The world is on the move – politically, financially, and socially – and the next thing to change might just be the age-old 9-to-5 working day.
For many businesses, both local and corporate in the UK and abroad, the phenomenon known as ‘flexible hour contracts’ is taking effect, helping to improve employee satisfaction and productivity across the board.
What is a Flexi Hour Contract, Exactly?
A flexi-hour contract, put simply, is one which allows your employees to come and go with some degree of autonomy. Case in point: Jane works as a software developer. On a regular contract, she might be required to be in the office from 8.30am to 5.00pm per average working day. On a flexi contract, Jane would simply be required to be in the office for 6.5 hours, starting and ending as she likes – see https://lawdonut.co.uk for more details. So as long as Jane clocks in and out as per this quota and works properly during this time, everyone’s happy – especially Jane.
The benefits of a system like this are obvious: your employee gets to plan their day more efficiently. If they have a doctor’s appointment, an early afternoon commitment, a birthday party – you name it – they’re able to fit it in without either taking time off work or hurrying about outside of it. Early birds can start at sunrise and finish by lunch, late risers can get the rest they need without relying on coffee to get them through the morning.
For employers, the result is happier, less time-stressed workers that can put their hours in at a time that best suits them. And that’s exactly the point. Flexi-hour contracts take personal lives into account, helping with childcare situations, sleep, and productivity habits so everyone involved makes the most out of time in the office. They’re not convenient for every business model, however, nor every employee role.
For Shift-Based Work, Flexi Contracts Seem Incompatible
In their most extreme forms, flexible work contracts allow employees to work as many or as few hours as they like, providing the week’s work itself gets done. In their simplest form, flexi contracts simply stipulate a 1- to 2-hour period where employees can choose to clock in and begin their working day (with plenty of leeway between these types).
In customer service jobs and companies, or indeed any shift-based work, flexi contracts seem unfortunately incompatible no matter the form, at least without significant prior planning and communication.
A supermarket needs X number of employees at peak time for example, and if half of their staff clock out right beforehand, there are likely to be problems.
Rather, it seems flexi-hour contracts are best suited to office and admin-based jobs without customer-facing roles or hard deadlines. Examples include visual artist work, graphic design, copywriting, social media reps, potentially even executive roles if office meetings are scheduled accordingly.
Take a company like https://www.winningroom.com/en. They offer their customers dozens of different casino and table card games, from regular Hold ‘Em to low-, medium- and high-roller blackjack. They also happen to offer live casino dealers for certain formats. For the game designers at WinningRoom, flexi-hour contracts are suitable. For the live dealers required at specific times to deal and present games, they’re not.
In hotter regions of the world like Spain, culture dictates the work and school days regularly feature breaks or even end before midday when the sun is high in the sky, as reported by https://businessculture.org. Other formats beyond 9-5 can and will fit your business – or at least parts of it. It has worked abroad for years, it’s working in the UK now, and it can work for you.
