Flexi work request confusion

[BurritoTamer]

Will try to stick to just the salient points

Had a flexi agreement since mid 2024 for full time compressed hours and 40% office, 60% home hybrid split

I made a new flexi request in early Feb to go part time, and including the 40% office, 60% home split. So same hybrid pattern, different hours (less hours each day, so proportionally the same as before)

After a very lengthy process, I received a letter that said (in summary)
”I agree to the hours on a trial basis and the hybrid pattern will be decided at my discretion as required”

I pushed back on this requesting clarity, essentially, I need this to be formal. For me a formal denial is better than wishy washy.

Manager has come back and said:
“The flexible working is based around a pattern of working hours that you have requested.
The hybrid pattern should be based around working from home/office. Policy is 60% office, 40% home. Your current proposal does not match, can this be adjusted please? Hybrid working is an informal and flexible agreement and can be changed at short notice.

I would not be willing to accept a formal approval to hybrid working that does not match group or the teams requirements that is currently in place. I also previously asked teams with hybrid/flexible working to adjust them inline with the latest requirements, which currently is not being complied with”

Is he correct? I thought the whole point of flexible working requests was seeking variation from the “norm” or the policy?

if I have to change my request to fit into policy, what is the point of it as a process?

Can anyone please advise? HR are on the thread and are quiet so I’m assuming he’s right?

They are able to decline a request but they need to use a defined reason (from memory there's 6/8 to pick) explaining the refusal.

You can absolutely put in a formal request for your split preference, an agile working policy applies to all others and as he has said they normally come with the provision that it can be changed etc, but if yours is formally agreed they can't do this.

For now, I wouldn't agree to it, explain you'd like to put in a formal request to reduce hours, and keep your current split as is. They'll need to consult with you which involves the right to a hearing and you can be accompanied at the hearing. You have a strong case to argue that the current split has worked for so long etc etc, they'll need to prove it no longer works.

Just because they agree to yours doesn't mean they need to automatically agree others (this is often a counter argument used). Each FWR should be considered case by case. Put some reasons as to why you need the split to remain as is (does it help with mental health/ allow you to work additional hours which is beneficial to them) etc etc

To confirm, you're able to request a consultation on any contractual terms, including place of work (in a FWR). So they can't decline you the option to do this, they need to follow due process

There are 2 parts to this. They were happy for you to have a different office/WFH split when you were full time. Now you want to change the terms to part time, they will agree providing you adhere to the standard office/WFH split. You can’t have it all on your own terms, basically.

The business argument would be that you’d reduce your presence too far being part time and 60% at home, which would have negative impact for the business/mean others have to pick up more work which they aren’t happy to do.

Thanks both, that’s illuminating

What should I do next? In any case the original wording on the formal letter is too fluffy for me to feel comfortable signing. Should I tell him to formally approve the hours and formally deny the location element? Then formally put in writing 60/40 so at least that won’t change on me again in future? As in if everyone else goes to 4 days in I can fall back on that?

I’m afraid I agree with this. We’ve had this come up at work a couple of times recently and it hasn’t been approved for business reasons.

Sorry to muddy the waters but we already had a meeting him, me and HR.

HR have provided a transcript to that meeting and part of the conversation was about starting earlier on work from home days.

My manager is recorded as saying “an early start could work on work from home days Mon/Wed/Fri” in the transcript
Was that what you mean by the hearing? I understood the outcome of that meeting to be they were agreeing my request for a trial period and we agreed an end date for the review.

I’m imagining he’s within his rights to change his mind? But his email I’ve copied and pasted, after the meeting, is the first and only objection I’ve heard from him about the location.

Thank you, what business reasons were cited in these cases? I’m not really averse to doing 60% but I don’t agree with his reasoning or how it’s being handled at the moment. I feel like the goalposts are constantly moving and I’m not closer to a resolution

He was within his rights to reject the whole thing outright on day one. But he knew I would leave the company if he did that as my circumstances now require part time work. I’m happy to leave for pastures new, but he said he really didn’t want to lose me. So I feel a bit played.

Do you mean that you will leave the hours as is but want to formalise the difference in office/WFH ratio? Because they don’t have to agree that either.

i have flexi working and hybrid working and at my place of work they are two different polices. Hybrid is non contractual and is a 60% office minimum requirement - more for some posts. I had to check on this recently as a staff member wanted to put the hybrid pattern into her flexi work pattern and I was advised not to as it is a separate conversation. I would check through both policies - did anything change since 2024?

This is my understanding of the situation, too. Reasons for refusal have to be able to stand up in an ET, so can't just be 'because I say so' type reasons.
Manager has to make a business case for refusal and the arrangement should be recorded formally.

Hi when you say the hours do you mean my current F/T hours or my proposed P/T hours?

I have already had a formal letter agreeing to a trial period for the latter, with vague reference to agreeing a hybrid pattern with local management.

