Simon Allport, north-west senior partner at Ernst & Young, who has himself chosen a flexible work pattern, said: "Flexible working is a source of competitive advantage to employers.
The Institute of Directors said it liked the contracts because they helped ensure a "flexible work market," but added that "flexibility must work for both staff and business," and exclusivity clauses should be banned.
How do you ask your company for a flexible work schedule?
She suggested another possible solution: a flexible work schedule that would accommodate early pickup.
But she wants to scrap a flexible work contract for small companies that was introduced a year ago.
Q. Isn't choosing a flexible work schedule committing career suicide? A. In Ms. McAuliffe's case, no.
Most cubicles today, Mr. Adams said, can be customized into a flexible work space that highlights privacy, individuality and efficiency.
Instead, Mark Beatson, chief economist at the CIPD, suggested that a flexible work market will help drive jobs growth.
They had been used as a flexible work force, a supplement to the 1,200 regular employees, to step up production during demand surges, now nonexistent.
"It provides a flexible work force for Monsanto, and it provides work for the retirees if they want it, according to their own schedules," she said.
