Flexible Working Policy (Acas)

Flexible Working Policy

This is an example policy from Acas which you should adapt to suit the circumstances of your organisation. For more advice about flexible working, visit www.acas.org.uk/flexible-working.

This policy follows the statutory (legal) minimum procedure for flexible working requests. Employers must make a final decision on statutory requests, including any appeal, within a maximum of 2 months. This policy includes some suggested timings that follow this limit. If you set your own timings, check they follow the statutory time limit.

Introduction

[organisation name] encourages staff to consider flexible working arrangements. The organisation recognises that a better work-life balance can improve employee motivation, performance and productivity, and reduce stress. Therefore the organisation wants to support its employees to achieve a better balance between work and their other priorities, such as caring responsibilities, leisure activities, further learning and other interests.

The organisation is committed to agreeing any flexible working arrangements, provided that the needs and objectives of both the organisation and the employee can be met.

It is the organisation's policy to encourage open discussion with employees. If an employee thinks they may benefit from flexible working, they can either:

contact [hr contact] to arrange an informal discussion to talk about the options

submit a flexible working request, by following the steps in this policy

This policy does not form part of the employment contract, and can be amended at any time.

What flexible working is

Flexible working is any type of working arrangement that gives some degree of flexibility on how long, where and when an employee works.

For example:

annualised hours

compressed hours

flexitime

hybrid working

job sharing

part-time working

remote working

staggered hours

term-time working

working from home

These examples are considered to be the typical arrangements that employees will request. However, the organisation recognises that there may be alternatives or a combination of options which are suitable to both the organisation and the employee.

Types of flexible working

Annualised hours

Annualised hours means an employee's contractual working hours are calculated as the total number of hours to be worked over the year.The employee has some flexibility on when they work these hours over the year.

Usually the hours will be divided into set rostered hours during busy periods, and unallocated hours during quieter periods. An employee can decide when to work their unallocated hours, subject to some limitations.

Payment will be in 12 equal instalments. However, arrangements may be permitted where the pay for the work actually done is in the period the payment relates to.

Compressed hours

Compressed hours means an employee works their usual full time hours in fewer days by working longer blocks. There is no reduction in the employee's pay. For example, a 5-day week is compressed into 4 days, or a 10-day fortnight into 9 days.

Flexitime

Flexitime allows an employee to choose when to begin and end work, within certain limits.

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