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Flexible Working Policy
Introduction
The University has decided to introduce a flexible working policy to reflect the time pressures it recognises are placed on working parents. Flexible working patterns can be of benefit to the employee and their family and the University in terms of enhancing job satisfaction and effectiveness, reducing stress and absenteeism and retaining staff.
This policy describes the process that managers need to adhere to when receiving requests from staff for flexible working patterns.
Eligibility for the Scheme
In order to apply for flexible working arrangements under this policy, staff must meet the following criteria:
- Be an employee of Bath Spa University
- Be continuously employed for 26 weeks or more at the date of application.
- Have either a child aged sixteen or under, or under eighteen if the child is disabled.
- Make the request no later than two weeks before the child's seventeenth/eighteenth birthday.
- Have responsibility for the upbringing of the child and that the application is to facilitate care for that child.
- Be the mother, father, adopter, guardian or foster parent of the child or married to, or the partner (this includes same sex partner) of the child's mother, father, adopter, guardian or foster parent.
- Not made an application for flexible working under this policy within the last 12 months.
Flexible Working Arrangements
Any request that an employee makes and is accepted represents a permanent change to the employee's contractual terms and conditions. The employee may not revert back to the previous working pattern.
Staff eligible to apply under this policy can request:
- A change to the hours they work
- A change to the times they are required to work
- To work from home
- The types of different working arrangements that could be requested include:
- Annualised hours - hours worked calculated over a year rather than a week
- Compressed hours - total agreed hours to be working over a shorter time period i.e. days reduced to four longer days
- Flexitime - already in place in a number of departments
- Homeworking, either on a full or part time basis
- Job-Sharing
- Shift working
- Staggered hours i.e. staff starting and finishing at different times of the day.
- Term Time working - already in operation in some areas.
Applications for Flexible Working
All applications must follow the procedure as detailed in the Flexible Working Flowchart (.pdf).
To apply for a flexible working pattern, staff, having satisfied themselves that they meet the criteria to apply, complete the application form as detailed in Flexible Working Application Form (.pdf) or Flexible Working Application Form (.doc). All applications must be made to either the Head of School or the senior manager responsible for the functional area.
Having received the application, the manager should, in the first instance, acknowledge receipt of the application, in writing, to the applicant. They must then consider the application and hold a meeting to discuss the application within 28 days of receiving the application. The employee may bring with them another worker employed by Bath Spa University.
Having discussed the application, the manager must inform the employee of their decision, in writing, within 14 days of the meeting. If the decision is that the application is accepted, then the notification must contain:
- A description of the new working pattern
- State the date that the change is effective from
- Describe any trial periods that might have been agreed and review dates.
- The date of the notification
The Manager must inform Human Resources of any agreed changes so that contractual changes can be made and adjustments to pay be made, if required. They must also consider who needs to be informed of the change in working arrangements and inform them accordingly.
A manager may need longer than 14 days to reach a decision. If this is the case, the manager should obtain the agreement of the employee for an extension of up to a maximum of 28 days.
If the decision is that the application is rejected, the notification must contain:
- The business reasons for the refusal of the application
- An explanation for the refusal
- Details of the applicants' right to appeal
- The date of the notification
Reasons for Refusal
When managers receive an application, they will be considering it on the basis of business reasons. If an application is refused, the reason must fall into one of the following categories:
- Burden of additional costs
- Detrimental effect on the University's ability to meet customer demand
- Inability to reorganise work among other staff
- Not able to recruit additional staff
- Detrimental impact on quality
- Detrimental impact on performance
- Insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposed to work
- Planned structural changes
In refusing the application, the manager must provide both the business reason and an explanation of why the business grounds apply, which are accurate and relevant to the application. Any facts quoted in the explanation must be accurate.
The Appeal Process
The employee has the right to appeal within 14 days of the notification date of the refusal of the application. The employee must write to their manager, requesting an appeal and detail the grounds upon which the appeal is based. An alternative manager must hear the appeal to the one who refused the original application. This can be either of the same or senior grade.
The appeals manager must arrange for the appeal meeting to be convened within 14 days of receiving the application for appeal. The employee can be accompanied, on the same basis as the first meeting.
The appeals manager must inform the employee of the outcome of the appeal in writing within 14 days of the appeal meeting. If the decision is that the appeal is accepted, then the notification must contain:
- A description of the new working pattern
- State the date that the change is effective from
- Describe any trial periods that might have been agreed and review dates.
- The date of the notification
The appeals manager must inform Human Resources of any agreed changes so that contractual changes can be made and adjustments to pay be made, if required. They must also consider who needs to be informed of the change in working arrangements and inform them accordingly.
If the decision is that the appeal is rejected, the notification must contain:
- The reasons for the decision, appropriate to the employee's grounds of appeal
- An explanation for the refusal
- The date of the notification
This constitutes the final decision by the employer and is effectively the end of the formal procedure within the institution.