A consultation will be held with the aim of considering the prolonging of flexible working hours programmes, the government has announced.
The discussion is intended to consider the paperwork involved in employees making requests for more lenient working hours.
Present at the discussions will be employer and employee representatives, unions and stakeholders who will be asked to contribute ideas on how to raise awareness of the procedure among staff.
Pat McFadden, employment relations minister, discussed the success of flexible working hours, saying: "It helps employees to balance their home and work lives, but at the same time gives employers the right to say no where there are legitimate business concerns."
Employers will also have the opportunity to suggest how flexible working requests could be improved at the consultation, Mr McFadden added.
Recently, law company Nabarro said that offering flexible hours may be low on many employees priority lists as they continue to make redundancies and reduce job placements in the current economic climate.
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