Examples of flexi-hours for full time working parents

[Workingwithchildcare]

Owner of a growing business and I’ve reached the capacity of my HR knowledge. While we recruit a HR manager I need to put in place a Flexible working policy. We are a family friendly business and we want to support working parents.

Does anyone have some examples of good flexi policies for full time working parents. We are happy for our admin team to request PT hours but where they wish to remain FT I’d like to explore options which allow for school runs etc. The positions are office based for the most part (a few days a week at home although they cannot be carried out while juggling children as it’s not appropriate for us, our clients or the health and safety of the children).

I’d love to hear about businesses who do this really well. Thank you ☺️

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

@Workingwithchildcare

Insightful to hear the negative issues flexible working can create. While the whole team currently have hybrid working patterns the need to be visible and be back in the office is great (client driven).

I can’t see how we can have additional flexibility (condensed days, earlier/later start times) across the board and service our clients. It makes no business sense.

You start with what the business needs. Then you look at what you can offer, by role in way of flexibility.

Eg if you have a call centre, you have to have it staffed 8am to 6pm (this is all example timings). Therefore you cannot offer flexibility outside of this for this role.

If you have someone doing your invoices, and frankly, it doesn't matter when they work as long as the job is done, then you offer this role more flexible hours.

You absoloutley cannot offer Barbara in accounts flexible working (because of her children) and not offer Jane, who has the same role in accounts, because she doesn't have children.

[SweetSakura]

@Inapicklee

I find this attitude utterly infuriating and it’s a reason I’m leaving my job as I get less support than colleagues with children, which is a loss to them as I work damn hard and I’m good at what I do.

I have chosen not to have children but I have other commitments which I can’t pick up and drop.

I also have mental health struggles and I know how to handle that and manage it, and flexibility is key to that. It’s not severe enough to be diagnosed as a disability in my opinion as I can manage it if I am given the scope to. Give and take opposed to employers purely taking. My time is just as important as someone who has chosen to have children.

I do appreciate people have children and their circumstances may change beyond their control but the same applies to people who do not have children.

I completely agree with you. As a working parent and as a manager I think it is much better if the flexible working is available to everyone. It stops resentment of working parents and it makes everyone feel valued and like they can get work life balance.

[Inapicklee]

@Workingwithchildcare

Thank you for your suggestions, this is exactly what I wanted .
The core hours policy seems to be popular but can I ask how employers keep track of hours worked? Is it based on trust and output or are there a more formal methods that work well? The role is office based and client facing the majority of the time, or on calls to third parties.

This policy is purely for working parents at the moment. I don’t feel the need to roll it out across the business as the main driver is to work around dependants. A general flexible working policy isn’t something we currently view as being necessary.

I find this attitude utterly infuriating and it’s a reason I’m leaving my job as I get less support than colleagues with children, which is a loss to them as I work damn hard and I’m good at what I do.

I have chosen not to have children but I have other commitments which I can’t pick up and drop.

I also have mental health struggles and I know how to handle that and manage it, and flexibility is key to that. It’s not severe enough to be diagnosed as a disability in my opinion as I can manage it if I am given the scope to. Give and take opposed to employers purely taking. My time is just as important as someone who has chosen to have children.

I do appreciate people have children and their circumstances may change beyond their control but the same applies to people who do not have children.

[NoodleQueen90]

Oh should have said, before covid, we were fully office based and had a card swipe system for clocking in and out, this had to be monitored manually by line managers ie pull a report and review it...we did switch to the online system astrow before covid but it had it set up that you had to be connected to office wifi to access (no idea how they did that but it meant people had to sign in and out 'on site' so less chance of cheating it. Astrow has the 'rules' programmed in to it so any clock in/out that don't fall within the rules are automatically flagged. No idea how much it costs but something to look into.
Also agree with others that this should be offered to everyone. I'm not a parent but my god it makes my commute a lot less stressful knowing that I won't be late if there's an accident on the motorway/some other issue. Can only get a hair appointment on a Thursday? Flexi instead of using up annual leave 👍🏽 it just makes working life a lot more pleasant.

[PinkFrogss]

If it’s a client facing role involving meetings and calls, are you sure something like core hours is really the way forward?

Especially if you would only be willing to do this with parents, that sounds like a recipe for disaster. What happens if there’s no one in outside the core hours and a client urgently needs to be phoned, or similar?

