Flexible working options

FLEXI – TIME:
Flexible working hours or flexitime schedules allow employees to vary their working hours within specific limits form day to day. A certain number of hours (credit or debit) can be carried forward from an accounting period (normally one month) to the next, with the option of taking a day or half day off as ‘flexi – leave.

TIME OFF IN LIEU / HOURS BANKING:
Where there is no formal flexi – time or annual hours scheme, there are examples where time worked after normal starting and finishing time can be taken off during working hours. Such time can be accumulated and taken as time off at some other point in the future, mutually convenient to both staff and the employer. This offers staff time off in lieu as an alternative to paid overtime.

STAGGERED HOURS:
Various systems of staggered hours are used where employees have a range of different start and finish times with half to one hour lunch breaks. For example: An employee might work 8.30am – 5.15pm on one day, 8.45am – 5.30pm on another day and 9.00am – 5.45pm on another day.

SHIFT SWAPPING:
In situations where flexi – time schemes are not appropriate, a certain amount of flexibility can be made available where staff can fix times to suit themselves and can re-arrange shifts amongst themselves.

COMPRESSED HOURS WORKING:
Compressed hours working allows staff to work their agreed hours or conditioned hours over longer or fewer days. This pattern of working is not suitable for jobs where additional cover would be required during the job holder’s absence and is therefore likely to be limited in availability.

JOB SHARING:
This usually means that two people voluntarily share the duties and responsibilities of one full time job and share pay, holidays and other benefits according to the numbers of hours worked.

VOLUNTARY REDUCED HOURS:
Also known as V – time, this is one of the most flexible forms of reduced hours working. It usually means voluntarily reducing hours for a specific period – usually between six and twelve months. Reductions in hours range from 2.5% to 50%, but are usually in the 10% to 20% range.

SELF - ROSTERING:
Team based self - rostering is a ‘bottom up’ approach to organising staff time, giving people more control over the pattern of their working week. In most organisations, staff rosters are often drawn up by managers, often in consultation with staff. The philosophy underpinning self – rostering involves agreeing the staffing levels and skill mix required at any time in the day, then giving staff the ability to schedule their working day collectively to meet those requirements.

TERM TIME WORKING:
Term time working involves an agreement between an employee and their employer to work a reduced number of weeks in a year. The terms and conditions should be the same as those for full time members of staff, with the exception of seven to nine weeks unpaid ‘holiday’ per year. These weeks normally coincide with the school holidays. These can be added to annual holiday entitlement and allow an employee to spend the school holidays with their children.
Essentially, a term – time working arrangement allows an employee to remain on a permanent contract as either a full or part time employee, but gives rights to (unpaid) leave of absence during the school holidays. As the school holidays total about 13 weeks a year and the average leave entitlement is between four and six weeks, there remain about seven to nine weeks of possible unpaid leave.

ANNUALISED HOURS:
Annual hours working is a system whereby the period of time within which employees must work is defined over the whole year. According to ACAS it is ‘ a system whereby employers commit themselves to a number of hours and a pattern of working over a twelve month period as determined by the needs of the business’.
Annualised hours typically compromise a number of basic rostered hours and, in most cases, a number of unrostered reserved hours, which can be used to cover additional operational requirements. The employee’s salary is usually paid in equal weekly or monthly instalments, regardless of the actual number of hours worked in that period.

CAREER BREAKS:
A career break is an extended period of unpaid leave from work, with the intention that, at some agreed date in the future, the employee will return to work with the same employer. During the break, the employer and employee keep in touch by a variety of means. There is no legal right to a career break. However, with Parental Leave Regulations now in operation, a minimum of three months unpaid leave is available to each parent to enable them to take care of their child until they are five. Many employees prefer the option of reducing their hours of work, rather than taking a career break, particularly on return from maternity leave.

SABBATICALS:
Sabbatical leave is a period of time off in addition to annual leave, on full pay, awarded on the basis of length of service. Essentially, a sabbatical is a reward for long service, which offers the opportunity for employees ‘to recharge batteries’.

WORKING FROM HOME:
Working form home, tele working, telecommuting or remote working are considered arrangements where salaried employees spend all or some of their working week at home or working from home as a base. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently published detailed estimates of the number of UK tele-workers, defined as ‘people who do some paid or unpaid work in their home and who could not do so without using both a telephone and a computer’.

If you would like further or more detailed information on a range of Work Life Balance options or would like one of our Creating More Balance information packs then feel free to contact Barnsley Choices on 01226 775977.