Winning over sceptics: How to overcome 3 common concerns about staggered time arrangements

Despite its benefits, you may still encounter hesitation within your organisation on whether staggered working hours can be implemented effectively. Experts from Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) share how to address your concerns.

Staggered time or staggered working hours, is a form of flexible work arrangement (FWA) that can help your organisation to extend operating hours and enhance your ability to attract and retain talent.

In widespread critical events, staggered working hours can also form part of your organisation’s business continuity plan. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, essential workers in sectors such as healthcare, retail and delivery services utilised staggered time as a means to safely continue work operations.

Despite its benefits, you may still encounter hesitation within your organisation on whether staggered working hours can be implemented effectively. Read on for a list of three common concerns and how to overcome these.

"Employees will start and end work whenever they want - impossible to monitor"

Staggered working hours require well-defined flexible time bands. Rather than having employees set their own start and end times arbitrarily, employers should have a discussion with employees and decide on a few specific start and end time options that everyone can choose from.

When determining these flexible bands, employers may also consider these factors:

• Public transportation/commuting schedules,
• Health, safety, and security issues for working outside of normal hours,
• Other extenuating factors which affect employees such as the opening hours of schools, childcare or elder-care facilities,
• Operational requirements such as business operating hours and customer service operation hours, amongst others,
• Contractual obligations under the Employment Act.

Employees may then choose within the stipulated time bands. As a best practice, employers should also conduct periodic reviews (e.g. on a quarterly or bi-annual basis) to ensure that the FWA is effective for the individual and the organisation, and make adjustments if needed.

"Communicating as a team is difficult with everyone working different hours."

A key factor in the successful implementation of staggered hours is to ensure teams are able to communicate effectively, even when working on different schedules. A good practice is to set core hours for employees. This is a pre-determined period of time during working hours when employees will be required to be fully contactable, either in the office or while working remotely. Companies may also opt to set core in-office days, which are designated work days where employees should be in the office for face-to-face meetings and discussions. When setting core hours for employees, employers should consider the following:

• Whether meetings (be it face-to-face meetings or via videoconferencing) need to be held on specific days or times depending on the business needs,
• What a reasonable duration would be, such as a four-or five-hour band of time.

Supervisors may use collaboration tools such as online calendars, task managers, audio and video conferencing to facilitate collaboration and project management as well.

"If some employees are allowed to come in later than the usual start time, it may appear to be favouritism."

To implement staggered working hours effectively, employers should communicate this initiative in a transparent manner that fosters greater trust between employers and employees. Having a clear policy in place,

• Sets the behavioural expectations of employees on how and when they can utilise staggered working hours (for example, employees will need to adhere to the agreed upon start and end times),
• Encourages employees to clarify doubts (e.g. eligibility criteria, the application process, work expectations and performance indicators amongst others) with their supervisors or HR, as needed

Equips supervisors with the knowledge and confidence to assess requests and effectively manage their teams, to meet operational needs and key performance indicators, even as employees work flexibly. When implementing FWAs, employers should consider piloting the initiative before rolling out to the wider organisation, and also monitoring outcomes and refining practices over time, to meet the evolving needs of the organisation.

Visit the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests for more resources and tools on implementing staggered time and other FWAs.

READ MORE: Guide to Singapore's new Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests

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