Flexible contracts.

[Nomad]

Extracts from the 'Managing Flexible Contracts' workbook cross referenced with Policies For Our People 5.5

FLEXIBLE CONTRACTS

FULL TIME FLEXIBLE CONTRACTS

* Staff are contracted for 36.5 hours per week over 5 days.
* These hours and days may vary each week.
* The degree of flexibility will be determined by each employee's available hours stated
   when they are recruited, which have been identified as meeting the needs of the
   department and role.
* Staff will be asked to work shifts within the days and hours they have stated that they
   are available to work.
* Stores must plan to give night workers who are on a full time flexible contract two
   consecutive nights off in a week unless the individual has requested to take different
   days.
* To ensure flexibility works for the employee and the store, all requests for a specific
   day off, early or late shift should be taken into account and where possible these
   should be accommodated. However, all members of staff
   must be treated fairly and these requests should be treated in the same way as for
   all other members of staff.

Availability Window

* The availability Window must be discussed, agreed at interview and confirmed in
   writing with the job offer.
* It must be made clear to the applicant that their Availability Window shows the hours
   within the week that they would be willing to work. However, they will only be asked
   to work 36.5 hours per week from the range of hours they have agreed.
* The ideal for an Availability Window should cover Monday to Saturday, early and late
   shifts.
* The minimum number of hours an Availability Window should be is 50 hours.
* There is no upper limit to the Availability Window.
* Where staff have agreed to a broad Availability Window, the number of early, late
   and weekend shifts they are asked to work should be scheduled fairly. The member
   of staff should not consistently be asked to work all of their shifts early / late /
   weekends unless the store circumstances are exceptional, or the individual has
   requested this as part of their availability.
* The appropriate premium payments will be paid if hours are worked during these
   times.

Communication

* Shift patterns should be discussed and agreed with the member of staff.
* Good practice would be for the member of staff to know their shift patterns they will
   work four weeks in advance.^
* This allows them to plan activities outside of work.
* Once shift patterns have been agreed, a temporary amendment should be made on
   the Human Resources Attendance Management System (HRAM) to reflect the agreed
   hours.

^  Although in exceptional circumstances seven days' notice can be given [PFOP 5.5].

PART TIME FLEXIBLE CONTRACTS

A part time flexible contract consists of a member of staff having core hours which are worked consistently and additional hours which will vary depending on the needs of the business.

Core Hours

* Staff are contracted for a core number of hours and shifts, which they will work every
   week on set days.
* These hours and days are fixed and will not be changed on a week by week basis.
* The ideal number of core hours per week is between 10 and 16, which should fit into
   the normal operating structure of any store format.
* The minimum number of core contracted hours should be 7.5 hours per week, unless
   the individual has asked for less than 7.5 hours and where this can be accommodated
   by the store.
* No stand alone shift should be less than 3 hours.

Additional Hours

* Staff should agree that they will be available for additional hours ranging up to a
   maximum of 48 hours per week. However, they will only ever be expected to work
   up to a maximum of 36.5 hours a week with core and additional hours combined.
* At interview / recruitment, the maximum number of hours a member of staff may be
   expected to work must be agreed. For example, they may only want to work a
   maximum of 20 hours in any one week (combined core and additional hours
   together).
* Additional hours will be within an agreed Availability Window.
* The number of additional hours worked each week may vary.
* There may be weeks where no additional hours are worked, but core hours will still be
   worked.
* The minimum number of stand alone additional hours offered per day is three.
* Additional flexible hours can be added to a core shift. For example, one hour can be
   added to a core shift.
* As with core hours, the additional hours can be worked on any department, where full
   training has been given and has been signed for on the member of staffs Training
   Card.
* When working additional flexible hours, you will need to ensure the correct breaks are
   given.

Availability Window

* The Availability Window must be discussed, agreed at interview and confirmed in
   writing with the job offer.
* It must be made clear to the applicant that their Availability Window shows the hours
   within the week that they would be willing to work.
* Availability Windows should not be booked on a Sunday, however, core hours can be
   contracted for this day or normal overtime worked.
* To ensure flexibility works for the employee and the store, all requests for a specific
   day off, early or late shift should be taken into account and where possible these
   should be accommodated. However, all members of staff must be treated in the same
   way as for all other members of staff.