What I want now is a resolution either way so I can move on accordingly. Unfortunately I need to work part time, so I am happy to leave for pastures new if my current company can’t accommodate. I won’t be sour about that. But I am a bit sour that the goalposts keep moving I won’t lie

Yeah so it won’t be hard for him to find a business case if he wants one, that’s fine. Honestly I wish he’d just done that the day after I submitted my request as I could be 2 months into my notice period by now if he had

It’s really not hard though as the 8 viable reasons are so broad.

Okay. I would expect the variation to hybrid will not be agreed

Ok thanks, there’s a mechanism to agree part of the request and deny part? I wasn’t sure if it was pass/fail and the whole thing starts again?

You’ll need to look at your organisation’s policy. I’ve worked in places where part can be approved and part rejected, and others where you would have to submit a different request.

@BurritoTamerit only counts as a hearing if you had the right to be accompanied etc. sounds like they're trying to resolve this informally which can make sense sometimes.

Depends if it's going to work for you, if the PT hours are key, maybe flex on the home working if you can. If both are vital request a more formal consultation/ look elsewhere. Whether they'll accept depends on your role, but if you can prove it's worked so far you have that in your favour

Thanks yes they did offer me to have a colleague attend so I think that was the hearing yes.

I’m not sure really, I’m actually surprised it’s playing out this way as I understood my manager was concerned about the part time hours but he’s always supported my wfh pattern. My role is very niche “IC” type role and I’m very autonomous. Wfh is very important for me because the office time is only spent talking to my manager for maybe 30 mins and then finding ways to concentrate in a busy office for the rest of the day. It also did help my childcare a lot, given the commute, though that is less of an issue with PT hours

If you’d asked me back in Feb to hedge my bets I would’ve assumed the wfh element would be barely a conversation and he would reject the hours outright. Which I would have thought was understandable. This outcome is a bit baffling to me given what I know about the job, the company and the context.

Do you think other people are complaining so they have decided to enforce their hybrid rules more stringently? And can you speak to your manager for 30 minutes on teams so you could still have a daily check in or does it have to be in person?

My workplace is super clear that hybrid is meant to be flexible and responsive and that our main place of work should be the office. They’ve changed their framework a few times so if this is the most important thing and you have options, you should start reaching out.

@BurritoTamerwhat reason have they given to decline the requested split? They can't just say "no" without a reason

Just that policy is 60% office, 40% home so far. I suspect now I’ve asked for clarity they’ll find a better business reason

It’s possible people are complaining I suppose. Again I would be surprised because I’m not really in a team and my department are really friendly to me in general. I also foolishly thought that flexible working agreements, like my 2024 one, held some water. As in, if someone complained about me, my manager could say “she has a flexible working arrangement” and that would be that really

Was your current arrangement agreed permanently? If it wasn’t, it doesn’t hold water. (Not sure what TheLastRolo’s quals are but I’m a HR Director with a couple of decades of experience.)

From your OP:

The hybrid pattern should be based around working from home/office. Policy is 60% office, 40% home. Your current proposal does not match, can this be adjusted please? Hybrid working is an informal and flexible agreement and can be changed at short notice.
I would not be willing to accept a formal approval to hybrid working that does not match group or the teams requirements that is currently in place. I also previously asked teams with hybrid/flexible working to adjust them inline with the latest requirements, which currently is not being complied with

We’re currently revising our hybrid approach and a fair proportion of people will have to increase office attendance (unless they have different arrangements due to “reasonable adjustments”), including those with child caring responsibilities. Your boss is basically saying your arrangement should already have changed and hasn’t, and therefore he isn’t willing to agree to reduced office attendance and reduction in hours as it goes against the current process. If your previous request was agreed permanently, that would constitute a contractual change and it would require negotiation to reverse to standard terms. If it wasn’t, you’re going to be expected in for 60% of your working time.

@WTAFIsWrongWithPeopleit might not hold water as in it wasn't a contractual change. But she's fully able to request a formal change including place of work, and if she's successfully worked in that hybrid model successfully for a length of time she can position it as it successfully working.

They may well have a good business reason as to why it won't work on the new proposed reduced hours, but they still need to give a reason and not just "our hybrid policy says" as that's for, I presume, more informal arrangements

This is tricky, your manager needs to take into account your hybrid policy, however, there usually are exceptions. If your flexible working request is statutory she needs to refuse it on the basis of one of the legal reasons.

if you had previous contractual agreements to your hybrid pattern, your new request should have not addressed this at all, because the variation in your contract will be on the basis of hours not pattern. That is if you have contractual 40% office and 60% home due to your past flex request, they cannot retrospectively change that in your new request as it is breech of contract. Their policy on hybrid is void in this case.

Also, you need to do some maths if you are on 40 hours and 60% in the office, that’ 3 days. Reducing to 20 hours for example, 60% comes to 2 office days, which effectively may be the same as what you do now.

It really depends on your contract at the time of the flex request. Seek advice from ACAS.