There are different ways of working flexibly and these an be adapted to you and your circumstances. If you are thinking of requesting flexible hours, read on and find which ways to work might suit you best.

  1. Job sharing – Two people do one job and split the hours.
  2. Working from home – It might be possible to do some or all of your work from home or anywhere else other than the normal place of work.
  3. Part time – Working less than full-time hours (usually by working fewer days).
  4. Compressed hours – Working full-time hours but over fewer days.
  5. Flexitime – The employee chooses when to start and end work (within agreed limits) but works certain ‘core hours’, for example 10am to 4pm every day.
  6. Annualised hours – The employee has to work a certain number of hours over the year but they have some flexibility about when they work. There are sometimes ‘core hours’ which the employee regularly works each week, and they work the rest of their hours flexibly or when there’s extra demand at work.
  7. Staggered hours – The employee has different start, finish and break times from other workers.
  8. Phased retirement – Default retirement age has been phased out and older workers can choose when they want to retire. This means they can reduce their hours and work part time.

Resources

Visit Family Friendly Working for lots of ideas and inspiration on how to work flexibly.

This information is based on UK Government information about flexible working. Click here to find out more.

Flexible working rules are different in Northern Ireland.