Introducing flexible
working to my team
Things to consider
Why introduce flexible working?
• There are many benefits to flexible working
• Often a request to work flexibly will come from an
individual
• Managers may wish to introduce flexible working to
their team to help meet a business need
• Some common reasons a manager may want to
proactively introduce flexible working include:
– More effective use of space to accommodate new staff /
manage costs
– Provide longer (or different) hours of service to match
changing business needs (e.g. extended Teaching Day)
What’s the law?
• When introducing flexible working to your team,
you should be mindful of the following laws:
– Working Time Regulations
• Ensure that contractual working arrangements do not exceed
48 hours per week; also need for breaks in working day
– Discrimination
• New arrangements should not discriminate indirectly against
any groups of staff e.g. those with childcare/caring
responsibilities
What are the key considerations?
 Be clear about your objective in introducing more flexible
working and what you want to achieve (business/employee
benefits should be articulated)
 What type of flexibility do you want to introduce? (working
hours to be covered; weekend/evening working/out of hours
working)
 Consider the type of flexible working arrangements which
might best enable you to achieve the required objectives (e.g.
occasional or regular homeworking; remote working;
compressed working hours; annualised hours; combinations
of these arrangements)
 Talk through your idea with your HR Business Partner /
Advisor and formulate a plan
 Are you going to pilot the arrangements initially? If not, why
not?
What are the key considerations?
 Establish a proper communications plan to engage with
your team and be prepared to amend proposals in light
of feedback
 How will you evaluate success of the arrangements? Are
there any KPIs to be established?
 How will you talk to your staff about this? Think about the
possible individual benefits as well as the business
benefits.
 What are the the opportunities and challenges here from
the perspective of the employees?
 Are the proposals to cover all staff? Will arrangements
be voluntary?
Managing the change….
 Introducing a change in working patterns or
locations will affect each individual differently.
Understanding the psychology of change can help
you to plan it well and ensure the success of flexible
working. Some staff will welcome flexibility around
working hours; for others it will raise challenges e.g.
domestic issues
 Many change initiatives at Exeter have NOT
succeeded as well as hoped because the change
has not been communicated effectively to
employees (Employee Engagement Survey results
2014)
Confirming the arrangements
 Your HRBP will be able to advise and support
you with any contractual changes needed and
the best way to approach this.
 You should also be clear about expectations
during the pilot, for example, if some staff will be
working remotely, how you expect them to keep
in touch.
Reviewing the arrangements
Include measures in your plan for how you will
evaluate any pilot arrangements
This should include:
 Measures to demonstrate if you have you
achieved your objective
 Feedback from employees about the pilot
 Feedback from your customers or other teams
you work closely with during the pilot or
afterwards
Case study – EQE (Academic Services)
 Urgent need to reduce space footprint and
insufficient space for everyone to have own
desk/office in new offices
 Voluntary arrangements discussed with staff to
allow compressed working hours (9 day
fortnight) or working from home up to 2 days per
week
 Provided opportunity for increased availability of
service to internal customers (in some cases)
 Arrangements piloted for 12 months plus
Case Study (continued)
 Evaluation indicated neutral or positive impact
on service delivery
 Positive assessment from both participants and
non-participants in respect of work (on balance
both felt immediate team and department overall
operated more effectively)
 Participants gave very positive feedback re their
experiences of compressed working
hours/regular homeworking
Further guidance
Please follow the links below for further guidance:
• Flexible working policy
• Flexible working toolkit