Flexible work, the practice of giving employees some control over their working time, can transform the modern workplace. Once the province of scattered national legislation, the European Union is now considering the inclusion of flextime rights in the Working Time Directive (WTD), the leading EU legislation related to work time. In this article, we propose that the European Commission should adopt a right to request flexible work as part of the WTD. Adoption of the right to request flexible work would significantly alleviate the challenges employees face in maintaining work–life balance. The right to request flexible work can also provide benefits to employers by increasing employee loyalty and productivity. Finally, adoption of the right to request flexible work into the WTD would improve the overall effectiveness of the EU's employment law framework in an increasingly fast‐paced and competitive society.

中文翻译：

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联合王国要求作为欧洲联盟灵活工作典范的权利

灵活的工作方式（使员工可以控制自己的工作时间）可以改变现代化的工作场所。欧盟曾经是分散的国家立法省，现在正考虑将弹性工作时间权利纳入工作时间指令（WTD），这是与工作时间有关的领先的欧盟立法。在本文中，我们建议欧洲委员会应将要求灵活工作的权利作为WTD的一部分。要求灵活工作的权利的采用将大大减轻员工在维持工作与生活平衡方面面临的挑战。要求灵活工作的权利还可以通过提高员工的忠诚度和生产率为雇主提供利益。最后，通过要求在WTD中进行灵活工作的权利将提高欧盟的整体效力。。