How did you cope moving away from a flexitime role?

[flexinone]

I’ve seen a job I’m interested in the civil service, it’s a level transfer. I’ve just read this department doesn’t offer flexi time to Grade 6.

I’m really interested in the role because despite it being a level transfer it’s a good step up in responsibility to what I have now and it’s come at the right time for my own personal circumstances, but I really don’t think I’m ready to give up flexi! I’ve had it for years and it’s always been so helpful in boosting my annual leave. I assume I could still own my diary and flex as necessary “unofficially” to a degree, but I really think I will feel the drop in leave.

I always knew this day would come as I hope to get to SCS which doesn’t offer it, but honestly the thought worries me.

Did you move away from flextime? How did you find it? I’m also worried I would be expected to do a lot of work for free which I’ve always been quite indignant about, again I knew that was likely an expectation at SCS, but was hoping not yet in G6.

Do you mean you have to start and finish at set times, or just that you can’t use flexi as a way to get extra time off?

If the latter, presumably that also means you don’t have to work overtime which is surely a good thing?

In my dept. I don’t believe we earn flexi for OT at G6 level but you will get flexibility when it comes to appointments, child care issues etc. so it isn’t a great loss. Unless this is an Ops dept.? Ops is very inflexible IME.

I’ve never done flexi as you describe it so not the responder you’re looking for but I think it’s fine. Presumably with civil service you still get a decent amount of leave each year?
if you’re a parent, you can maybe use some unpaid parental leave?

Not an ops role. Yes I’m assuming I will still have diary flexibility so not worried about that, flexi is where you work your hours how you choose (within certain rules) and any extra can be taken off another time (or vice versa), it essentially gives me 12 extra days of leave (I know it’s not technically leave as I’ve worked extra to get it, but I love the flexibility of working longer in the week to take more time off in full days).

As a pp said, parental leave could be an answer, you could take two weeks over the summer and then that would free up ten days of annual leave to use throughout the rest of the year, leaving you in pretty much the same position. It obviously depends whether the pay rise and other benefits eg pension, overall career prospects are enough to offset the two weeks unpaid.

It’s loss of pay though isn’t it. Level transfer, salary is about the same. I’m interested to hear how people found the transition if they’ve had it a while. Also pretty sure this department only does one week of leave if I’m remembering right, and likely missed the window to purchase it.

Just saw it's a level transfer so no pay rise - but it sounds like the job is a good prospect so could be worth it anyway. Don't forget the two weeks unpaid would save you some tax and at G6 you must be in the 40% bracket so it might not work out as a huge drop in income for the month.

So you were doing 12 days worth of overtime just to get 12 days off?

Pretty much although not full days in one go, it’s only 7.5 hours so just means working an extra hour a night a couple of days a week adds up (to be fair, thinking about it I probably don’t actually do it 12 times a year, that’s how often I can do it, every leave period tends to have a day of flexi tagged on and maybe the occasional day).

Yes to be fair I should probably look at how much the leave actually costs considering the rate of tax I pay.

Could you put in a formal working request? I'm NHS not CS but have colleagues doing a 9 day fortnight and 1 person on annualised hours. I appreciate it's less flexible and if might not be agreed. It is a loss of a perk and does mean you need firmer boundaries about stopping working or you will feel resentful.

I had flexi for about 8 years in a local government role. Have now been in the private sector for another 8/9 years and like you said I have unofficial flex in my daily diary but I don’t accrue extra days off now. I do miss it a bit but it’s ok. For me the pay has been much much higher and my career has progressed so much more so was worth it. I now have kids (I didn’t when I had flexi) so now it would be super handy with school holidays etc. I don’t want to go back as would be massive pay cut though so just taking a bit of unpaid parental leave and using lots of holiday clubs.

Yes I suppose I could think about something like compressed, tbh I’m happy with my hours, I suspect buying leave is my only option really for it to feel ‘like for like’, just a bit grumpy about it ha. I thought flexi for G6 and under was pretty universal, it is a much more operational department compared to where I’ve worked previously though. I wonder if you can request flexi if you’re not in an operational role, I suppose it’s hard to demonstrate why that would be a reasonable adjustment, I have a carer’s passport and my husband is in the military and deploys a lot which puts pressure on school holidays? But I suppose unpaid leave is just the response to that.

Yes I suppose the only saving grace for me is my youngest starts high school this year so childcare isn’t the pressing need it was when they were younger (one of the reasons I looked at a more demanding job as I won’t be doing a school run anymore).

Hard to go back when you’ve had it, I coped fine without it when I didn’t have it, even with toddlers!

I am scs so lost flexi then

I don't miss it that much but it depends on your situation.

I have primary aged children so I mostly used flexi for things like finishing early for a school event or nipping out for parents evening and that is still doable without formal flexi.

Thank you, yes that’s what I’m very much hoping. I don’t think I could ever go back to working rigid hours! Just used to the leave bump I guess. I appreciate SCS is different, but do you find you work over your hours a lot?

Not really actually I think less than when I was a G6, partly because I have good G6s to delegate to. But also it's partly personal style - I don't micro manage by nature.

But when it does all kick off, it can be horrendous and require most of the weekend. I would say that's once or twice a year max

Thank you, this role would be a great stepping stone to SCS. Whilst I’m a G6 now it’s more of a specialist role so I need something broader to be in a position to get to SCS I think, maybe the SCS-like rules will make the transition to SCS less difficult too ha.