Flexible working involves re-thinking the way we work – when it takes place, where it takes place and how we arrange it.
Some types of flexible working are listed below. Contact your agency’s HR team to understand which options are available to you based on your employment arrangements and policies.
When
Flexible working hours/Flexible scheduling
An alternative to the traditional 9 to 5, 35/38-hour work week. It allows employees to vary their arrival and/or departure times. Employees and managers should familiarise themselves with the provisions of their relevant Flexible Working Hours Agreement.
Flex time and banked time
Working extra hours where required over several days or weeks and then reclaiming those hours as time off.
Bid rostering
Lines of work/shifts are generated and then bid for by team members/employees.
Flexible rostering
Employees submit requests for the shifts they would like to work and the days they want to be rostered off. The roster is then built taking these requests into consideration, trying to accommodate all requests where possible and practical. Rosters can often accommodate part time and job share via different combinations (e.g. a 40% allocation of total shifts per roster period, a 75% allocation, etc).
Where
Hybrid working
Hybrid working involves a combination of working from home and from the official place of work.
Remote working
Working at a location other than the official place of work. This could include working from home, working hubs or other government buildings/locations.
How
Compressed working week/Compressed hours
An employee may work the same number of weekly working hours, compressed into a shorter period of time. For example, a 35 hours week may be worked at a rate of 8.75 hours per day for 4 days instead of 7 hours for 5 days. Changes to salary are not required but public holidays, treatment of hours beyond the contract hours (e.g. potential for claim for overtime) and leave arrangements need to be taken into consideration.
Job share
A full-time role is undertaken by two or more employees who are paid on a part time basis for the hours they work. Each employee is paid and earns leave entitlements proportionate to the part of the role they complete. They can be at the same level or paired vertically.
Part-time work
A regular work pattern where you work fewer than full time hours. The days worked can be varied by mutual agreement.
Shift swapping
Allow shift workers to trade shifts with each other, enabling flexibility to meet both work and personal needs, without sacrificing one or another.
Split shifts
A type of shift work schedule where a person’s work day is split into two or more parts (such as morning and evening) separated by more than the normal periods of time off (as for lunch).
Role redesign
A flexible working solution when a person needs to change the way they do their role on a longer-term basis. This could be because of caring responsibilities, preparing to retire, study or career transition commitments, or health reasons or a disability.