Half of employers will not be allowing flexi-time during the London 2012 Games, a poll has found.

Under the survey by the Chartered Institute for Payroll Professionals (CIPP), just 10 per cent of businesses said they would be using flexible working for the Olympics next year, with the remaining 40 per cent having no clear policy.

Commenting on flexi-time practices, Diana Bruce, senior policy liaison officer at the CIPP, said: “Although employees have the right to request it, they do not have the right to receive it.

“For an example, to be granted flexible working they will need to have worked at their organisation for at least 26 weeks and not to have any previous requests for flexible working hours in the past 12 months.”

Ms Bruce said that employers who had not done so may need to consider adopting flexi-time during the London Games in order to avoid record staff “sickies”.