NORTHERN IRELAND SOCIAL CARE COUNCIL FLEXI TIME SCHEME

Transcription

1 NORTHERN IRELAND SOCIAL CARE COUNCIL FLEXI TIME SCHEME FINAL NOVEMBER

2 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The NISCC provides a Flexi-Time Scheme (the Scheme) to support its business and to provide additional flexibility for its staff subject to business need. The Scheme is available to all bands of staff. The Scheme will also be available to temporary staff, subject to line management agreement. 2. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FLEXIBILE WORKING HOURS 2.1 The main principle of flexible working hours is to enable the NISCC to carry out its business and at the same time provide staff with a more flexible system of attendance subject to agreement with their line manager. This gives staff scope to vary their times of arrival and departure from work, to vary the lengths and timing of their lunch break and to take time off from work if they work extra hours. In doing so, staff must liaise with their line manager to ensure that the business is covered at all times. 2.2 There is an absolute requirement that the availing of the Scheme must not be to the detriment of delivery of the business and in particular, on any services provided to the public. 2.3 Successful operation of the flexi sheet is dependent upon clear communication between manager and staff so that the NISCC business is covered at all times, staff do not work unreasonable hours, staff are available to support their teams as agreed with their managers, and staff have an opportunity to work more flexibly within the scope of the Scheme. 3. RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 3.1 Management have a responsibility to ensure that the Scheme is implemented fairly and consistently across their teams. Senior Management reserve the right and authority to suspend flexible working practices at short notice should the business needs of the organisation dictate such. Senior Management will communicate the reasons and decisions relating to any suspension of flexi-time to staff as soon as possible and indicate, where possible, the likely length of suspension. 3.2 Staff have a responsibility to the NISCC that they manage their work commitments and flexitime arrangements in a manner that does not impinge negatively on the organisation and does not affect their capacity to get the job done within expected timescales. At the same time managers must take into account the nature of the work and whether the work lends itself to being undertaken outside core times (see below re Core Times); and whether staff are able to work unsupervised e.g. new staff in particular are likely to require management attendance in order to do their job well while they are being trained. 4. CORE TIMES 4.1 The NISCC is able to operate a flexi scheme from 7.00 am to 7.00 pm, however in doing so, the NISCC recognises that most often flexi schemes operate from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm and the additional two hours potentially available to NISCC staff could have an adverse effect on staff s health and well-being (from potentially being able to work a 12 hour day) and the accrual of increased flexi hours which may prove difficult for managers to accommodate time off as a consequence. 2

3 4.2 The onus is therefore on managers to ensure that staff work reasonable flexi hours suitable to their job. 4.3 Core time is the essential part of the day during which all staff should be present unless their absence is authorised by a member of Senior Management (or authorised deputy). The core time is 3.5 hours in total each day, namely to 12 noon, and 2.00 pm to 3.30 pm. 5. FLEXI-TIME 5.1 The periods before and after core time during which staff are able to arrive for work in the mornings and leave for home in the afternoons, are subject to the need to maintain appropriate and sufficient staffing within each department between the hours of 9.00 am and 5.00 pm. 5.2 While flexible working is confined to between 7.00 am and 7.00 pm, Monday to Friday, staff must ensure they neither accrue more flexi time than this Scheme provides for, or have excess debit hours than this Scheme provides for. It is managers responsibility to oversee and manage their teams attendance in accordance with this Scheme. Flexi-Time Bands Flexible Band 7.00 am am Core Time am pm Flexible Lunch Break pm 2.00 pm Core Time 2.00 pm 3.30 pm Flexible Band 3.30 pm 7.00 pm 5.3 The lunch break must be a minimum of 30 minutes and may be up to a maximum of two hours. 5.4 In certain circumstances, particularly where offices are open to the public, it will be necessary to ensure adequate cover and total flexibility in the time at which staff take their lunch breaks. Every effort should be made to avoid placing any more restrictions on the timing and length of individuals lunch breaks than is operationally necessary. 6. ACCOUNTING PERIOD 6.1 The accounting period is one calendar month. Staff who join a flexi scheme during an accounting period will record flexi-time for the remainder of that period. 6.2 The normal working week for full-time staff will be 37.5 hours. This equates to a working day of 7 hours and 30 minutes. The working week and working day of part-time staff will be equivalent to their pro-rata agreement. 7. CARRY OVER 7.1 The maximum number of hours carry over is 8 hours credit and 8 hours debit at the end of an accounting period. 7.2 Staff may not normally carry forward more than the maximum debit. Any greater debit than the maximum is in breach of the Scheme and may lead to disciplinary action unless authorised and approved by Senior Management/authorised deputy. However, there may be occasions when this is unavoidable e.g. if a staff member is ill towards the end of an 3

