Guidelines for Loughborough University Technical Staff

The following guidelines augment the existing Loughborough University Flexi-time Scheme and have been drawn up following the experiences learned from the Pilot Scheme run last year in the Department of Civil and Building Engineering. They are designed to take into account the specific operational circumstances that relate to Technical Staff within the University whilst allowing Technicians to enjoy the benefits of the Flexi-time Scheme.

The scheme allows staff to vary their start and finish times to suit their personal circumstances, provided that:

• The overall commitment to work an average of 37 hours per week over a four week period is fulfilled.
• Attendance, cover and leave rules are followed (see below).
• Departmental, team and individual commitments are met.
• Health, Safety and Environmental issues are not compromised.
• Legal, statutory and procedural obligations are maintained.

Core Hours:- 10:00am to 12:00pm and 2:00pm to 4:00pm.
Flexi-time hours :- 8:00am to 6:00pm.
All employees must take/record at least 30 minutes break at lunchtime.  

Non-core hours must be worked between 8:00am and 10:00am, 12:00pm and 2:00pm and 4:00pm and 6:00pm. Hours worked outside these times will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances and line managers must approve all such activities. Staff who are required to start work before 8:00am, or finish after 6:00pm must enter the details in the “out of hours” book, “late working” register or equivalent Departmental record.

All staff must consider the Health & Safety implications of any activity undertaken outside the “normal” 8:30am to 12:30pm, 1:30pm to 5:00pm working day. Technical staff that wish to carry out practical work, e.g. use of machinery, outside these hours must consult with their colleagues to ensure that they are not working alone and that someone is also working in the same area. The only activity that is excluded from this is Administration/Desk work.

Staff will be expected to give their Line Managers reasonable notice of their intention to change their working hours pattern. Individual daily variations of start and finish times are not acceptable within the Technician Flexitime scheme.

Flexi-leave must be taken as either one full day or half day only. The leave must be treated as annual leave in terms of advance notice and cover.

Line Managers should be given reasonable notice of the intention to take flexi-time leave and/or annual leave.

In order to take account of specific operational difficulties during term time, Technicians may be able to accumulate a maximum of 3 days flexi-leave during the Autumn (October to December), Spring (January to March) and Summer (April to June) terms. These 3 days must be taken before the start of the respective new term. In the case of the Summer term, this time slot extends from June to October but the maximum accumulated flexi-leave remains at 3 days.

All routine health related or other appointments (eg. doctors, dentists opticians, solicitors, etc.), should be made outside the core hours of 10:00am and 12:00pm and 2:00pm and 4:00pm wherever possible. These appointments will normally be taken in an individual’s own time.

Exceptions are: eg. maternity antenatal appointments, hospital appointments and specialist/routine appointments. These type of appointments may be taken in core hours and recorded as working hours.

Days recorded as sick-leave will be shown as normal working hours.

• Technical staff  must plan their “practical” work with colleagues.
• Technical staff must be available for all practical classes in their area. Given the operation of the flexi-time scheme, academic staff are asked to provide the technical staff involved in the classes with reasonable notice of their intention to hold practical classes/lab sessions. These details need to be available to the technicians so that they, in turn, can plan their schedules in order to fulfil their obligations.
• Academic supervisors of laboratory based final year student projects must inform the students concerned that flexitime is in operation, and that if they wish to discuss their project with a member of the technical staff, then they are required to contact the technician concerned and make an appointment.
• In circumstances where technicians are required to work together as part of a dedicated team and are mutually dependent upon each other, for example, on a particular designated project, the team must agree common hours for the duration of the project.

Staff who are required to work weekends or hours exceeding 37 will be given time off in lieu, for which, separate records will be kept. 

Staff will be responsible for filling in their own flexi-time form on a daily basis, and for submitting the completed form to the line manager at the end of each 4-week period.

For ease of management, staff are encouraged to use the electronic flexi-time format for recording their attendance.

The system will enable Line Managers/Supervisors to check individual forms at any time. Individuals will not be able to access each others attendance records.

As with any scheme, there will be situations that arise which fall outside the aforementioned guidelines. In such circumstances, individuals should make their case with their Line Manager/Supervisor, who will deal with the issue on its’ merits. In the event of a failure to reach agreement, the matter will be referred to the Head of Department.