Mobile & Flexible Workstyles

Management Style 

Management of Flexible Workers requires a style which is focussed on outputs rather than inputs. Therefore, managers and their employees require to focus on performance, including productivity and quality of the service rather than time and attendance. 

This does not mean an abdication of responsibility. There is an even greater requirement for individual and/or team meetings where performance targets and work objectives are agreed, monitored, reviewed and revised. In the periods between meetings and other means of communication, employees will have a greater degree of autonomy than would normally be the case for office based staff. As a result, trust between the manager and employee is paramount. Managers need to trust that employees are fulfilling their duties and responsibilities whilst ensuring support and back-up is provided in terms of workflow, systems, procedures, equipment, administration and peer/team support.

Managing Flexible Workers relies on good communications and information systems appropriate to the team and its tasks. It also requires a greater awareness of team dynamics and the individuals’ ability to operate outside of a fixed workplace. 

Performance Management

The Fife Council performance management systems (i.e. Contribution Management) should be used as tools to ensure that employees and their manager agree objectives. 

There are clear performance management guidelines for monitoring progress with regular contact and review sessions. Managers need to be aware of the need to coach employees to help them adjust to flexible working and increase their effectiveness as a result. Identifying and dealing with difficulties at an early stage is critical as is ensuring that Flexible Workers have the same promotion and development opportunities as their colleagues who are office-based on a full-time basis.

Organisation and monitoring of work

It is particularly important that Flexible Workers have a forward work plan or schedule. This will provide a framework for both manager and employee so that there will be a common understanding of what work will be undertaken and what work produced daily/weeklymonthly/quarterley (i.e. work outputs - quality and quantity).
If any kind of work monitoring system is required, it needs to be proportionate to the objective and introduced in accordance with the relevant legislation. For example, monitoring should be overt and not covert (i.e. not used without the knowledge of the employee).

Working time

The very nature of flexible working means that, from a management perspective, attendance and the time worked by employees is less important than achieving performance objectives including productivity and quality outcomes. Employees have the responsibility for their own time and attendance management. However, since there is a health and safety requirement under the Working Time Regulations that working time is accounted for, attendance records are still required. Therefore, managers must ensure that attendance records are completed by the employee and that these are monitored to ensure legal compliance. In addition, if there is a requirement for employees to work outwith the Council’s working day bandwidth or undertake overtime this information is required in order for the correct salary to be paid. 

Flexible Workers will be eligible to apply for ‘traditional’ flexible working requests on the same basis as any other employee and subject to the normal considerations regarding flexible working (e.g. compressed hours working, part-time working etc). For business reasons it might not be possible to agree to specific requests. For further detail see the Flexible Working Guidelines – FW11: