Flexible working post COVID

[TryingToBeFlexible]

Hi I run an office based business with 14 employees, 9 have been with me since before covid and the rest have been taken on in the past 18 months (we have grown and had a few staff retire). Prior to covid everyone was office based with fixed hours and were happy in their role.

7 of the staff work part-time, we are going to introduce a policy, when staff return, where if you work 5 days a week (these may be short days) you can WFH one day a week - booked in advance so we still have cover in the office. IMO we can only manage one day because of the high ratio of part-time staff. We have a couple of part-time staff that don’t work every day who want to work “flexibly” although they haven’t defined flexibly - as I understand it they want to work their hours on any day and at any time they feel like (including outside office hours of 9-5). They feel that because they worked well during covid at home they should be allowed this!

I feel like I’m at my wits end trying to please everyone, we get customers visiting the office and need staff cover to answer phones/cover drop ins. I have explained my reasons why we have set the policy and said it would be reviewed if we grow or have more full time staff. I’d happily consider a flexible working request for a fixed change of hours but can’t just let it be a free for all. By doing this we could be left with everyone decamping home on a sunny Friday afternoon! At the moment there are 3 of us in the office full time covering drop ins and clients and the rest at home.

Customer and staff expectations are so out of alignment, I just feel worn down, I try to please everyone and they just want more. We need all staff in the office as much as possible but appreciate that times have changed and we need to be more open to flexible working.

I guess I’m asking how to manage this, alter office hours from 8.30-5.30 so staff can maybe start a little earlier/later? We just aren’t big enough to allow a fully flexible work policy.

Doesn't matter if it's about prejudice or not. It's unlawful to treat part time workers less favourably than full time workers, which is what you're doing. It should be 1/5th of anybody's hours can be worked from home, if that is the proportion you've decided is manageable.

If there are pre-existing communication issues with how you manage your part time staff then you need to make changes to improve that regardless of any flexible working patterns introduced in future. You need to make the effort to disseminate information more effectively.

It's not about trying to please everyone, it's about being fair, clear, consistent and transparent. The rumbling you're describing is because you're not doing those things. Being defensive about how you're not HSBC won't help matters.

People will grumble when they're being treated unfairly (and possibly unlawfully).

@Chwaraeteg

If the job can be done from home (like it has been done for the past 18 months) then it seems a bit rubbish to expect people to come in 4 days a week. Peiole can surely answer phone calls from home

You may find yourself losing staff if you are going to be inflexible about it. Many people are enjoying the increased time and sense of wellbeimg they get from being in their own environment / not having to commute and a lot of places are moving to wfh/hybrid working now.

I don’t know about the OP’s workplace, but many will have had reduced customer footfall or reduced services during lockdowns and therefore it’s been acceptable to have skeleton staff manning it.

Speaking as someone who has had to work a hybrid model throughout, my 100% WFH colleagues have frequently underestimated how much pressure it is to be one of the few staff members on site. It really is not easy and I’m desperate to see more people return, even if they are very reluctant because they think everything’s been working fine.

I don’t think we are prejudiced against part time staff by letting staff that work 5 days work at home 1 day a week. We have 3 staff that work short hours 5 days a week so they are eligible too (the rest of the part time staff do 3 full days).

You are. You can't treat part-time staff any differently to full-time staff. If full time staff get 1 out 5 days at home, you have to offer part-timers the same. So one day in every five working days can be worked from home i if they wish.

The main reason why I don’t want to have staff that work 3 days to work at home is communication, pre-covid the staff not working every day would say they missed out what was going on in the office on their days off

This is a communication issue - if part-time staff are missing out you need to find a way of rectifying that. A newsletter, an e-mail they have to read every morning, a team brief every morning before work - something.

I used to work in a job with a mix of full and part-timers and we had a company newsletter available for everyone to read, and we also did a team briefing every morning so everyone knew what was happening. This could be done via e-mail or just with the part-timers if necessary.

You could introduce core hours so everybody has to be there between those hours but can flex their start/end time a bit.

In small teams it's normal for this to be offered on the basis that there always is someone there for opening time and closing time, but people can take it in turns and swap if they have appointments.

