Part time hours, remote working, compressed hours, flexitime and more.
Put simply, flexible working is about giving employees more choice over how long, where, when, and at what times they work.
Let's take a look at the main types of flexible working that employers offer.
This is pretty self-explanatory as well as being a common type of flexible working. It’s simply where someone works less than full time hours, either by working less hours in a day, or less days in a week.
Employees commit to a set number of hours over the course of a year but have flexibility over when they work. They might have ‘core’ hours in a week they must work, but the rest can be worked as and when they choose to, or when there’s increased workload.
Employers allow their staff to work the same contracted hours over fewer days. For instance, an employee works 37.5 hours over four days (not five).
This gives employees the choice over what times they start and finish work. As an example, an employer may want their staff in work between 10am and 4pm each day but allow them flexibility at the start and the end of the day, instead of enforcing a rigid 9 to 5.
This is where two people split one full-time job between them. E.g. one person might do three days a week, and the other does two days a week.
Something many employers had to get to grips with quickly amidst the pandemic! This is working somewhere other than the workplace.
Something that’s rapidly gathering momentum in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is the concept of ‘hybrid’ or ‘blended’ working. This is where employees split their working time between their home and the office.
Recent findings from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shed some light on employee expectations for hybrid working arrangements.
38% of working adults reported having worked from home at some point over the past seven days.
84% of employees who worked from home in 2020/21 don't expect a full return to the office.
