Managing working time: Implementation of working time change
Section nine of the Personnel Today Management Resources one stop guide to managing working time. Other sections.
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Understand the process required for working time change Gain advice on planning, communicating and
implementing change |
Once an organisation has established the viability of a working time change programme, the implementation phase will follow with a range of activities designed to present the ideas and designs to the key stakeholders involved. The most carefully developed and sophisticated system can risk a false start or even failure unless sufficient time, care and effort are invested in ensuring that relevant and accurate information is provided for the participants in a manner that they can readily understand, explaining problems and answering questions.
As with any change management programme, the implementation of a revised system of working cannot be left to chance. A formal implementation plan is essential, requiring a clear strategy with timescales for introduction, a breakdown of key tasks and milestones for achievement. The plan obviously requires customisation, modification and monitoring as it progresses towards its objectives.
Skills Training
It is highly important to get it right in terms of identifying and training in skills:
Specify skill requirements
Audit skill base
Identify individual training needs
Draw up timetable for training prior to implementation
Agreements
Agreements with staff need to:
Confirm earnings structures and bonuses
Define breaks, holidays and hours
Establish rules for operation of the agreement
Issue revised Terms and Conditions
Administration
Many a change programme has fallen flat on its face because an organisation failed to put in enough work into the administration of the system. Look at:
fine-tuning the selected working patterns or rotas
defining skill structure for teams
allocating supervision and individuals to teams
producing and issuing final team and individual rota calendars
reviewing peripherals and services e.g. canteen/wages/bus service/stores
conducting"pre-match" briefings
putting in place procedures for booking time away from work
Management and information systems
You need to look at the following:
Loading final patterns to T&A or management systems
Defining exceptions and hours accounting rules
Populating database with core employee information and skills
Allocating individuals to teams and rotas
Defining system rules for shift swaps and the usage of additional hours
Designing required reports relating to working time usage, absence, and so on
Staff consultation
Some applications will be radical. Proposals such as the adoption of systems with rostered leisure time and annualised working hours may still be outside the experience of many management teams and full-time trade union officers. It is courteous and wise to establish off-line how comfortable your senior management team and local full-time trade union officers are with the principles and theory of the proposals prior to open meetings. The offer of a discreet briefing sessions for both may not come amiss, prompting a more objective and constructive negotiating environment than one where the individuals feel at a disadvantage.
Care must be taken to ensure that the junior and middle management tier is included within the information loop. All too often they are overlooked, or it is simply taken for granted that they will comply with the proposals. There are instances of organisations with a firm commitment to cascading information down through the supervisory chain where the process has stumbled due to individual line managers or supervisors simply not understanding the detail behind the briefing they have to deliver.
Communications
Most large organisations have developed their own preferred styles for communications. For others, a range of choices exist for the dissemination of information:
Workshops
A most practical and proven approach is that of introductory workshop sessions. These are most effective when limited to a maximum of 12 people per session. It can take two to three hours per group to cover the necessary ground, which can mean setting aside a large chunk of time if a large workforce is involved. A workshop may be accompanied by the issue of a simple question-and-answer booklet on the subject. The style can be light, but not flippant, and the series of questions and corresponding answers may be in the style of a conversation. In this manner, all the predictable topics and FAQs can be introduced and covered. The booklet ensures that everyone has a hard copy of exactly the same message, which can be referred to at leisure.
Video or DVD presentations
These are useful and with modern equipment can be produced and edited in-house at quite low cost. Narration by a recognisable local celebrity is usually acceptable and diminishes any 'them-and-us' connection with the package. This medium has the advantage of ensuring that everyone is exposed to exactly the same message, but it is important to take great care with the content to ensure that ambiguities are avoided. A further benefit of this type of communication is that it can be sent/taken to the home where the 'broader population' can become aware of the implications of the changes to working time that may affect the family.
Operating Manual
The operating manual is an adjunct to terms & conditions, and provides what is effectively a 'live' document, which is updated as new queries or amendments are addressed and agreed. The manual should be held centrally for the reference of management and authorised workforce representatives. The topics covered may include:
Purpose, contractual status and management of the manual
Contractual hours
Register of rota patterns and staff to be covered
Salary and payment systems
Review frequency
Holidays, floating days or rostered leisure time
Treatment of new starters, leavers and transferees
Absence and absence cover
The role of overtime or additional hours
Reserve hours and bank hours and their application
Rostered hours totals and individual variances
Flexibility and training
Working on bank holidays
Definition of the working day (vis-à-vis different shift lengths)
Leap years and seasonal alterations to the clock
Shift swapping facilities
Publication of individual calendars
Adjustment of rota calendars
Changes to plan and self-evident emergencies
Taking service days on-request
Timetable for site-wide roll-out (if applicable)
Calendar 'shunting' facility and procedures
Extended holidays/time-off
Provision for briefings and training sessions
Glossary of terminology.
This list is not exhaustive, and other site-specific subjects can be introduced as required.
Management and control in the post-implementation period
In most instances, the new working time system will be based upon a particular template or strategic rota design. Inevitably, individual participants will drift away from the plan and exceptions will have to be recorded. Thus, procedures will be required to account for and report upon these variances for control purposes. A spreadsheet or propriety software package may become indispensable.
Typical variations from the plan might include:
Sickness absence either long term or short term
Shift swaps
Service related holidays
Parental or compassionate leave
Flexible working entitlement
Jury service
Hospital/dental appointments, etc.
In annual systems there will be a requirement to monitor the usage of overall hours year to date and of reserve or bank hours through the year.
A new working time arrangement will take some time to bed in and even with the best planning and great care in implementation, things will not always run totally smoothly. It is important, therefore, to allow for evolution of the system and for continuous improvement. This means there should be a transparent and conscious effort to monitor and maintain progress of the new working time arrangements and how they are delivering toward the originally identified objectives.
An important point to remember for a flexible working, demand-based or annual hours systems, is that what is being introduced is not just a new shift pattern but a new way of working, of which the pattern is only one facet and which may change year on year depending on the prevailing demands upon the business. In the UK, there are currently a number of annual hours systems which are operating in the same way as when they were implemented 10 or 15 years ago. In some cases the demands on the business have changed radically, but management has failed to make corresponding changes to the working time arrangements leaving them as inappropriate as the traditional systems and patterns which they were designed to replace.
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Assess viability
Formulate strategy for implementation
Devise communications and education strategies
Negotiations and consultation
Identify skills training required
Draw up agreements on terms and conditions
Put in place appropriate administrative procedures
Upgrade management and information systems
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It is important to look at the following areas: Objectives for change
Anticipated throughput and demand levels
Design and development of new working time structures
Establishment of quantitative and qualitative benefits
Cost comparisons
Cultural assessment
Benchmarking
Formulation of implementation strategy When formulating the strategy for implementation, you need to look at: Timescales
Negotiations
Communications
Training
Documentation It is important to make sure the relevant documentation is prepared and distributed: Operating Manual
Employee Guide
Managers and Supervisors Guide
Patterns and Calendars
Communications and education As with any change programme, a clear communications strategy is vital. Make sure you look at all parties affected: directors and managers
supervisors
the rest of the workforce
union or employee representative groups
the general public
Media And consider different media for communications: Workshops
Newsletters
Distribution of video or DVDs
Web pages
Employee helpdesk
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Section one: Why
employers must tackle working time |
