As the mornings grow darker and colder and the winter chills creep in, the desire to stay in bed wrapped in the duvet for an extra hour gets stronger. Most of us would love the opportunity to change our working patterns to suit our lifestyle better – this is known as flexitime!
Flexitime arrangements are intended to give staff more choice over their working hours and refer to any working schedule that is outside of a normal working pattern. So instead of being repetitive and fixed, the hours you work can change. Where you are working from can also be a variable – for example your flexitime could involve working from home. However, flexi hours are not given out to those who want to escape the office early for an extra intake of vitamin D, but they are something that can be negotiated with management to help you achieve a work/life balance.
But in a world where we bring our personal life into the workplace, take our work home and are able to access emails and software remotely at anytime, why do so many companies oppose the concept of flexi hours?
Not all employers fully understand the concept of flexi hours and many actually offer it without realising it. Some small to medium sized enterprises may oppose flexitime due to their concern with the administrative and financial strain of the applications they would receive, as many don’t have HR management to help deal with this. Some companies simply have old school values, and others are concerned with the data security issues of working from home.
Campaigners would argue that the advantages of flexible working far outweigh the negatives. These include reduced premises costs as more people work from home and increased staff motivation and productivity which in turn leads to a reduced sickness rate.
Most companies will clearly state in their job description whether or not flexi working is available, however there is no reason why you cannot ask your employer for flexible working once you are already in a job. The Government fully back flexitime and have been campaigning for companies to offer it to all employees since 2011, so we hope to see some changes across the board sooner, rather than later.
If you want to work flexibly, discuss with your manager how the change in your working pattern will be mutually beneficial and take it from there.
Flexi Time Dictionary
Flexitime – Employee and employer agree a core period between them, but the employee is able to arrange their hours to suit themselves.
Staggered hours – Employees start and finish work at different times.
Annual hours – Employees work a set number of hours over the course of a year, but the pattern can vary week to week.
Compressed hours – Employees work the same hours in fewer days.
Job Sharing – Another term for flexible working and it’s where a job is shared between two or more people. This can mean working alternate days or even be one person working in the morning and one in the afternoon.
