magazine
34
Flexible Working
Flexible working:
your options
Recently introduced Government
legislation permits any UK employee
with more than 26 weeks’ service
to make an application for flexible
working, and requires businesses
to consider these requests in a
‘reasonable manner’.
In an attempt to remove the cultural
assumption that flexible working
only applies to parents or carers, the
Government believes the change to the
law will make workplaces fit for the 21st
century and create a more engaged, agile,
results-driven and productive workforce.
So, what exactly is ‘flexible working’
and how could it change what your
employees do day-in and day-out?
The reality is that elements of flexible
working are probably already happening
in your business, if you’re the kind of
person who checks your emails on your
phone when you’re out and about,
or does a bit of work on the train in
preparation for a meeting, or if you’ve let
an employee leave early for a personal
appointment. These are all examples of
flexible working in action.
Flexible working arrangements
typically fall into one of the following
categories:
Job sharing:
The dividing up of
one job between two or more people,
with the hours split between them. The
apportioning of hours does not need to
be equal.
Flexible places of work:
In the digital
age,Wi-Fi, cloud storage and other
technologies enable employees to do
some or all of their work from home or
somewhere else other than their normal
place of work.
Part-time:
Allowing individuals to
reduce their hours to less than full-time,
whether by working shorter days or
fewer days.
Compressed hours:
Unlike part-time
working, this involves the same number
of hours as a full-time role but spread
across fewer days, so an individual may
work four longer days each week, for
example.
Flexi-time:
Many companies will
establish core business hours (e.g. 10am
to 4pm) but allow individuals to set their
own start and finish times to fit in with
other commitments. This may result in
some shorter and some longer days, but
over the course of the working week each
individual should do their contracted
hours in full.
Annualised hours:
An extension of
the Flexi-time principle that can work
well for roles or businesses that have a
high degree of seasonality. Individuals
can be contracted to work a certain
Bostjan Bregar outlines the different flexible
working arrangements being adopted by
businesses and their benefits
number of hours over the course of the
year, with flexibility on when they work
to accommodate peaks and troughs in
business activity.
Staggered hours:
Each employee can
set different start, finish and break times.
Such arrangements can be of benefit to
businesses that want to extend opening
times without increasing total hours
worked by staff.
Phased retirement:
Now that the
default retirement age has been phased
out and older workers can choose when
they want to retire, individuals can
gradually reduce the number of hours they
work to part-time over a given period. This
eases pressure on them personally and
allows a transitional handover period that
will help the business prepare for their
eventual full retirement.
On the surface, the combination of
flexible options and alterations to the law
may seem daunting, but the rewards of
flexible working can be hugely beneficial
to your business and your team.
Often, taking the first step is the
most difficult part, but by planning and
implementing a company-wide flexible
working policy and supporting teams
with the right technology, you can create
an organisational culture of always
putting customers and staff first and give
yourself a competitive advantage as a
truly agile business.
Bostjan Bregar is co-founder and CEO
of The 4th Office, a structured cloud
workspace with intuitive collaboration,
file sharing and task management tools
that enable teams to work together
efficiently, whether they’re in the same
room or on the other side of the world.
Established 10 years ago, The 4th Office
embraces the principles of agility and
flexibility in its own operations. It is based
in Slovenia and the UK and expands and
shrinks resources and skill-sets as required
through a combination of full-time
employees, freelancers and partners. For
further information on The 4th Office’s
agile workspace or a free trial for your
business, go to
Free Guide
The 4th Office has produced a free guide to flexible working explaining:
n
How the working landscape is evolving
n
Changes to the law and why the legislation has been updated
n
The steps you need to take if you receive a flexible working request
n
Guidance on updating your existing flexible working policy
The 4th Office Guide to FlexibleWorking
can be downloaded from
/
web/blog/employers%E2%80%99-guide-new-2014-flexible-working-legislation).
Theemployers’guide to theflexible
working legislation
...elements
of flexible
working are
probably
already
happening in
your business
