Passage II Flexible working is becoming popular in the 21century workplace, as an increasing number of people seek to combine an active family life with full-time employment. Employers have become more aware of the benefits that flexible working can bring to their business: these can include greater staff retention ( 保留 ) and better morale along with increased efficiency and productivity. Indeed, for many global businesses some kind of working policy is becoming essential for coordinating with their intentional offices. Recent changes in legislation have significantly increased the number of people with a legal right to apply for flexible working. Who has the right to apply? Any employee can apply informally and ask for flexible working hours, and the decision will be made according to the company ’ s flexible working policy. But two kinds of people have a legal right to apply: employees with young or disabled children, and employees who are caring for infirm ( 体弱的 ) or disabled adults. Currently , parents with children aged sixteen or under have the right to apply. An employee must have been working for a company for at least 26 weeks before they can apply for flexible working. What are some of the options for flexible working? There are numerous flexible working options, and it is important to consider which of them can practically be applied for your business. Some of the most common ones are: . Flexible hours. An employee works full or part time hours, but when these hours are worked is fully negotiable. An employee could start and finish two hours later than usual, for example. . Zero hours contact. This contact has no fixed hours. The employee works only when there are specific tasks to complete. . Work from home. This is an arrangement where an employee works partly or fully from home. . Job share. The full time role of a single employee is shared between two or more people on a part-time basis. Read the passage and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.