Examples of flexi-hours for full time working parents

Our flexi policy is that our hours can be worked anywhere between 7am-7pm. We have to take a minimum of 30 minutes for a lunch break and we must take a lunch break after six hours if no break has been taken.

We can accrue 18 flexi days per year, which basically adds on to how many "holidays" people can have, though of course the company has already been given that time so it's not a holiday. We can take a maximum of two flexi days off per month.

We can clock in and out as it suits, so long as we're present for all diarised meetings and contactable throughout the day. So I can log in at 7.30am, check my emails and address anything urgent, clock out at 8am to dress DS and drop at nursery, then clock back in at 8.45am to resume working.

We have a flexible working policy that allows us to request flexible working arrangements. My current agreement is that I work my full time hours over 4.5 days, so I work 3 long days to accrue enough time to cover my Friday afternoon off which helps with childcare costs. I'm always contactable on that Friday afternoon though and have my laptop nearby if my boss needs me.

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 think the law changed recently, so that anyone (not just parents and carers) can request flexible working from Day One?

Core hours 10.00 - 15.00 would support school runs and allow for most meetings still. I think it's easier for people to get actual work done outside core hours when less people are harassing them for things.

Depending on salary you could use time sheets on a spreadsheet that line managers have to sign off monthly. Also means TOIL can be used.

I work 0.9 WTE which is still full time in most people's eyes (33.75 hours) but I compress this into four days. Our core hours are 10.00 - 16.00 ie. I can start or finish whenever around those times without needing a conversation to say as much. Some days I start at 07.00, others 08.45. My DD is nursery age but my manager is clear that school pick ups can be managed in this way also and as protected time in my diary.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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