Flexi-time benefits employees and employers

Flexi-time working is one of the most common forms of flexible working. Its use is largely restricted to administrative and clerical staff. Many organisations operate various forms of flexi-time schemes, often for staff who would otherwise be working a conventional “9 to 5” working day.

What is flexi-time?
Flexi-time allows staff to vary their actual working hours outside certain core times each day.

Usually this means staff can vary their start and finish times to suit domestic responsibilities, travel arrangements, or for work reasons.

Staff can build up a debit or credit of hours worked within each period.
Most schemes allow staff to consolidate extra hours worked into a day or half-day off.

Limits are set for how many debit or credit hours can be accrued.

What are the benefits of flexi-time for staff?
• being able to fit domestic commitments in around the start or finish of the ordinary working day
• being able to miss the worst of the rush hour
• choosing to work early or late when there are fewer interruptions
• being able to log extra hours worked and take time back later
• being able to consolidate credit hours into a half-day or day off.

What are the benefits of flexi-time for the organisation?
• eases disciplinary issues about lateness
• reduces absenteeism among staff who would rather take a day off than report in late
• enables extension of working hours
• improves recruitment and retention of staff
• gives some scope to match peak staffing with peak demand during the “core hours” of work.

What are the disadvantages?
• competition to take time off
• resentment if introducing flexi-time formalises practice which may have worked well informally before
• ensuring that essential working times are always covered
• the cost of installing time-recording equipment for staff to use
• additional management time spent supervising the scheme and dealing with requests for time off
• staff may be working unsupervised during early or late times.

None of these represent real problems for effective management.

Will it work for your organisation?
Examine whether the functions and tasks of the team allow for day-to-day flexibility around start, finish and break times, without prejudicing performance.

Consult with staff whether flexi-time would be welcomed, or whether other patterns would be more useful.

Implementation
The scheme will require core hours during which all staff are expected to be present.

Limits also need to be set for how many credit and debit hours staff can accrue during each period, and how these can be consolidated into days off

Agree on record-keeping system. The systems may be manual, time recorders and computers

Note that the focus of the system will be to monitor hours worked, rather than actual start and finish times, although it will be important to monitor that core hours are being covered.

Set up procedures to monitor response to the scheme from staff and deal with any questions which may arise.

Glossary
• Bandwidth is the span of hours over which the system operates, that is, the earliest starting and latest finishing times. A limit is set for the number of hours which can be worked in one day, usually nine hours

• Core times are the periods when all employees must be present, other than for authorised absence.

• Flexible times are the periods during which starting and finishing times may be varied, subject to the demands of the job. The hours worked during these periods are credited to the employee’s total working hours.

• Lunchtime is in general, a break of between half an hour and two hours, usually between 12 and 2pm.

• Accounting period is the period in which an employee must complete their contractual hours. For example,someone working a 35 hour week will need to work 4 x 35 = 140 hours during a four week accounting period. Most schemes allow for the credit or debit of hours up to a limit that can be carried over to the next accounting period. If employees go over this limit they may lose the extra hours if in credit, or may be disciplined or lose pay if in debit.

• Flexileave allows staff to take credit hours off in core time. Most schemes place a limit on the number of days or half days that can be taken off in any one period, usually one or two. Some allow flexileave to be added to annual leave entitlement.

For further information contact Mike Hitchen Consulting