You wouldn't necessarily have to operate a full flexi system with annualised carried forward time, it could just be a daily system where it allows people to flex the start and end of their day but they still have to work 8 or however many hours between arriving and leaving. Or weekly or monthly.

E.g. say you open at 7 so there has to be someone there from that time, but for everyone else as long as they're there by the start of core hours at say 10am they're not late, then same at end of day. People can leave from end of core hours as long as they've done their 8hrs that day or whatever, but there has to be cover until final closing at whatever o'clock.

It just gives people a bit of flex by 2-3 hours but you still have cover for full opening. It would need to be accompanied by a clear policy.

That could be managed with a rota, or teams agreeing informally, or pairing people up like you might for booking annual leave (only one can be off at a time unless exceptional circs) so they have to agree between themselves which of them does early/late cover.

There could be excluded roles from this where you can justify it on requirements of role etc, e.g. receptionist who is required to be there from opening to closing (but is paid more to compensate). Etc.

The flip side of that is, does everybody's role involve receiving visitors? Or are there only certain people needed for that? Can a reception team handle that?

We need staff in the office because customers expect them to be there, they often pop in without appointments and expect to be able to see their account manager, they are getting fed up of us saying they are working at home and aren’t here - we are losing customers to competitors who are all back in the office.

We struggle to access the servers remotely so each member of staff has 2 hours a day they can access it on the vpn (in the office everyone can use it at the same time). Before you say buy a new one it would be £15k - which I don’t have, and I don’t think I’ll get volunteers for a pay cut to stay working at home to fund it.

We have been struggling with training, particularly the new staff that have started. The new staff haven’t picked up the work as quickly as I’d expect, learning over teams vs hearing the conversations going on over the phone/ between colleagues in the office just isn’t the same. A few of the new staff have said they don’t feel like they know their colleagues despite doing teams events and meetings.

From a business point of view, it hasn’t worked well being at home, we have limped through but efficiency and profitability has nose dived.

Staff may have liked having the opportunity to work from home but I have had to be in the office full-time with 2 other staff and we’re on our knees - I nearly closed the business before Christmas because I just couldn’t face it. I feel like we just need to get back in, sort out a load of the niggles and systems, bed the new staff in and there may be the opportunity to work more flexibly in future but at the moment the business needs staff in as much as possible. If staff don’t want to work for me they can work elsewhere but I’m fed up of the constant complaining when you are trying your best all the time. Boris pushing back reopening dates has really not helped us because it has created a load of uncertainty and it’s right at the beginning of the school holidays.

Everyone knows about the problems with working at home which is why most are looking forward to being back it’s just the couple that expect to carry on as it is regardless of a task taking 2 hours that would take 30 mins in the office. I’m not expecting them to go fully back to where we were pre Covid I am trying to be fair and offer some flexibility but the ability to work whenever and wherever is not available.

I’m tempted to just say there is no WFH for any staff and put an end to it.

You can’t please everyone, the staff at home have no idea how tough it has been in the office, trying to run a business and keep it going the past 18 months. Having staff at home creates extra work, I already spend an hour a day scanning post to staff, who would write the newsletters and mailshots, there are 7 full time members of staff. If we have a team meeting every day we lose the equivalent of one part time persons role in meetings.

I think ypi have clear communication problems a)from part time staff saying they don't feel they receive all information and b)clients just turning up when most staff at WFH. I am very intrigued as to which industry has expected to be able to pop in and speak to an account manager during a pandemic when national guidance was work at home?

Your IT seems to be struggling which is another issue. I suspect your clients expecting to see account managers is because you don't appear to have equipped your staff to fully do their jobs at home.

As an employer you are quite within your rights to order all staff back on old contract terms. What you can't do is discriminate against those working fewer days (likely to be woman statistically and therefore indirect discrimination). Those workers are quite within their rights to fight back on that policy.

If you choose to be non-flexible you may find your best employees aren't employees much longer.

We struggle to access the servers remotely so each member of staff has 2 hours a day they can access it on the vpn (in the office everyone can use it at the same time). Before you say buy a new one it would be £15k - which I don’t have, and I don’t think I’ll get volunteers for a pay cut to stay working at home to fund it.

Ah. OK

In that case, it will come down to the market for employment for the types of skills your current staff have. If you are the best they can do in your area, you may have no trouble retaining them while insisting on having everyone in full time.

