Hybrid for part time workers - pro rata wfh?

[TheBeanBeanie]

Hi if you work somewhere with hybrid working what does it look like for part time workers?

Our FT workers do 50% minimum in the office. 2 days one week 3 days the next. It's important for training, meetings and cross departmental communication.

What should happen with part time workers? If someone works 3 days should wfh be pro rata? Or would the company be able to say 2 days in office one week 3 days the next?

Where I work its done on a pro-rata basis.

But I suppose it depends on the individual company needs. I mean, if everyone is required to be in Mon, Tues, and Wed for specific reasons where it cannot be done from home, and someone only works those 3 days, then I guess they need to be in even if everyone else is only in 60% of the time.

We have a flat 2 days in the office rule, otherwise it gets too complicated to work out and we’d hardly ever see the part time staff.

My work would do this as 2 one week and 1 the next.

I work 4 days and do the same 2 days in the office as full time staff. I'm quite OK with it as time with colleagues face to face is valuable in the role I do. Sometimes I am on a lot of Teams calls on days I'm in the office, but the conversations I have between calls are definitely useful.

That's the concern.

I work 3x days a week and choose to go into the office 1x per week. Some weeks I don't go in- it's pretty flexible

We’re 60/40, I work 3 days and do 2 in the office, 1 at home in a normal week.

Ours is pro rata for part timers.

Its pro rata for part timers in our company, the same as our annual leave and pay is pro rata

And from experience, it’s a valid one. It will depend very much on your business though.

Would it be treating part timers unfairly if we didn't go pro rata?

In theory it's pro rata where I work but that gets a bit complicated so most people just round up the days.

Can the work be done from home? My company has realised we are significantly more productive from home, so going into the office is up to us as individuals. Most of us go in once per week. If you're enforcing office time, 2 days flat for all seems fairer? Unless you've got lots of staff who only work 2 days?

(Not an employment lawyer or HR person, but I do have involvement with payroll).

I don't think it would be seen as discriminatory against part timers to ask them to come in more, WFH isn't a right, and should be determined based on company needs.

Our company asks everyone to be in at least 60%. I work 4 days, but come into the office for 3 days, as I think collaboratively, it's really important.

At my workplace full time colleagues are in twice per week in the office. I work three days and only come in once a week, wfm the remainder two days.

Ours is 2 days per week for everyone, nothing specifically set out for PT workers but I work 3 days in a national team so being in doesn't necessarily add value when my team are across different locations. My manager is happy for me to do 1 day, no issue and it's not something that's policed as we have multiple office campuses and retail stores. I make the effort to go in when I need to and often work over my hours so it's give and take. A couple of times I've been in twice a week, sometimes I don't go in if it's a quiet week or if my manager is on AL as it seems pointless to go all that way to tick a box. It's nice to have the flexibility.

It would. Part timers shouldn't be treated less favourably.

Would the be treated less favourably if the rule was everyone in the office 2 days a week the rest of the time do what you like?

People work the same % in the office whether part time or full time. Of course it would be treating those working part time less favourably to expect them to come in to the office for a greater % of their working week. I work full time.

I think the key to this is whether Full timers have to be in 2 days or 50% or whatever just because someone things it would be nice or just because some manager has 'decreed it' or If everyone has to be in on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because of Team meetings / trainings / meeting that have to be F2F.

If it's the former, then pro-rata seems fair.
If it is the latter then flat number of days is the way it has to be - in the same way that cleaners can't wfh and surgeons can't wfh - people who need to be at a certain place, can't wfh.

If the rule was say 2 days a week in the office and I worked 3 days a week I'd probably go in one day one week and two days the next week.

If it were 3, I'd go in 2 days I think.

I don't think blanket rules should be applied "because it's too complicated", it isn't really.

If it's a rule that everyone has to be on a Tuesday I'd go in on the Tuesday and then take a view for the rest of the week.

Ours is 3 days in the office for full time workers, 2 days for part timers. I'd be very cross (and having a discrimination discussion and/or leaving) if I was expected to be in the office 100% of the time as a part timer when my full time colleagues were allowed to work from home 40-50% of the time.

It's pro rata for us.

It would be highly unpopular to do anything else.

That's the thing. I can't find anything that says being in the office the same number of days would be discrimination?

I would focus on days worked as it’s simpler to understand and works for compressed hours as well as PT.

10 days a fortnight = 5 days split 2/3
8 days a fortnight = 4 days split 2/2
6 days a fortnight = 3 days split 1/2
4 days a fortnight = 2 days split 1/1
2 days a fortnight = 1 day split 1/0

Then add in some reasonable criteria ( these are just examples).

• Employees may work more days in the office if they choose and there are sufficient work stations
• Employees will be required to work more days or specific days in the office to meet training needs. Appropriate notice will be given.
• weeks with a BH reduce that weeks days in office requirement to 1 day
• at least 1 day in the office should/must be arranged to facilitate team working/ meetings etc.