Manager's guide to flexible working

This guide should be used with the manager's guide to workstyle personalisation, which helps managers consider the effects of flexible working arrangements within their team.

Training and development options

Managers who are confident about the training that's available will be better at supporting their employees. 

You'll be able to have more informed conversations about workstyle personalisation if you understand which courses could help you support your team and individual employees.

There is support for line managers and employees on My Learning.

Encourage employees to think about flexible working       

It's important to encourage your team to think about flexible working options as a team and as individuals.

Have a team discussion about how flexible working will affect:

• the service delivery
• their colleagues
• their own work-life balance

It's good to keep the conversation going with a regular slot at team meetings to encourage employees to discuss flexible working options. 

Ask each person to share anything:

• that's been working well
• they have found challenging
• they think needs to be resolved 
• they would like to try​

Build trust with your team

Trust employees to make their own choices. Trust is at the heart of employee engagement and good relations. It can be inspired and built on through integrity, goodwill, ability, predictability and respect. 

Think about how your team will communicate, and create opportunities for your team to discuss issues and share ideas.  

You may want to consider dedicating time at team meetings to discuss and agree:

• how your team will let each other know where and when they're working
• how you'll share calendars and schedules
• a clear reporting structure, for example, cover for absences
• how to make work accessible, for example, how and where to save documents
• how to make sure individuals are not being disadvantaged by the choices of their colleagues
• which issues can be collaborated on off-line (such as using email and messages on Teams) and what may need virtual or meetings in person 
• etiquette for virtual meetings, for example, people taking it in turns to talk

Empower employees to work flexibly              

If your team feels positive about achieving what's required of them, flexible working is more likely to succeed.

You'll get the best results from your team by:

• making sure they have the skills and resources they need
• giving them permission and motivation to do a good job 
• holding them responsible and accountable for their results

Think about how you'll empower your employees to use flexible working options, daily and weekly. 

Focus on results

To empower your employees to work flexibly you'll need to focus on results. That means you'll need to communicate your expectations and set clear objectives.

Think about how you'll:

• keep in touch with employees
• assess your team's and employee's individual workloads
• monitor and measure performance

Have regular team meetings  

Giving your team regular opportunities to express their views and act upon them demonstrates trust in their ideas and opinions.  

Regular meetings will increase trust and make it easier to discuss what individuals think about what is or is not working. This will make it easier to find solutions to problems as they arise. 

Deciding how regularly to meet will be individual to each team but what's important is to make sure the meetings are diarised in advance and accessible to all. This means thinking about:

• holding meetings at different times of the day, or on different days of the week
• consider if the meeting can be attended remotely or if it needs to be in person, or if it can be a mixture of both
• making sure that in person meeting are located in an appropriate central space. We are not insured for team meetings to be held at individual team members homes

Giving your team regular opportunities to share opinions, best practice and learning helps the team to work more collaboratively, develop stronger relationships and build trust.

Team meetings are useful to make sure everyone has received and understood corporate messaging and continues to feel part of our wider council community.​

Discuss different options and solutions with your team     

It's important to encourage your team to think about, discuss and try different flexible working options. It's also important to recognise if the choices being made are not working.

In these circumstances it's important that you talk to your team and help them recognise and understand why the choices they've made have not worked. 

Ask them what they learnt, what different options they feel could have worked better, and what possible solutions they have for the future.

Support new team members

When your team are working in different locations and at different times, you'll need to think about how you'll:

• help new employees settle into their role
• introduce them to the individuals that make up their new team
• show them how the team works and communicates 

Some of this may already be included in their induction, or as part of a hand over. 

You could set up a buddy or mentoring scheme for all new employees as a longer term support option. 

Spot problems and resolve them       

You should encourage your team to look out for each other. This will help you spot problems and resolve them before they affect results and the wellbeing of team members. 

It's important that your employees feel they can approach you if they have any concerns or observations, and that they trust you to handle these sensitively. 

Answer employees' questions honestly and find more information if needed             

You're not expected to know everything. If an employee asks a question and you're not sure how to respond, be honest. 

It's ok to say you do not know the answer. Tell them you'll find out and come back to them. 

Give them an idea of how long it will take you to get back to them update them if there's a delay.

Try to focus on the Ways of Working objectives and business rationale, rather than your own concerns and opinions.

Take care of social relationships       

When your team are working in different locations and at different times, it's important to think about how social relationships are maintained. 

Explore what processes and tools are available to you and your team to develop a sense of individual and group wellbeing. 

You could try:

• buddy and mentoring schemes
• instant messaging
• MS Teams channels
• Viva Engage
• social networking
• bulletin boards

You could also ask your team for their own ideas and suggestions.

Consider applications under the statutory right to request flexible working       

Eligible employees are legally entitled to the right to request flexible working.

Employees do not legally have to use this process. They can instead use the more informal and adaptable approach to flexible working through workstyle personalisation.

If they feel more comfortable using the statutory right to request, they'll need to apply in writing with specific information to support their request.

If an employee thinks their request has been unreasonably refused, they can appeal your decision.

You may be asked to provide information as part of the appeal process. 

Flexi time and TOIL (time off in lieu)

Essex County Council no longer supports the ‘flexi time’ practice of working longer hours and ‘banking up’ leave to use at another time.

Instead, arrangements for flexible working should be built within teams and included in team charters and team operating models.

Any individual flexible working needs should be discussed at line manager check-in conversations and if agreed, be part of an employee’s informal workstyle personalisation arrangements.

Exceptional cases

In exceptional cases, the use of TOIL may be used to meet irregular or extraordinary service delivery demands.

If this applies to you and your team, you must make sure that colleagues are aware of, and abide by, the following principles: 

• TOIL can only be used where the business need means that the employee will be working more than their weekly contractual hours or outside of normal working time
• there must be clear rationale for the extra time worked and taken back later
• any accumulated leave should be taken as close as possible to when the additional hours were worked and must be taken within 4 weeks
• additional time worked of less than 30 minutes per day cannot be taken back as TOIL
• TOIL must be discussed and agreed with the line manager in advance
• extra time worked and TOIL taken will be recorded and monitored locally

Read more advice and support for line managers

We encourage informal workstyle personalisation arrangements for flexible working that can be incorporated within your employee's current contractual hours. 

If an employee requests a reduction in their weekly working hours, or a permanent and fixed change to their working pattern or place of work, they should read council's right to request flexible working policy.

The manager's guide to workstyle personalisation gives an overview of the main issues you'll need to consider when considering how flexibility could work within your team and how individual informal flexible arrangements could be incorporated. ​

The manager's guide to hybrid working helps you explore which activities may be appropriate for remote working and which may be better suited to the workplace.

My Learning has a information and resources for line managers about flexible and remote working, such as Equip Your Team for Remote Work.

The Health and Safety section has information, guidance and training for managers.

The information governance policy booklet has information about data protection and the secure handling the information and equipment when working remotely.

Insurance Services has  information on liability information and contact details.

All employees can contact the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to talk to someone impartial about workplace changes. All workstyle personalisation requests will be dealt with in a fair and non-discriminatory way in accordance with council's diversity and equality in employment policy (PDF, 238KB). 

If an employee has a specific question about their employment, they can contact People Support Services.