a request that was not mentioned during the interviews. We believe that this role necessitates a full-time physical presence in the office. What are our options?

A: Since April 6, employees have been entitled to make a flexible working request from their first day of employment. Previously, a qualifying period of 26 weeks of service was required.

It is understandable that an employer might feel frustrated by such an early request, especially after a comprehensive and costly recruitment process where the role’s expectations were likely made clear.

The employment contract the employee has signed is likely to include terms specifying office-based work. This situation might even lead to concerns that the employee was not entirely forthright about their intention to work flexibly.

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Feedback from respondents to the government’s consultation on proposed changes to the flexible working system indicated that immediate renegotiations of work arrangements might adversely affect employee-employer relationships.

Despite these concerns, the benefits of the new rules have been deemed to outweigh the drawbacks. You must therefore accept that an employee making a flexible working request in their first week of employment is exercising their statutory right.

Follow your standard procedure for handling flexible working requests, updated to reflect the reduced timeframe from three months to two months. If there are clear operational reasons necessitating full-time office presence, especially due to the senior nature of the role, the employer can legally refuse the request under one of the eight permitted reasons. The seniority and newness of the employee may also be pertinent, given the need for him to physically integrate and familiarize himself with the business and staff.

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Even if the employee disagrees with the outcome, a well-founded business rationale is difficult to contest. An employment tribunal cannot question the business reasons behind denying a flexible working request, and the maximum compensation for any procedural error is eight weeks’ pay (currently capped at £700 per week).

Employers should scrutinize the reasons provided by the employee for the request and evaluate whether additional protections under the discrimination provisions of the Equality Act might apply. This typically concerns requests linked to religious practices, disabilities, or childcare commitments.

Nevertheless, even if there are valid grounds for refusal, consider the broader business context. Given the critical nature of the role, the investment in recruitment, and the difficulty in filling the position, it might ultimately benefit the business to accommodate the employee’s flexible working request.

Another notable update from April 6 is that employees can now make two flexible working requests within any 12-month period, an increase from the previous one request annually. This change provides even more incentive to seek a viable compromise, as a second request could be made relatively soon.

Katie Clark is an employment partner at Keystone Law