I think you’d be better off just sticking with the basic legal flexible working rules for your policy, and being as willing to agree to the requests as possible.

[NoodleQueen90]

I'm nhs admin 37.5 hrs FT
Standard hrs are 8:30-5 can start and finish +/- 1hr either side. 30min-2 hr lunch to be taken between 11:30-14:30.
We use an online system called Astrow so we sign in and out and it records our hours. If we accrue extra time, we can use it to take extra days or even just a few hours off (max 1.5days per 4 week period) we can carry a balance of +/- 8hrs over to the next 4 week period but would lose anything over 8hrs at the end of the period and if you're more than 8hrs in credit, management would want to work out a plan to work that back asap. Annual leave takes precedence over flexi leave for office cover so it's not guaranteed.
Also flexi is a privilege, if people are regularly in violation of the policy then it can be revoked and 8:30-5 is mandatory. We are currently working hybrid 50/50 office and wfh. I think this works really well...as far as I know this is only for FT staff, if part time or working compressed hours then set hours can be agreed to suit that person and it is all recorded and monitored on astrow.

[JamMakingWannaBe]

36 hr/wk
Flexi hours 7am - 7pm
Core hours 10am - 3:30pm
Minimum of 30 minute lunch between 12-2pm
Minimum of 3 hours worked each AM and PM

If you have issues with staff fudging their timesheet that's a separate issue. Is a clock-in-out card system possible?

[Dyslexicwonder]

@Workingwithchildcare

@Maroon85 that’s one of my concerns. I’m not saying everyone would but it would be tempting and then it creates resentment. There will always be some that take more than they give.

It all comes down to whether you adhere to Theory X or Theory Y

[bluetongue]

As a single person who works full time I can assure you that I have a full life outside of my job and my own commitments.

Just a couple of examples are my dog being sick or injured and being home for tradespeople to do work on my house.

Everyone needs some flexibility.

[UsingChangeofName]

The limitations you put on it - or the amount of flexibility you can give your staff is so very dependent on the nature of the work.
Whether the Team need to all be available for meetings together / whether your clients are people you work with over time and can arrange meetings ahead and get them in the diary / or whether they expect to be able to phone or e-mail someone a query and get a response fairly quickly / whether one Team member's work relies on another being there, etc.

However, if you are offering this as a 'perk' of the job, then it HAS to be offered to everyone and not just one favoured group. Even on this - a forum for parents - everyone is saying this. You can't just offer this to parents.

[Workingwithchildcare]

@Maroon85 that’s one of my concerns. I’m not saying everyone would but it would be tempting and then it creates resentment. There will always be some that take more than they give.

[Maroon85]

Core hours worked well for a lot of people in my previous job.
You could start any time before 10 and finish any time after 2 however you still needed to be working on site for 36 hours a week. But you could do 4 hours the one day and 10 the next if this worked for you.
Unfortunately some people took the p, and would regularly arrive at 10 after doing the school run and then still leave just after 2 to do the afternoon school run. They would do this several times a week and enter incorrect hours onto their timesheets.

[YetMoreNewBeginnings]

I can’t see how we can have additional flexibility (condensed days, earlier/later start times) across the board and service our clients.

Obviously depends on the nature of your clients, but have you considered dropping some clients a questionnaire about if more flexible hours would suit them.

Thats how my BIL ended up doing three condensed long days - one of his clients made a throwaway comment about wishing they could do business at 7am or 6.30pm sometimes. The business he works in has flourished as they now have people working earlier, later and one guy works Saturday mornings which was never a thing before.

[IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads]

Business need can often be met by setting core hours. Clearly this is not feasible for all rolees, but bear in mind that "core hours" doesn't mean "core hours only". Some people will choose to front load their day, some will choose to work later, some will keep traditional 9-5; it dies really help with starting at say 9.15 rather than 8.45 in order to do school drop off. One colleague used a longer lunch once a week to attend/help with their father's physio session after his stroke.

Has anyone mentioned job share?
Eg: morning/afternoon; mon-wed/Thur-Fri, or other combos. I've done a job share with a mutual Wednesday, which was great as a handover day: it was a leadership role but we had an additional technical role in order to justify the additional day between us.

Having worked 18 years with flexitime, I have never had to make up a dentist app or funeral if I've needed time off!

[silentpool]

I think that excluding non parents from flexible working will cause resentment.

