Operations Staff Working Hours and Working From Home Policy
1. Statement
Ashbourne is committed to supporting the needs and professional development of all members of staff so they can perform to the best of their ability and find fulfilment in their role. Given that Ashbourne offers educational provision on its premises staff are, for the most part, required to work on site. In certain circumstances, however, the College is prepared to offer some flexibility in working hours on site and grant permission for employees to work from home.
2. College operating hours during term time
2.1 The College will be closed (no phone or admin cover is required):
* Phone cover is still required on these days however this is likely to be managed off site.
3. Working hours for operations staff
3.1 Working hours for operations staff fall within the following time frames: 8am-5pm/9am-6pm/10am-7pm. Time slots are determined by the Operations Management Team. For the first 8 hours (inclusive of lunch break) the operations staff member is required to be on-site (e.g. 8am-4pm, 9am-5pm, 10am-6pm). After that the staff member can be off-site. However, from time-to-time the Operations Management Team may require the staff member to be onsite for the full 9 hours.
3.2 During the Spring and Autumn half-term operations staff members work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday only. The working hours on site will be 10am-4pm.
3.3 During the Easter break working hours on site will be 9am-4pm or 10am-5pm; staff will be allocated time slots that may only be changed at the discretion of the Head of Administration.
3.4 During the summer period – July to mid-August – operation staff members do not work on Fridays for the entire six-week summer break. Working hours on-site will be 10am-4pm. However, from time-to-time prospective students may need to stay after 4 pm and in these cases the Admissions Team will need to continue to work after 4pm and will also be responsible for locking up the building.
3.5 During the Christmas break operations staff are not required to work. However, they should check their emails on a regular basis and forward any urgent ones appropriately. In addition, staff must ensure all emails are cleared prior to returning back for the first day of term in January. As the College remains open during the first week of the Christmas break which takes place in December, the Head of Administration will schedule part time members of staff to cover this period.
3.6 During Inset days working hours on site will be 10am-4pm. Slight variations, e.g. 9.30am-3.30pm or 10.30am-4.30pm, may occur for opening/closing the premises.
3.7 During Bank Holidays (UK only) staff are not required to work, except if dates fall within the Easter Revision period; staff may claim their overtime rate for these days.
3.8 For Open Evenings and Parents Evenings, operations staff are expected to be on-site after 4pm irrespective of whether they usually return home after 4pm. For these events there is a different pay rate – please contact the Head of Administration for further details.
4. Annual leave allowance for operations staff
4.1 Annual leave allowance is outlined in the employment contract.
4.2 Operations staff are entitled to 20 days annual leave (plus an additional 1 day holiday for every full year of service, which is capped at 25 days).
4.3 The annual leave period runs from mid-August to mid-August each year. Untaken annual leave will not be rolled over into the next academic year. All staff must have taken their annual leave by the middle of August (usually by Monday of the A level exam results week).
4.4 Staff should take their annual leave outside of term time.
4.5 Staff may request up to three weeks of annual leave at any one time unless otherwise agreed with the Operations Management Team.
4.6 Where staff commence work at Ashbourne after the beginning of the new holiday year (mid-August), their annual leave for that year will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
4.7 All annual leave requests must be made in advance and in writing to [email protected]. The Operations Management Team will review the request and respond in due course.
4.8 Once annual leave has been approved, Filemaker will be updated to confirm the annual leave dates by the Attendance Officer.
4.9 Where staff work at the weekend or bank holiday, they should claim their overtime rate for the hours worked, capped at 8 hours per day.
4.10 Birthdays – Staff are permitted to take off half a day (8am-1pm or 1-6pm) on the actual day of their birthday if it falls during the working week. Taking this time off for birthdays is optional but requires one week’s notice.
5. Overtime
Overtime bands for yearly operations staff are based on the length of service at Ashbourne.
5.1 Leading Activities
Where staff have been authorised to lead activities during usual contracted hours (9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday) they should claim at the relevant overtime rate.
In cases where these activities take place outside of usual contracted hours, staff should claim the same rate as the non-teaching rate (£25.63 per hour); capped at 8 hours per day.
5.2 Conditions
The line manager must agree and approve all overtime requests in advance to ensure the claim is valid. Requests not agreed in advance are likely to be rejected.
Open Evening and Parent’s Evening events are paid at a set rate which is different from the overtime rate – please contact the Head of Administration for further details.
6. Working from home (WFH) requests
6.1 Decisions to grant WFH requests are entirely at the discretion of the Operations Management Team. Where a request is deemed unreasonable it will be rejected
6.2 Employees may request up to 10 days WFH per academic year; unused WFH days cannot be rolled over to the next academic year. Each request will be assessed independently and based on the circumstances at the time of request.
6.3 Employees wishing to request permission to work from home must outline their reasons and factors to be considered in their application, having due regard to the criteria set out in point 7. Requests must be made in writing via the WFH Google Form.
6.4 Decisions to grant WFH permission are discretionary but will be based on the criteria set out in point 7. The employee will be notified of the decision in writing.
6.5 Requests must be made at least two weeks in advance, save exceptional circumstances.
7. Criteria for assessing WFH requests
7.1 The job role and responsibilities of the employee can be suitably carried out and fulfilled just as well from home as at the College.
7.2 The employee’s current level of training, working performance and length of employment, excluding any probationary period, at the College is sufficient to enable them to successfully work from home.
7.3 The employee is suitably self-motivated, disciplined and able to work without direct supervision and meet deadlines.
7.4 The employee’s request to WFH does not adversely affect other members of staff in relation to cover, workload and other responsibilities.
7.5 The employee’s home-working environment is safe, secure and offers the privacy to work with sufficient provision to successfully carry out their role, including stable internet connection.
7.6 The employee has a secure system to store and transmit information relating to College work.
7.7 The number of days requested is within the annual range: up to 10 days per academic year. Requests for individual days WFH are more likely to be successful than requests for consecutive days.
8. Grounds for rejecting a WFH request
8.1 The burden of additional costs.
8.2 Lack of cover among existing staff.
8.3 Detrimental impact on the quality and performance of the role and responsibilities.
8.4 Detrimental effect on meeting demands of the College and its provision.
8.5 Planned structural change at the College.
8.6 The request is during term time and the staff member’s role is imperative to the day-to-day running of the College day while students are on site.
8.7 The request is at a busy time in the Ashbourne Calendar, when the staff member is required to be on site.
8.8 If a key responsibility of the staff member involves covering the reception at either building.
9. Conditions for WFH
9.1 Employees are required to keep records of their hours worked and work covered.
9.2 Employees will be required to attend scheduled meetings online.
9.3 Employees must be available during their usual working hours.
9.4 Employees must attend ODM (Operations Daily Meeting).
If employees are unable to satisfy the conditions for WFH or are struggling to meet the requirements of their role at home they will be asked to return to work on site.
10. Employee rights for WFH
10.1 All contractual rights and pay remain unchanged unless there have been agreed amendments in relation to WFH.
10.2 Employees are entitled to take a one-hour lunch break during their working day.