J is for...

Unfortunately J isn’t the most exciting letter in the HR alphabet (unless you include J for Julia that is!!)

Today I am therefore going to focus on Job Share (and other flexible working options).

There are many different forms of flexible working

Annual hours - The employee is contracted to a number of hours over a year and this is a great example of flexible working where you have peaks and troughs during the year i.e. seasonal work. 

Compressed working hours - Employees work their standard hours (usually full time) in fewer working days. This would typically be a 4 day week or a 9 day fortnight.

Flexi-time - Employees have the freedom to choose their start and finish times as well as accrue flexi hours to take back at another time. The employer usually has a set of core hours i.e. 10-3 that need to be covered but the rest is flexible. This can add huge flexibility to employees and employers. Just try to avoid complex spreadsheets and systems to monitor it.

Part-time working - One of the most common example of flexible work where employees are contracted to work less than full time hours.

Job sharing - This is where a full time job is split between two (or more) employees. Employers are often reluctant to consider job shares but they can work well in jobs where there doesn’t need to be massive handovers in work.

Remote or home working - COVID has most definitely accelerated the use of remote and home working. Going forward I would expect that employers will see employees wanting to spend more time at home rather than in the office.

Sabbatical/career break - Not one that immediately comes to mind when you think of flexible working but a sabbatical/career break gives employees the opportunity to take an extended period of time off either paid or unpaid. This is a great way of retaining key staff who need some time out for whatever reason.

Shift working - Regular scheduled work that falls outside your normal 9-5 working pattern. It could be earlies, days, lates and nights.  

Term-time working - This is where an employee can take either paid or unpaid leave during the school holidays. It only really works in jobs where you can afford to leave the work for several weeks at a time or if you can cover it in other ways.

As you can see flexible working goes much further than just part time hours!!

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