Everyone needs flexibility in their lives and the non parents don't want to be expected to pick up any slack - which often happens when flexibility is reserved for some and not others.

For example, there is an assumption that people without children can drop everything and work late (because we have nothing important to do/no responsibilities etc), while others can leave early,/arrive late etc because they have children and don't need to justify anything.

[Nightwaves]

@Hubblebubble

Honestly I'd recommend rolling it out to everyone. I'm sure there's been studies showing it actually boosts productivity.

I think it boosts productivity for some people - depends what you are motivated by and how good you are at creating opportunities for your team to learn. Too much wfm flexibility caused our junior team members to struggle with their personal development - we introduced a 3 set days in the office requirement - you need a good reason to get out of it. I would not be happy about putting a policy in place that benefited one group over another if I could possibly help it.

[Workingwithchildcare]

Insightful to hear the negative issues flexible working can create. While the whole team currently have hybrid working patterns the need to be visible and be back in the office is great (client driven).

I can’t see how we can have additional flexibility (condensed days, earlier/later start times) across the board and service our clients. It makes no business sense.

[Hubblebubble]

Honestly I'd recommend rolling it out to everyone. I'm sure there's been studies showing it actually boosts productivity.

[Hubblebubble]

It's trust based, but we all have targets to hit.

[Pencase]

@Polarbearyfairy

We used to have core hours, was 10-12 and 2:15 to 3:30 and work your hours between 7-7, now we have no core hours. We have people who want to work in the middle of the night, it's a nightmare to deal with because you have nothing to hold them to when you need people to be available during business hours.

Our out sourced IT company decided to flex to 4 days a week - not shared with clients, I only found out by a proud boasting on LinkedIn - it was the Ah moment - they had been dragging their heels on every piece of work, whilst they were happily rabbiting on about how positive it was for the team to have Fridays off. We bailed - that lighter work load must have helped the team too. Less client will be just peachy for business.

[UsingChangeofName]

This policy is purely for working parents at the moment. I don’t feel the need to roll it out across the business as the main driver is to work around dependants. A general flexible working policy isn’t something we currently view as being necessary.

Your employment lawyer will sort you out from the legal stance then, but morally you just cannot offer it just for parents.

What about the people who need to support elderly parents ? Or maybe a sibling ? Or the person whose sister has died who is trying to help out her BiL ?
I'm sure there are many other reasons which are just as valid as a parent trying to avoid paying for wrap around school care.
I too am speaking as a parent, without any of those other needs, but I would be very unhappy with such a discriminatory policy.

[Singleandproud]

I work full flexi and can work long/short days as it suits providing my hours are done:
I can start work from 7am up to 10am. Lunch: minimum 30 min and up to 2 hours
End of working day up to 7pm.
Any time worked over your 37 hours can be taken as flexileave with a maximum of 2 days per month
In return for this flexibility meetings take priority.

In reality, especially if I'm WFH I'll nip out to do the school run and spend some time with teen DD if I've got no meetings and do household chores throughout the day but I always make the time up later on even if I do it laterin the evening.

The later start potential and longer lunch have meant I've been able to fit in medical appointments that used to be impossible with my previous job.

[Polarbearyfairy]

Most people are fine and work the hours you'd expect or are happy to go with the business ness of their particular team, but a few people are extremely difficult and obtuse about it and end up in conflict with their managers and sometimes the organisation. The root of the problem though is that our ceo doesn't want to look bad by allowing us to set core hours by business needs of the team. So we're left to deal with the fallout.

Definitely specify core hours if you need cover.

[MrsMoastyToasty]

I've worked in 3 different places that 3 different ways of "earning" and "spending" flexible hours.

1. You could take as long as you like to accrue hours but once you have accrued 2 days worth you have to spend it before the end of the current month.
2. Any hours accrued in month 1 had to be spent in month 2. Any accrued in month 2 had to be spent in month 3 and so on.
3. You can accrue as much as you like and spend however you like.

I've also worked time/school holiday hours (not in an educational setting). 21 hours over 4 days/21 hours over 3 days.
A colleague did a 70 hour fortnight (standard week was 35 hours) so once a fortnight got away early

[Workingwithchildcare]

@Polarbearyfairy how is that being managed? I can see that some will take advantage which is sounds like it happening.

Our team need to work during usual working hours as we depend on call and face to face client visits.