4 accounting period. Special permission must be granted to carry the extra debit forward by the relevant Senior Manager/authorised deputy. This exceptionality will be monitored by the Director of Corporate Services. 7.3 Any credit in excess of the maximum is usually lost. Where staff are prevented by the needs of the service or because of sick leave from reducing their credit balance, Directors may use their discretion in such exceptional circumstances. 7.4 When the carry-over of credit or debit other than the maximum is authorised, this should be brought within the normal credit/debit limits as soon as possible. 7.5 Staff should be discouraged from remaining in continuous debit for a prolonged period. 8. TIME OFF (FLEXI LEAVE) 8.1 Credit time is taken off in lieu of excess hours worked. 8.2 Subject to the needs of the service, credit leave may be allowed up to a limit of one day in any one accounting period, and may be taken as two half days or one full day. Staff must have worked a minimum credit time of 2 hours 30 minutes for one half day s flexi leave and a minimum of 5 hours credit time for one full day s flexi leave. It should be noted that in these examples, an employee would subsequently be in debit and therefore must have management agreement in advance. 8.3 Time may be debited from a staff member s record of hours attended to compensate for time wrongly credited occurring, for example, when the member of staff forgets to record his/her departure from work. 9. TRAVEL 9.1 Where a member of staff is travelling direct from his/her home to an assignment or returning direct from an assignment to his/her home without calling to his/her place of work, standard hours apply (i.e am to 7.00 pm). 10. MEDICAL/DENTAL APPOINTMENTS 10.1 Visits to dentists, doctors and hospital appointments should, where possible, be arranged outside core times except in the case of emergency appointments. In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary for staff to make an appointment during core times and in such cases the following rules will apply The right to time off for Ante-Natal Care is set out in the maternity leave/pay guidelines available from BSO HR The staff member should inform his/her line manager at the earliest opportunity and no later than the previous day The staff member will be attributed a standard day provided that The absence is less than two hours; Actual hours worked total at least 5 hours and 30 minutes (or the equivalent pro-rata depending on working hours); 4

5 The time departed to and returned from the appointment is noted and approved by a manager/approved deputy; Any time in excess of two hours taken for appointments will be debited from the staff member s actual cumulated hours worked; It is never possible to accrue time if hours worked are less than 7 hours 30 minutes (or the equivalent pro-rata depending on working hours) The NISCC understands that there is less flexibility when making hospital appointments and will make every effort to accommodate any reasonable requests. Such requests should be referred to the appropriate line manager Time off due to sickness will be credited to staff on the basis of a standard working day Travel delays must be accepted as a normal hazard. Credit will only be given where management determines that exceptional circumstances exist. 11. CREDIT/DEBIT UPON LEAVING THE NISCC 11.1 On receipt of notification from a member of staff working flexible working hours that he/she intends to leave the service, management must ensure that the member of staff has a nil credit/debit record by their last working day Only in very exceptional circumstances where this balance has not been achieved, any debit balance should firstly be off-set against any outstanding annual leave and, if this is not possible, final pay may be adjusted accordingly. Similarly, an addition will be made for excess balance of hours. Adjustments will be made to the nearest 15 minutes. 12. COMPLETION OF FLEXI SHEET 12.1 Staff must complete the NISCC flexi sheet for every calendar month detailing the following information Month and Year; Name; Time commenced work; Time taken off for lunch break; Time finished work; Balance in 5-minute increment (either credit or debit); Credit/debit running total The NISCC flexi sheet will be available as an Excel spreadsheet and can be accessed via an icon on the desktop of each staff member s personal computer. This spreadsheet should be printed monthly and passed to the appropriate line manager for signature or, in their absence, for signature by another senior manager. Line managers shall have access to the flexi sheets of their staff members at any time Copies of all monthly spreadsheets, must be signed by the appropriate line manager and forwarded to the Business Support Officer for filing. It is the responsibility of each Senior Manager to ensure his/her team is appropriately staffed during the office hours of 9 am to 5 pm. 5

6 12.4 In managing the system, managers may agree for their staff to collectively draw up a rota in relation to ensuring that sufficient staff cover exists at all times between the hours of 9.00 am and 5.00 pm to enable the NISCC to function both efficiently and effectively Staff who are not part of the flexi scheme will still be required to record their hours of work each day by completing the flexi sheet Staff must ensure they complete their flexi sheets on a daily basis. 13. FLEXI TIME FOR RECRUITMENT AGENCY STAFF 13.1 Recruitment agency staff are permitted to work flexible hours, subject to permission by their line manager. However they are not permitted to be in debit time. 14. ABUSE OF FLEXI TIME 14.1 A flexible working hours system depends on the co-operation of staff in order for it to work effectively. Equally, responsible behaviour of all staff is crucial in a scheme like this when each person to a large extent controls the hours they work. Abuse of the flexi time system such as a deliberate falsification of documents may lead to a withdrawal of the right to work flexi-time and will be dealt with a misconduct under normal disciplinary procedures. 15. ENDORSEMENT AND REVIEW 15.1 This Scheme was endorsed by JNF in November This Scheme will normally be reviewed every two years, however it has been agreed to review this Scheme after one year in the first instance. The next review will therefore should take place by November EQUALITY 16.1 This policy has been screened for equality implications as required by Section 75 and Schedule 9 and of the Northern Ireland Act Equality Commission guidance states that the purpose of screening is to identify those policies which are likely to have a significant impact on equality of opportunity so that greatest resources can be devoted to these. [November 2012] 6