Flexible working time - find out about its advantages and disadvantages

Many employees appreciate flexible working hours. It is treated as one of the elements of the incentive system. Thanks to it, they do not feel the pressure to be at work at specific, predetermined hours and can more easily combine professional life with private matters. How to implement flexible working time in the company to make it effective and what are its advantages and disadvantages? We will try to present these issues in this article.

What is flexible working time?

Companies with flexible working hours may use it in various ways, depending on their needs. The employer may set different working hours each day of the week, work schedule and the time of its performance, or indicate that the employee must work 40 hours a week, without specifying the start and end times. Thanks to this, employees do not have a problem, for example, if they want to go to the doctor during working hours, have to pick up the child from kindergarten, feel unwell or just want to sleep.

If the boss sets a fork, for example employees can start work between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., it is only important that they work 8 hours, they can choose when they feel most productive. They do not have to get up at dawn, if they can focus only around noon or if they are fully focused in the evening. This increases the efficiency of their work, as well as their psychological comfort. If they have agreed that they will go to work at 7 o'clock but fall asleep, they do not have to get up and fly to the office, they will just start work later and leave it later. Thanks to this, they are not stressed, they are not afraid of unpleasant consequences, and this also affects the level of their work.

Remote work is also an element of flexible working time. Its possibility is considered a kind of benefit. This type of work is invaluable when we feel bad after waking up, it turns out that our child is sick, we have a problem with falling asleep and thus feel unconscious in the morning, etc. The ability to perform tasks from home turns out to be very necessary in certain situations and employees don't worry about having to stay in the office with migraines or being exhausted.

Flexible working time and the Labor Code

On June 13, 2013, an amendment to the Labor Code was adopted. Therefore, companies can use flexible working hours. After agreeing with the employees how it will be carried out in a given company, the work system should be reported to the National Labor Inspectorate.

The billing period was also increased to 12 months. It should be noted that this does not mean that the employer must apply it. The extension is anything from 7 to 12 months.

If the employee does not have to work in a given month, the employer is obliged to pay him a salary, which cannot be lower than the minimum wage. This is ensured by the amendment to the act.

Why was flexible working time introduced? Many companies work intensively for a certain period of time, and when the season is over, employees are forced to seek jobs to fill the 8-hour working time. In the event that companies use flexible schedules, they can increase the amount of work in the season, where there is a lot of work, and then easily reduce it later and not require employees to sit for 8 hours at work, although they really have few tasks to do.

How to implement flexible working hours in the company?

If we are not sure whether flexible working hours will work in our company, it is worth introducing a trial period. Thanks to this, we will see whether the implementation of such a system is profitable for us and whether employees will actually increase their motivation to work. You can also check which method will be the most appropriate - trading breaks, working 40 hours, or maybe different working hours each day?

Employers also need to know that switching to flexible working hours does not require signing new employment contracts. All you need is an appropriate document regarding the new organization and working time, signed by the employees and the employer.

Before introducing flexible working hours, find out how your employees see it, what system is best for them, what they expect from you. It is difficult to determine the final version of working time without consulting them - after all, they will have to adapt to it and it would be best if they felt that it is a benefit for them, something that facilitates their work, increases efficiency and motivation to perform tasks.

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Flexible working hours - advantages and disadvantages

Of course, flexible working hours have both advantages and disadvantages. As for the disadvantages of such a solution, self-discipline and good organization of working time are certainly important here. If employees do not have a fixed working time framework, they can become lazy without proper control. In a situation where they simply have to work 40 hours a week, they can afford to work shorter hours with the assumption that they will do it all, but in the end they have no incentive to stay in the office for more than 8 hours and they experience under-hours, which are often difficult work off.

Besides, if employees come to work at different times, there may be a problem with meetings, group tasks, etc. If we work as a team, we should try to synchronize the entire team as much as possible. It's hard to get the job done when we arrive at work at 10.00 and the rest of the group at 7.00. This delays the work of the entire team.

It may also turn out that you suddenly have a very important task, but there is no one at work to take care of it.If it is something extremely urgent, then it can cause a big problem.

Flexible working hours also have advantages. We have already mentioned that thanks to this, employees also feel more psychologically comfortable, because they know that even if they sleep or have to leave during work, nothing will happen, they will not suffer negative consequences, they will just make up for these hours.

Thanks to this system, employees can better combine work and private life, which also gives them great comfort. They don't have to ask their supervisor for free hours each time. This not only improves efficiency, but also the working atmosphere. The less stressed they are, the better they work.

In addition, thanks to flexible hours, the company is open longer and available to customers. Later office closing hours are also a great solution for people who prefer to work in the afternoon, when the company is usually depopulated and calmer.