Would you consider this a fair use of flexi time?

[wherevershewonders]

Employee contracted 29.6 hours a week over 4 days. Flexi time permitted if reasonable and fair to rest of team, I'm trying to work out if it is.

Monday - 7:50-17:30
Tuesday - 8:45-14:45
Wednesday - 8:45-15:15 / 16:00-16:30
Thursday - 8:45-15:15 / 16:00-16:30

Do you have rules about core hours and minimum hours per day?

It would be okay in some of the places I've worked (even the short Tuesday) and not in others. And personally, I wouldn't have a problem with the half hours on Wed & Thu.

In the absence of set core hours and minimum hours per day, it is reasonable.

If employers don't want people to work flexi patterns such as these then they should set some basic rules.

It’s fine and I agree about those 1/2 hr slots sometimes being useful. If not, would 16.00-17.00 on either the Weds or Thursday be better? Short day on Tuesday should be fine otherwise there’s not much point on having a flexitime policy.

Looks fine to me.

I usually use my last 30 minutes to do
email filing whether wfh or office, as my brain us mush by 3pm anyway.

DS 6 is fine for 30-45 minutes after school. He likes a bit of downtime with a snack.

It depends on whether you are adequately covered to meet business need /minimum staffing levels, and whether the work can be done in small chunks like that.

As PP have said, in many roles it is useful to have someone back on to wash up at the end of the day. We can't tell you whether that's appropriate to this role.

Actually, having thought about that the Tuesday afternoon normally depends on how well staffed you are on Tuesday afternoons. If you are short then and not on other afternoons it’s an issue. If it doesn’t make much difference which day is short then it isn’t.

It’s impossible to say without knowing the nature of your business and how your team functions. Do you have core hours for your flexi time?

I think it’s fine. Either a job role is flexi, or it isn’t. I’ve never heard of somewhere saying it needs to be reasonable and fair to the rest of the team. Surely that’s too subjective to properly enforce and if business needs state people have to work certain days or times, then that is just stated in advance of the time?

Many people take on lower paid jobs for the benefits and convenience of flexi working and being able to do the school run. There are plenty of sensible and work appropriate tasks that can be completed in half an hour.

16:00-16:30 - this is shit. I'd say no to this bit unless they can explain exactly where their child will be during this time. I'd also suggest instead they reduce their hours slightly.

This is a stupidly long day compared to the other days: 7:50-17:30

And starting at 750 is bizarre.

Yes - the half hour bits might get queried but are really good for mopping up admin or planning the week ahead

If those times are the exact working times of someone you manage this post is incredibly outing.

We have all sorts in our team, some doing 10 hour days to condense days, I work 9-3. It depends how much they need to collaborate with others, how much you trust they'd do the 4pm slot, how much you want to keep them etc. could you trial it?

Where I work Flexi time is outside of core hours -10-12 and 2-4. That said I have an agreement to go at 3pm one day a week as a kind of flexible working agreement. I log on after pick up for a couple of hours and normally just catch up on stuff

I'm of the opinion it doesn't really matter as long as the job gets done. But that depends on the nature of the work, do you need to be available to cover others? is the role public facing? What does the rest of the team work?

It looks like you'd never be available for a 3pm meeting, or a full day training or conference?

Also you're not really getting much done in that 4-4:30 slot are you.

Monday seems a long day

as PP have said do you have core hours?

im a fan of flexi time but trying to get key meetings in these days are really difficult with all the different working patterns people have. For weeks even months in advance it’s really hard

Don't you have core hours? Everywhere I worked that had flexitime you had to be in by 10 have a lunch break between 12 and 2 and the earliest you could leave was 4. It generally worked itself out in a department of 4 or more as you'd usually get done who liked to come in late and leave late others who liked to be in early and clock off early too!

I’m assuming this is for school pick-up.

It would be unfair if colleagues would like the school pick-up times off as well.

"Fair" to whom?

Yes, all but one of my flexi jobs have had core hours of 10-12 and 2-4. My current job doesn't and we are free to come and go whenever so long as it doesn't interfere with work and we get everything done, but no one routinely starts later than 9 or finishes earlier than 4. Anyone that needs a fixed p/t schedule has to have a formal flexible working agreement.

Lots of jobs no longer have core hours, mine didn't at Civil Service.

It totally depends on what their work is.
In my job, that would be workable, as I do much of my work independent of others, and I have autonomy over my diary for the times when I do have meetings / training /visits. Enough of those hours are in core times for me to be able to do my job, but we have no idea what your colleague's job entails and how much they need to be available to meetings or for customer facing, or to respond to queries from others, and so forth.

However, if you need everyone to be there at the same time as colleagues, or for customers / service users / etc then that needs to be in the flexi-time policy.

Can you explain what’s not fair about it? Is your colleague preventing others from doing school pick up? Are others having to pick up the slack? Do you think that the only break in the working day should be lunchtime? Are you one of these people who believes it isn’t possible to have a child at home for an hour AND work? Or do you just begrudge her being able to pick her kids up for some reason?

Flexi time permitted if reasonable and fair to rest of team,

This is a difficult position - as you are finding. Who determines fair? Nobody can meet 3-4pm with this person Tuesday - Thursday. Is this fair on on the other team members? Who decides this. What happens if someone also wants to do the school but run every day. Is that going to cause issues - does it suddenly become unfair if more than one person does it.

Much better if there was a better defined expectation of what flexi entails.

Is this the sort of job where people have to do a set amount of work and just get on with it, or is it a reactive job - e.g. incoming calls - where you need to have a certain amount of people available at a certain time.

If the former, the 30 min segments seem a bit pointless, it would be better for the person to start 30 mins earlier and finish at 15:15 on those days - or start later, have the break and finish at 17:30.

Yes but theres also the stopping work before that which means they'll probably wind down what 15 minutes before they leave. I am not a fan of such a small split shift

I don't think your assumption that nothing will get done in half an hour is fair. It's actually a bit patronising. You should trust the employee to manage their time and tasks, and if they feel it works then leave them to it.

But what you need to look at is the impact on the team.

Why do you feel the early finish on Tuesday might not be fair?

Is it just because people will see the employee going home (in which case, that's not unfair, that's just what flexitime is) - or is it because it will leave other people picking up work that this person would normally do on a Tuesday afternoon?

If so then it needs a conversation as to how that will be mitigated.