Flexible Working Policy

Flexible Working Policy

The Society recognises that flexible working can provide benefits to both colleagues and the Society and aims to support colleagues where possible to manage the balance between work and home life.

Ths policy provides eligible colleagues an opportunity to formally request a change to their working pattern. Managers are encouraged to facilitate requests unless they cannot be accommodated for business or operational reasons.

This policy applies to all colleagues (whether employed on a full-time, part-time, fixed term or permanent basis). It does not apply to agency workers or self-employed contractors.

This policy does not form part of any contract of employment and the Society may amend it at any time.

Informal Arrangements and Agile Working

For short term and ad hoc changes to working patterns, such as flexible hours e.g. starting and finishing earlier on occasions, colleagues are advised to discuss these requests informally with line managers. Colleagues can also refer to the Agile Working Policy where looking to work more flexibly (please note agile working is not suitable for all roles within the Society).

However, where colleagues are looking to permanently change their working arrangements, colleagues should follow the flexible working procedure.

Entitlement

Colleagues can make a request to change their working arrangements if they have at least 13 weeks service with the Society.

Colleagues can usually submit a formal request for flexible working once every 12 months, however we encourage colleagues to discuss individual circumstances with their manager.

There are many forms of flexible working which colleagues can request, such as:

• Working reduced hours

• Working set days

• Working compressed hours

• Flexitime, or

• Working a set number of hours per year

It is unlikely that the society will agree to flexible working requests to work permanently at home due to operational requirements and for head office roles the detrimental impact to quality and performance as a result of not working cooperatively together in person.  The Society may only agree to permanent home working in exceptional circumstances for example for medical reasons and advice should be sought from HR before agreeing to this request to ensure we have a consistent and fair approach.

The only exception to this would be within the Travel Trading group, covering the homeworking division (the Virtual travel department) and home working contracts would be issued

Making a Request

Colleagues are encouraged to have an open conversation with their manager where they feel they may benefit from flexible working. All requests must then be made in writing to the line manager with details of the flexible arrangement which they want to apply. The Society will respond to requests as soon as possible, however all requests will be dealt with within a period of three months from first receipt of the application through to receiving an outcome.  

Where necessary your line manager will arrange a meeting with you within 28 days of receiving the request. You may bring a colleague or trade union representative along with you to the meeting if you wish. The colleague’s companion will be entitled to speak during the meeting and confer privately with the colleague but may not answer questions on the colleague’s behalf.

If the Society agrees to the request, changes to a colleague’s terms of employment will be permanent.

Please note if you work in a food retail store there are additional considerations that need to be taken into account to ensure we have the right people in the right place at the right time to serve our customers and members.  As part of the process, the Manager will consult with the workforce management team to consider the impact of the request against continued coverage, flexibility and coverage in the store.

It may be that the line manager wishes to trial the new working arrangements before deciding on whether to accept the request or not. There isn’t a set timeframe for how long the trial period should last and will be down to line managers to exercise their judgement on how long the trial period should be before reaching a decision on whether they can accommodate the request permanently.

The Society may reject a request for one or more of the following business reasons:

• Extra costs which will damage the Society’s business,

• Work cannot be reorganised amongst other staff,

• Other colleagues cannot be recruited to do the work,

• Flexible working will affect quality and performance,

• The business will be unable to meet customer demand,

• There is insufficient work to do during the proposed working times, or

• The Society is planning changes to the workforce.

If the Society is unable to agree to the request, we will confirm our decision in writing to highlight which reason(s) apply regarding the application.  We may also discuss alternative flexible working patterns with the colleague, where the arrangement requested cannot be accommodated. Colleagues will be given an opportunity to appeal against the Society’s decision if they disagree with the decision.  If a colleague wishes to appeal, they must do so within a reasonable time and must state the grounds of their appeal.

Additional Support

If you require additional support, you should speak to your line manager. Alternatively, you can contact HR via email on hr.advice@midcounties.coop.