The core message is that the Government should be resolute in implementing a "maximal rather than a minimal framework for entrenching and extending flexible working practices".
According to demos these are critical in ensuring that a framework for two-way dialogue between the needs of employers and employees can take place. Yet while the legislation continues to be necessary demos says it will never be sufficient; the ethos and culture of organisations will ultimately determine whether flexible working entitlements can work to the mutual benefit of employers and employees.
The report goes on to say it would be "short sighted to sacrifice flexible working rights on the altar of short-term economic recovery", particularly because they can be complementary, in that greater availability of flexible working allows for a more inclusive labour market, expanding the size of the labour force and increasing output. But it would also betray a dangerously narrow interpretation of the responsibilities employers owe toward not just their employees but also society at large.
By learning from "vanguard employers", society can forge a settlement on working practices that enshrines flexibility on both sides - employer and employee - in order to reap business and social benefits. Flexibility in the workplace needs to be based on the principles of reciprocity and mutual responsibility between employers and employees in order to reach a mutual accommodation.
The survey has identified barriers, or 'risk factors', to flexibility such as firm size and sector. This report draws on polling, comparing it with other datasets, to construct an image of the modern British workplace and to analyse how risk factors are distributed across the economy.
Demos used varying statistical methodology including regression analysis as well as structured interviews and focus groups by BT and John Lewis Partnership, and Women Like Us.
The results show flexible working has become entrenched in the working lives of most people - a substantial achievement for flexible working advocates.
The report found 91% of employers offer at least one form of flexible working arrangement to their employees. Almost 60% of employees stated they currently used a form of flexible working and 83% of requests for flexible working are approved.
But 81% of employers did not expect that their organisation would extend flexible working in the next two years.
Of the firms that currently do not offer any form of flexible working arrangement, 92% said they were unlikely to start offering it in the next two years. Half of firms with fewer than 50 employees said they granted less than a quarter flexible working requests.
Compounding the problem is lack of knowledge: 60% of employees did not know who was covered by the legal right to request. Flexible working has also not been able to address many gender-based inequalities. Belying the narrative of the 'new man', men were less than half as likely to use flexible working in order to 'look after children' than women and 86% of men said they would not use a longer period of paternity leave if it was offered to them.
Commenting on today's report from Demos on flexible working, Liz Gardiner, policy officer at Working Families said: "Flexible working in the UK has been a success story, but Demos' survey reveals the flexibility-gap.
"Too many employers are not benefiting from the recruitment, retention, commitment and performance gains that flexible working can bring, and too many parents are struggling without the flexible working patterns they need. Government should heed the call to be bold in extending the right to request flexible working to all, and to actively promote flexible working as key to the growth agenda. We agree with Demos - the question is not whether we can afford to go ahead with the extension, but whether we can afford to let flexible working stall."
