Flexible Working/Flexi Time

Flexible Working/Flexi Time

This isn't a question as such, more of a call for help from anyone within professional services as to how you are dealing with requests for flexi-time and flexible working, how you have found granting such requests affect others within teams/departments etc. Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Lynn Macpherson

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Number of comments: 2

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Iain Young , 11 April 2007 @ 10:49 AM Fair treatment I have worked in a number of organisations including professional services and my experience is that if an organisation takes the view that each request will be considered on its individual merits people will accept it. However it is essential that each case is looked at using the same standards otherwise this does start to case problems. The other thing that can be do is put a trial in place to see if it will work if there are any doubts.

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christine lonsdale , 10 April 2007 @ 19:44 PM Flexible working Working as a consultant I have been involved in several (9 to date) requests for flexible working in a total of 5 of different businesses. I would always go down the prescribed route i.e. request in writing, call to meeting etc and use the form from the DTI website which puts some of the onus on the person requesting flexible working to consider the impact on colleagues, distribution of work etc. and how they think it can be managed. In all cases those requests that were well communicated to other members of the team/department have been well received with assurances made that there would be no additional work involved on their part (unless their workload permits). In some cases it has given the company the opportunity to take a fresh look at how the work is distributed and opened up the opportunity for multitasking which gives greater cover for holidays etc. There have been a couple of refusals, one due to the inability to recruit a suitable person to cover the hours the employee didnt want to work and one due to the costs associated with re training - both were accepted without question as all avenues had been explored and communicated to those concerned. I believe if the request is managed in line with the legislative guidelines it gives both sides food for thought and if it is communicated well doesnt cause too much hassle. 3 of the Businesses I work with will consider a request from anyone after realising that they would rather keep someone's skills wherever possible if their request can be accommodated. The Business' in question range in size from 9 employees to 91 employees. The timescales allowed within the legal requirement are quite good allowing a fair amount of time for the employer to consider the request, so I would always make sure that anyone likely to be making a request does so as soon as they can, e.g. at least 3 months before intending to return from maternity leave. The ones that leave it to the last couple of weeks are the ones that cause the headaches as there can be a lot of arranging to do even when there are no objections.