Elective working hours

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The optional working time or also often modular working time is a working time model in which the employer makes the employee the offer to voluntarily divide their working time and make it more variable. With the modular working time, the operating time is divided into time blocks (so-called modules ). The employees then have the option of dividing up the modules as they wish, while complying with operational and legal requirements. The employer's specifications can, among other things, determine the number of employees per module.

An essential prerequisite for the practicability of this working time model is that the group of employees should be composed as heterogeneously as possible so that the preferences for filling different work modules are evenly distributed.

Basic principle

The model of modular working time can be implemented on the basis of full -time and part-time work . Part-time workers can be incorporated into the work schedule with relative ease using this model . The daily, weekly and annual working hours are divided into blocks and made available to employees for independent combination. Elective working hours require a trade or business with predictable peak times and lulls so that different workforce sizes make sense. For times when experience has shown that the workload is heavy, the company has the option of planning several modules in advance. The resulting personnel requirement plan is posted visibly for all employees so that they can enter their workload depending on their individual preferences and the contractually agreed volume of work. An agreement between the workers or with the manager is explicitly intended. As a rule, the election process continues until all deployment times have been assigned. The optional working time provides for mandatory attendance at the blocks taken over. It differs from the function time model , which mandates a compulsory attendance for the purpose of ensuring proper functioning of the workspace.

A possible variant of the optional working time model provides for the annual eligibility of the working time volume, for example towards the end of the current year for the following year. It offers interesting flexibility potential, especially for part-time employees. The optional working time model is often used where there are fixed shop opening times, for example in retail or in service-oriented companies.

Advantages and disadvantages of optional working hours

advantages

From the employer's point of view, the optional working time model enables working hours to be flexibly adapted to the respective personnel requirements. So the operating times, i. H. In particular, machine running and service times can be specifically extended through this very flexible working time model. In particular, the use of part-time workers and mini-jobbers can be easily planned in the model. From an employee's point of view, there is the advantage that individual working hours can be planned variably to a limited extent. The employees have a say in filling the work blocks and also have the opportunity to combine professional and private interests. If necessary, working time modules or shifts can be exchanged between employees if they have the same qualification profiles and non-personalized activities. Working hours can be planned flexibly without having to contract time-consuming individual adjustments with the employer. The life-phase-based change to part-time work can also be sensibly mapped with the model.

disadvantage

A precise personnel requirement analysis is required by the company for a functioning optional working time model. So there is initially the risk for the employer that the personnel capacity is subject to fluctuations that cannot be directly controlled. Smaller companies tend to have a higher risk here. Detrimental consequences should be avoided through a forward-looking formulation of the works agreement by adapting the corridor within which the freedom of choice exists to the respective operational requirements. Restrictions on elective working hours for certain occupational groups or work areas can also be useful. In order to ensure the desired employee satisfaction and offer sufficient planning security, the duty rosters should be published at least 2 weeks, ideally 4 weeks in advance. It should be noted that the working time model cannot be applied equally to all industries and is not always employee-oriented, as it does not have the same spontaneous flexibility as with flexitime. Split layers are also often perceived as disadvantageous. The occupation of unpopular modules can also be problematic if the division of work is not resolved cooperatively.

Optional working time in shift work

Elective work systems enable employees to choose their contractual working hours within a defined framework. In this way, they favor the deployment of employees with disabilities and ensure preventive deployment planning. However, if current individual working time requests also have to be taken into account, planning can be very time-consuming and complex. In the context of the shift plan, the implementation of optional working hours is easiest to implement if the actual working hours of the shift plan are less than the contractually agreed working hours. An exemplary procedure would provide that instead of the collectively agreed weekly working time of 35 hours, an effective weekly working time of 32 hours is planned. The employees can compensate for the difference over the year through additional work shifts. Further flexibility could include the option for employees to voluntarily reduce their weekly working hours e.g. B. shorten 34 hours with a corresponding simultaneous reduction of application layers. The optional working time thus also represents an offer from the employer to the employees to voluntarily reduce working hours without wage compensation.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nazan Ulusoy, Tanja Wirth: New ways up to 67 - In the service up to retirement . Ed .: CVcare - Competence Center Epidemiology and Health Services Research in Nursing Professions. Hamburg 2016, p. 45 ( hk24.de [PDF]).
  2. ↑ Andreas Hoff: Trust working hours: simply work flexibly . Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2002, ISBN 978-3-322-90439-3 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-322-90438-6 .
  3. ^ Sibylle Peters, Jörg von Garrel: Work / time sovereignty for managers of tomorrow - compatibility of work and private life . 1st edition. Rainer Hampp Verlag, Augsburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86618-839-6 , pp. 169 .
  4. ↑ Dr. Beate Beermann, Frank Brenscheidt: In time? - Risks, opportunities and the design of flexible working time models . Ed .: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 3. Edition. Dortmund 2008, ISBN 978-3-88261-597-5 , pp. 40 .
  5. ↑ Jutta Rump, Silke Eilers: Working time policy . Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg 2019, ISBN 978-3-662-57474-4 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-662-57475-1 .
  6. ↑ Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health - BAuA (Ed.): Flexible working time models - overview and implementation . 1st edition. Dortmund 2017, ISBN 978-3-88261-230-1 , pp. 38 , doi : 10.21934 / baua: praxis20170719 .
  7. ↑ a b c Jost Kranevelt: Modular working hours in shift work . In: Management & Hospital . No. 5 , May 13, 2014, ISSN  0176-053X , p. 8th f . ( wiso-net.de ).
  8. ↑ a b Shifted working hours. In: Smart working hours. The Hessen World of Work, accessed on February 26, 2019 .
  9. ↑ a b Jutta Rump, Silke Eilers: Working time policy . Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin / Heidelberg 2019, ISBN 978-3-662-57474-4 , pp. 127 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-662-57475-1 .