Flexible Working

Changes in work patterns and culture mean that full-time, week long, year round employment is not necessarily the only or best type of employment for both employee and employer. By acknowledging a range of flexible working practices, the University of Dundee hopes to consider different ways of working which may be mutually beneficial.

The benefits of flexible working include retention of valued staff, potential for matching working hours to periods of greatest need, potential for staffing over a wide range of hours, more satisfied less stressed staff and the ability to fit working hours with individual commitments. Flexible working is not intended to increase the temporary or part-time nature of the job to the detriment of either staff or the University. Flexible workers are as valuable to an organisation as those in traditional full-time work and their performance should be measured and assessed in the same way.

The types of flexible working detailed below are given as examples of flexible working that could be negotiated by individuals within Departments/Schools if mutually beneficial.

Different types of flexible working

Flexible Working Hours

Flexible working hours allow employees to choose, within set limits, the times they start and finish work. This practice already exists within the University as an informal arrangement.

Within the University there exist both staff who work a specified number of hours per week and those who work the time that is reasonably required to fulfil the duties of the post. For the former type of job, the Department should define the required start and finish times of the job. Flexible working hours would allow Departments to agree with individuals different acceptable start and finish times when they expect the employee to be at their post. This could apply to both full and part-time staff.

Part-Time Working

This is where the employee is contracted to work a proportion of normal full-time working and is paid pro-rata and receives contractual benefits over a 52 week period. Part-time working is already widely used in the University.

Semester-Time Working

This is already used in the University generally based on University semesters, not school terms but it could be used for either. The work may be full or part-time and salaries may be paid pro-rata during the whole year or the period between semesters may be treated as unpaid leave.

Job Sharing

This is where 2 or more individuals, with separate contracts of employment, share the responsibilities of a full-time job agreeing, with reference to the needs of the employer, how best to cover the duties involved. A basic arrangement, e.g. of each carrying out 50% of the work may be covered by one week on, one week off; mornings only working and afternoons only working; alternate days, or half the week each. The proportion of the job share may differ from 50/50. Job sharers may need to have built in to their job time for handover and liaison.

Job sharing is similar to part-time working. It came into use in the early 1980's as a more accepted way of introducing part-time hours into jobs which had traditionally only been available on a full-time basis, particularly at senior and managerial levels.

A Job Share Register is available in Human Resources. This Register is accessible to staff who are currently working full-time but wish to transfer to part-time work should such become available through requests for job-share or reduced hours.

Voluntary Reduced Working Time

Income is traded for time off. Employees negotiate to reduce their full-time working hours by an agreed percentage for a specified period with the possibility then of either returning to full-time work or extending the reduced work time arrangement. The time off may be taken in a variety of ways, e.g. reducing the working day or week or by taking a block of time off in the year.

Annual Hours

This is an arrangement in which employees contract for a total number of working hours over a 12 month period. When those hours are actually worked will be negotiated according to the demands over a time period which may be as little as a month or as much as a year. Peaks and troughs in work can be met by adjusting hours worked to meet demand. This enables employers to match staffing more closely to their needs. Salary may be calculated on regular time periods, so providing a steady income regardless of the number of hours worked in the pay period.

Remote Working/Home Working/Flexi-Place/Tele Working

Home working, remote working, flexi-place or tele working are all arrangements which create flexibility in a work place rather than work time.

The nature of the post may allow an employee to work at home, or to use branch or satellite offices where the use of computing and telecommunications equipment are essential. Such arrangements may be initiated, e.g. a part of a long-term strategic plan, in recognition of the travel demands of the job or as an ad hoc arrangement to meet unexpected situations or individual circumstances.

Successful schemes are characterised by:-

a relationship with mutual trust between manager and tele worker.
clearly defined goals and expectations on both sides.
regular and well structured communication.
regular face to face meetings, both with managers and other team members.
close integration into corporate culture, including participation in appraisal schemes and training programmes.

Career Break/Employment Break

An employment or career break is an extended period of unpaid leave from work. The intention is that at some future date, the employee will return to work with the same employer at either the same level or the same job, retaining all or most of the service related benefits.

This employment break would include breaks taken for the following reasons:

parental leave, other caring responsibilities, e.g. elder, sick or disabled dependants,
cultural leave, i.e. where for religious or other reasons an employee wishes to take a long break.
disability leave, where a person who has become disabled has a period of time off work to adjust before returning to work.
other, to fulfil an ambition or participate more fully in a non - work interest

Generally, an employment break is not given where the employee will be similarly employed by another organisation ( an exception to this is leave of absence - see below).

The University of Dundee will consider Employment/Career breaks of up to three months initially although longer breaks may be considered depending on the circumstances.

To be eligible to apply, an employee must have at least three years continuous service with the University. An employee can apply for a break only once every three years of service. The application should be made, where possible, six months in advance.

The following conditions would apply:

Superannuation - When on unpaid leave an employee can choose whether or not to continue pension payments for this period. If they wished to continue, the employee would have to pay both the employers and employees costs.
Continuous Service - Where an employee takes an Employment/Career break she/he would retain their continuous service date.
Annual Increment - Where an employee takes an Employment/Career break of longer than 6 months, she/he would not receive their annual increment during the period of the Employment/Career break.
Annual Leave - An employee will not accrue annual leave during the Employment/Career break.

Leave of Absence

Leave under this heading is generally taken by academic or academic and related staff.

Periodic leave / Sabbatical
This may be granted to members of staff who have served not less than 3 years at the rate of one semester in respect of each period of service of 3 years, subject to a maximum of one years leave on any one occasion. Full payment of salary, superannuation and national insurance is continued but the member of staff granted such leave may not undertake other paid employment except on the type normally permitted to University teachers in addition to their normal duties. This rule may be waived by the Court when the leave is taken in a country in which the cost of living is higher than that of the United Kingdom.
Special Leave with Pay
This type of leave will be granted for short periods only to enable members of staff to attend meetings of learned societies, give papers at conferences, advise other institutions and for similar purposes. If the leave is for 1 week or less or if wholly in vacation, the member of staff may agree it informally with the Head of Department/Dean.
Special Leave without Pay or with Partial Pay
This is similar to Special Leave with Pay above, unless there are financial implications for the Department or the financial arrangements for the member of staff will require approval.

Work/Life Balance Policies

There are a range of policies designed to support staff to balance work and home life and deal with personal responsibilities, as well as some of life's major events.