UK employees will be able to request flexible working from day one of their job, under new Government plans.
Millions of people already work flexibly, with a mixture of office and home days, following the coronavirus pandemic.
But new Government legislation will give workers the right to request such arrangements from the moment they begin new employment.
Other flexible working options can include job-sharing, flexitime, and working compressed, annualised, or staggered hours.
If an employer cannot accommodate a request to work flexibly, they will have to explore alternative options before they can reject the request.
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Under the current rules, employees have the right to request flexible working arrangements if they have been with their employer for at least 26 weeks.
New laws will also remove "exclusivity clauses" for low-paid workers earning below the lower earnings limit of £123 a week.
These types of clauses restrict people from working for multiple employers and typically affect gig economy workers, students and carers.
Small business minister Kevin Hollinrake said: "Giving staff more say over their working pattern makes for happier employees and more productive businesses. Put simply, it's a no-brainer.
"Greater flexibility over where, when, and how people work is an integral part of our plan to make the UK the best place in the world to work."
TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said it had been a year since a consultation on flexible working closed and people were "tired of waiting for action".
She added: "Flexible working should be available to everyone. It's how we keep mums in work, close the gender pay gap and give dads more time with their kids, and it's how we keep disabled workers, older workers and carers in their jobs.
"Allowing working people to ask for flexible working from their first day in a job would be a small step in the right direction, but we'd like the Government to go much further to ensure that flexible work now becomes the norm.
"Ministers must change the law so that every job advert makes clear what kind of flexible working is available in that role.
"They should give workers the legal right to work flexibly from their first day in a job - not just the right to ask."