If not, I'd encourage you to consider making that investment in infrastructure and ways of working. Ultimately what makes people want to work somewhere, beyond the basic reward package, are the intangibles. Feeling appreciated, feeling trusted and making a great contribution.

If it doesn't work for you to have staff at home, then bring them back in the office. You're not under any obligation to keep them at home if it doesn't work for your business - don't let them guilt-trip you!

How many people are actually complaining? You say it’s only 2 part time staff…?

as I understand it they want to work their hours on any day and at any time they feel like (including outside office hours of 9-5)

So it’s not that they want to work from home, it’s that they want to work from home AND do random times and days that haven’t been agreed? If you need people in the office to deal with clients, then that’s what you need.

Surely, it’s ok for you as the boss to say ‘these are your working hours’?

Reading your update I'd say no work from and list the reasons stated. I'd say no to part timers who want flexi hours as business needs cannot be met that way. Might be worth getting advice from HR manager too

They can only access vpn for 2 hours - working from home does not meet business needs. You could have a convo about IF business picks up over the next year or two you will then look into upgrading infrastructure

@Hankunamatata

Reading your update I'd say no work from and list the reasons stated. I'd say no to part timers who want flexi hours as business needs cannot be met that way. Might be worth getting advice from HR manager too

Also if you keep losing clients they can work from home … permanently… because your business will close down and they won’t have any jobs anymore

Your long update sounds to me like it’s reasonable to expect everyone back in the office.

In your shoes I’d say everyone is back all the time and you’ll be reviewing home working at a later date when business has settled.

You can’t have home working if the business is detrimentally affected. My DH has been wfh and can do with no loss of productivity or business detriment. I can DO my job but I’m much more effective on the ground.

It’s perfectly reasonable to say ‘no’ and lay it out:

‘We’re losing customers because your service has dipped. If you’re not here there’ll be no jobs’

I am a big advocate of flexible working but it has to fit with the business and it just doesn’t here.

The bottom line is what is best for the business and you'll have a very different opinion between employees and employers. I'd stay off MN for this and go by the letter of the law.

Please read the following information and advise your staff they require to submit their request in writing provided they fit the criteria which is defined here. www.acas.org.uk/making-a-flexible-working-request

Also, depending on what you do, your customers may not want to speak to people who aren't in the office as there is a higher risk to confidentiality.

I am a big advocate of flexible working, but it has to work for both company and staff.

It sounds like it’s just not working for the company. I would get everyone back in now in order to draw a line under the current situation and then reassess in a few months.

DH company is if you are PT you can work from home 1 day per week. If you are FT you can work from home 2-3 days a week

@user27424799642256

Doesn't matter if it's about prejudice or not. It's unlawful to treat part time workers less favourably than full time workers, which is what you're doing. It should be 1/5th of anybody's hours can be worked from home, if that is the proportion you've decided is manageable.

If there are pre-existing communication issues with how you manage your part time staff then you need to make changes to improve that regardless of any flexible working patterns introduced in future. You need to make the effort to disseminate information more effectively.

It's not about trying to please everyone, it's about being fair, clear, consistent and transparent. The rumbling you're describing is because you're not doing those things. Being defensive about how you're not HSBC won't help matters.

People will grumble when they're being treated unfairly (and possibly unlawfully).

But a part timer’s hours are not always comparable to a full timer. Especially if full timers are needed to superv

@TryingToBeFlexible

I’m tempted to just say there is no WFH for any staff and put an end to it.

You can’t please everyone, the staff at home have no idea how tough it has been in the office, trying to run a business and keep it going the past 18 months. Having staff at home creates extra work, I already spend an hour a day scanning post to staff, who would write the newsletters and mailshots, there are 7 full time members of staff. If we have a team meeting every day we lose the equivalent of one part time persons role in meetings.

@TryingToBeFlexible so consider all these type of tasks. How can they be done with some staff working remotely? Would 5 people in the office allow you to complete your core tasks and responsibilities.

The same with meetings. How can these work is some people are working remotely?

There are lots to things about. Perhaps getting your team together to brainstorm potential obstacles may help

Sorry somehow missed the list about the vpn