Communication

* Shift patterns should be discussed and agreed with the member of staff.
* The additional hours the individual is expected to work should be planned in advance
   and communicated to the member of staff as early as possible, ideally with seven
   days notice.
* Where this is not possible, a minimum of 24 hours notice should be given.
* Giving 24 hours notice to work additional hours should not become standard practice.
* Staff will be expected to work additional hours when they fall within their agreed
   Availability Window, providing they have been asked to work these hours within the
   required notice period.
* Once additional hours are worked, they should be coded as overtime.

MANAGING HOLIDAYS

The Human Resources Attendance Management System (HRAM) is set up to automatically work out holiday entitlement for staff on a Flexible Contract.

Full time member of staff

* The holiday entitlement a full time member of staff on a Flexible Contract receives is
   no different to any other member of staff who is full time.
* Holiday entitlement is based upon 5 working days per week.

Part time member of staff

* For part time members of staff on a Flexible Contract, holiday entitlement is calculated
   on core hours only.
* When a part time employee requests a full weeks holiday and books all of their core
   hours off that week, they are not expected to work any additional hours that week.
* If a part weeks holiday is requested, (for example where a member of staff is
   contracted for core hours over two days, but only one of these is taken as a holiday)
   they may be required to work additional hours. Any additional hours worked would
   not be the same day they have requested as holiday.

MANAGING UNPLANNED ABSENCES

Full time members of staff

* There is no difference to how you manage unplanned absence for a full time member
   of staff on a Flexible Contract compared to any other full time employee.
* When you have agreed with your member of staff the hours they are going to work in
   a given week, a temporary amendment should be made in the Human Resources
   Attendance Management System (HRAM).
* If they are then absent, an exception will be generated and should be dealt with in
   exactly the same way as for any other member of staff.

Part time members of staff

* When a part time member of staff has unplanned absence on their core hours, this
   should be dealt with through the Supporting Your Attendance process.
* Absence on core hours will generate an exception which should be coded according to
   the reason for their absence.
* Unplanned absence on additional hours will not generate an exception and therefore
   the member of staff would not be paid for the hours they have missed. As we have
   not paid them, these hours would not be included in their absence calculation.
* Unplanned absence on additional hours is therefore treated in the same way as for a
   member of staff not turning up for an agreed overtime shift.
* For any unplanned absences on either core or additional hours, you will need to hold a
   Welcome Back Meeting to ensure the member of staff is fit to come back to work.

Managing a refusal to work additional hours

We should always try and accommodate any requests for time off where advance notice has been given. These should be discussed at your weekly meetings when confirming hours of work. However, where no request has been made and an employee refuses to work their additional hours you need to take the appropriate action which is outlined below.

Before you start any conversation with the member of staff, you need to be sure that you have followed the communication process correctly and that you have:

* Asked the member of staff the correct notice period to work their additional hours.
* Communication has taken place face to face.
* A record of Hours Sheet has been completed, initialled and a copy is on file.

If you have not followed these steps, you should not progress with any kind of disciplinary action. You should refresh your knowledge of the steps you need to take as a manager to communicate to your staff their hours of work to prevent this happening again.

First refusal to work additional hours

* The reasons for the refusal should be fully investigated and any mitigating
   circumstances taken into account.
* Investigate if there is a solution which suits both the individual and the store.
* If no solution can be found, you should remind the member of staff that the additional
   hours are part of their contract and further refusals to work may lead to disciplinary
   action.
* You should capture key points of the meeting and any next steps and retain these in
   the member of staffs Personal File.

Second refusal to work additional hours

If the employee refuses to work their additional hours for a second time, the Line Manager will need to hold a 'Record of Informal Discussion' with the employee.

Third refusal to work additional hours

If, for a third time the member of staff refuses to work their additional hours the Line Manager will need to follow the Misconduct Procedure. When you are at this third stage please contact your Personnel Manager for further advice on how to proceed.

[Nomad]

The following was posted on the forum December 2021.

Flexibility is a bit different now.
You need to have a minimum of 9 hours above your contracted hours. You can't include Sunday, you can only have your contracted hours on Sunday.

You need to have two days off a week, this can include Sunday if you are not contracted for Sunday.

You can only add flexible hours to one side of your shift, not both. You then need to have 11 hours between shifts. You can flex up into the evening on a Monday and then a Tuesday morning for example with less than 11 hours between shifts but you should not then get flexed up both days resulting in less than 11 hours. You can pick up overtime with less than 11 hours between shifts but should not be issued it.

Young workers need two days off together, I forget the start time for them but they can't work beyond 21:45 and they get extra breaks.

Flexibility sheets should be refreshed annually but you can request at any time.