On September 1, 2020 President Wooten announced that the University will offer employees up to 10 hours of flexible time each week to accommodate family responsibilities and personal health and welfare needs while meeting the duties and responsibilities of their positions.
Some of you have raised questions about this announcement, so we have prepared this Q&A in response.
What is Flexible Time?
Flexible time is when you alter the start and/or finish times of a typical business day, but maintain the same number of regularly scheduled hours.
What is vacation time?
Vacation is leave with pay granted to employees for the purpose of rest, relaxation, and attendance to personal matters. It is a benefit that allows you to a scheduled period of time during which work is suspended.
What is the difference between flexible time and vacation time?
With flex time, you shift the hours/time you work in a day. With vacation time, you suspend work altogether for that day (or period of time). If you need time away from the office and cannot make up that time within the same day or week, accrued vacation time can be used.
I’m not sure I understand the announcement. Are we continuing the spirit of “Summer Fridays” thereby releasing employees from their duties for up to 10 hours per week?
No. Time off and flextime are two different things. “Summer Fridays” ended on August 28th, 2020 and may return next summer; but they are not continuing in the fall or spring semesters. The newly announced flextime option permits employees, particularly non- faculty staff, to structure their Monday-Friday workdays to accommodate family responsibilities and personal health issues which may conflict with the traditional 8:30 to 5:30 business day schedule while we work remotely during the pandemic.
Does this announcement pertain to staff only?
No. It applies to faculty, too. We believe that non-faculty employees who were originally hired to work an 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. schedule may need this flexibility more urgently, but flexible hours are available to faculty too.
Can you be more specific on how these flex hours would work or what concerns the announcement is trying to address?
Yes. President Wooten’s announcement is intended to respond to emerging and ongoing needs of Simmons faculty and staff to have more flexibility and permit them to work outside of the traditional 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. workday hours. The volume of
work will be the same but the hours in which those duties will be accomplished may be non-traditional.
Will every employee need this flexibility?
No. We expect that a majority of employees will neither need nor request access to flexible hours and, if they do, it will be for fewer than 10 hours each week. Employees who live and work under circumstances which enable them to work mostly the same hours as they did before the pandemic and remote work began, will not need to use this option.
I understand the intent but it seems very complicated and potentially burdensome to managers. Do I have to accommodate every request for flexibility? If I do, it will be extremely hard to schedule departmental meetings.
We are asking managers at all levels and in all units and Colleges to approach this flexibility option with good will and open mind and make every effort to meet the needs of their individual employees while also meeting business needs. Yes, it may be challenging, but we hope that all who take part in this arrangement will understand and appreciate that the workday flexibility arrangements must always be reasonable and that not every employee’s request for flexible hours can be accommodated each week.
Why didn’t we just stay with the approach we enacted in the Spring – no Zoom meetings or conference calls from Noon to 2:00 p.m.?
Because, while well intentioned, that approach does not work for all. For some units, the Noon-2:00 ban on meetings created more problems than it solved. For others, it worked well. Some units need different flexibility both as a unit and for those members within the unit. We hope this revised approach offers greater flexibility to employees and managers.
Is there a minimum or maximum number of weeks that an employee can ask for a particular schedule to take advantage of the flexible scheduling?
No. But employees who take advantage of flex hours are responsible for keeping their managers fully informed of any changes to their work hours. Mangers can and should expect that those who report to them are available for work during the employees’ regularly scheduled work hours, unless an arrangement is otherwise discussed, agreed upon and approved. Employees who seek to use flexible hours should be transparent with their manager so that both the manager and employee understand how the employee will work 40 hours per week, even if they are not working the traditional 8:30 to 5:30 schedule.
Does the employee or the manger have to complete and submit paperwork to take advantage of this flexible work option?
While you do not need to submit paperwork to HR at this time, we do expect managers and employees will confirm any agreed upon work schedule via an email confirmation with each other to ensure full transparency and understanding. Once the employee and the manager agree, nothing further needs to be done.
How does this work with non-exempt employees and Workday?
Non-exempt employees will continue to submit the time they worked in Workday, reflective of the actual time that they worked. Employees should ensure hours are made-up within the same work week, as to not trigger over-time for the standard 40 hours of work time.
Are some units prohibited from participating in the flexible hours option?
There may be some business units/ jobs that may not be able to participate in flexible options while meeting business needs and we will let Managers decide where and when it is possible.