Employers are being urged to be more flexible with employees, in a bid to ease the financial burden of the cost of travelling to and from work.

With the average price of diesel edging towards £1.30 a litre, all workers with cars are likely to be scrutinising the financial cost of commuting to work.

Croner, part of Wolters Kluwer, is encouraging employers to be open to suggestions for flexible working from all staff, to make their working lives easier.

Joanne Pitts, employment law consultant at Croner, said: “The cost of getting to work for many people is soaring, especially in more rural areas, with fuel prices going through the roof. As a result, we expect an increasing number of employees to be approaching their bosses with requests to consider changing their terms and conditions in order to reduce their weekly spend. For some part-time staff, they may be wondering whether it’s financially worth them travelling to work at all.

“It might be possible for some employees to work from home or to alter their start and finish times to avoid the rush hour traffic, and therefore the time spent sitting idle in traffic burning fuel.”

Croner offers advice on how to implement flexible working, including being open-minded; agreeing on whether any arrangement is temporary or permanent; estimating costs and establishing benchmarks for recruitment, retention and absence; and plans for monitoring new ways of working.