Read our top 10 stories on flexible working

What are your legal rights around flexible working? How can you request it – and get it? And how can you ensure your career is just as successful when working flexibly?

In this week’s round up of our top 10 stories on flexible working we answer these questions and more! Learn how to show your company you’re just as committed – even if you need to leave at 5:30pm every day, and why flexible working actually makes great business sense for your employer.

Read our top 10 stories on flexible working

Need advice about flexible working? You’ll find it in these 10 stories!

1) How to request flexible working – and get it!

In this Q&A, a reader asked us how best to approach her employer with a flexible working request, as she’d had already been told it was unlikely to be granted.

Our career agony aunt Fiona Clark shares her six top tips on how to make a flexible working request that’s more likely to get accepted.

2) Five important benefits of flexible working

Flexible working isn’t just a good idea for employees. In this article, Regus explain why employers too have much to gain from enabling their staff to exercise their flexible working rights.

3) How companies can improve their flexible working policies

For many mums, finding a rewarding flexible job, or agreeing new flexible terms on their pre-baby position, is sometimes the only workable solution to continuing their career while raising their family.

But how easy is it to continue your career on a flexible basis today? And how are UK companies changing to meet the needs of valued (and valuable) employees at a critical time in their careers?

To find out, flexible employment specialists Ten2Two conducted an online survey of over 700 registered members from across London and the South East in October 2013. You can read the results in this article.

4) How to ask for flexible working

Today, all employees who meet the criteria can request flexible working. In this article, we explain the process.

5) How a working mum was forced out of her job

What’s it really like as a working mum? Despite efforts to reduce discrimination in the workplace, the reality for many women can be tough.

As much as we may like to believe that our workplaces are now much more mum-friendly, for many of us this just isn’t the case.

To highlight some of the realities women can face when returning to the workplace after having a baby, in this article a single mum explains how she was forced out out of her job when she requested flexible working.

6) Why flexible working makes great business sense

For many working mums, working flexibly allows them to spend precious time with their family, while meeting their career and work needs.

But flexible working doesn’t just benefit working mums, either. Plenty of research shows that companies with a flexible working policy see clear business benefits as a result. So if you’re thinking about asking for flexible working, it may be worth showing your employer some of the figures in this article!

7) Returning from maternity leave – your legal FAQs

We often get emails from women asking about their legal rights as an employee. And one subject that comes up time and time again is what their employer can and can’t do when they return from maternity leave.

To help clear this often confusing issue up for as many of you as we can, in this article we put some of your most frequently asked questions to employment lawyer Angela Lally.

8) Your legal rights when returning to work after maternity leave

Continuing the legal theme… Returning to work after maternity leave can be a difficult and uncertain time, particularly if you’ve just given birth to your first child and are unsure of your rights.

To help you understand what to expect and where you stand, in this article solicitor Melissa Cook explains your legal position when you return to work from maternity leave.

9) Back to work with a bang after maternity leave

What’s it really like returning to work after maternity leave? It’s easy to dread getting back into the routine, and leaving your child after such a long time off. But surely there are good points too?

In this blog, Senior Product Manager Laura Sands reveals what it’s actually like – the good, the bad and the ugly!

10) How to leave work on time and still seem committed

In this Q&A a reader asks how she can leave work at 5:30pm every day for nursery pick up, and still show her company that she’s committed to her work?

Jessica Chivers, the managing director of The talent Keeper Specialists, shares a simple but effective strategy for coping with this common problem.