With the flexitime model, employees organise their working hours independently within a defined time frame. This flexibility allows your employees to determine exactly when their working day starts and ends. To ensure that flexitime is implemented effectively in practice, it is advisable to investigate various flexitime models. In this blog article, you will find out which models are available, the advantages and disadvantages of flexitime and the easiest way to manage time recording for flexitime.
Table of contents - What you can expect:
Flexitime in the Working Hours Act
5 flexitime models at a glance
Advantages and disadvantages of flexitime
Time recording with flexitime - possible or not?
Flexitime represents a highly flexible working time model in which your employees can organise their own individual working hours within a predefined time frame. In contrast to the fixed nine-to-five job, the principle of flexible time management enables greater adaptability for employees and employers.
To ensure that you as an employer and your employees maintain an overview despite all the freedom that flexitime offers, a core working time is often defined. This defined period of time serves as an orientation during which all employees should be present in the company to ensure a common working time basis.
A precise Time recording is crucial to ensure that the flexitime model works smoothly in your company. Software solutions for time recording or Time recording apps make a significant contribution by not only enabling accurate documentation of working time, but also providing a user-friendly platform for managing flexitime accounts and monitoring overtime.
As a rule, the introduction is made for all employees of a company and is usually determined by the management. Individual contractual solutions only occur in very rare exceptional cases. However, flexitime models are also subject to the provisions of the Working Hours Act and labour law. You should note the following paragraphs:
The rules for the flexitime agreement must be binding and set out in writing. If your company has a works council, it has the right to have a say in the organisation of flexitime - see § 87 BetrVG.
Customised to the requirements of your day-to-day operations and the specific working methods in your company, Flexible working time models in different variants. These Five models have proved particularly successful in practice:
In addition to flexible flexitime, would you also like to integrate core working hours into your company that are binding for all employees? Here is a suggestion:
With this model, the core working hours extend over 5.5 hours, during which the presence of your employees is mandatory. With this model, you can flexibly adapt the core working hours to your needs. After all, you know best when your customers most frequently require the presence of your employees. And your employees have the flexibility to organise their own working day individually. If an employee starts work at 8 a.m. and has a 30-minute Lunch break she can leave her workplace at 4.30 p.m. after a standard working time of eight hours. Another employee is a morning grouch and prefers to start later? No problem! He comes into the office at 9.30 a.m., also takes a 30-minute break and can leave his workplace at 6 p.m. after 8 hours.
Within a time frame of, for example, eleven hours - assuming that your working hours are from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. - this model gives your employees the freedom to organise their attendance flexibly. Prerequisite: They fulfil their daily working hours. This concept is particularly useful for departments or areas that have a high degree of independence in their working methods - research, home office, etc.
This means that your employees are free to choose when and how they complete their standard daily working hours during this period. Would an employee prefer to work their 8 hours a day in one go? No problem. Start at 7 a.m., finish at 3.30 p.m. (including lunch break). Another colleague would prefer to work mornings and afternoons, as this model suits his rhythm of life better? With this model, he can organise his working day in the way that best suits his schedule.
Under qualified flexitime, your employees not only have the opportunity to choose the distribution of their working hours throughout the day in accordance with the flexitime definition, but also to decide for themselves how many hours they want to work each day. Your employees therefore enjoy maximum flexibility, but at the same time have to apply a high degree of discipline. The weekly, monthly or even annual working hours are contractually stipulated in their employment contracts, but your employees have the freedom to distribute their working hours according to their preferences.
With this model in particular, the use of a software solution for Work time tracking highly recommended. One Time recording app is the simple solution for recording working times quickly and accurately - regardless of how often an employee clocks in and out. This ensures that all working hours, breaks and rest periods are adhered to. A reliable time recording system simplifies the administrative workload considerably, especially for qualified flexitime - for your employees and for you.
An alternative to defining core working hours is the introduction of function time. Here, working time is not defined by a fixed core working time, but rather by the specific function of your employee. An example of the application of functional working time is the period of time during which an employee must be available for customers, suppliers or similar. The main objective is to ensure that the function or the work itself is covered.
Flexitime with functional time is particularly suitable for organisations in which employees are able to fully cover for each other for all tasks, such as in call centres. An essential prerequisite for this is a well-functioning team with co-operative skills among your employees. Any Absenteeism or overtime can be managed using time recording software.
Maximum flexibility for your employees! If you have agreed working hours on an annual basis, your employees enjoy the freedom to decide when and how long they work. Provided that the agreed target working hours are met by the end of the year. This form of flexibility is particularly characteristic of employees who can organise their working hours entirely according to their individual needs, subject to the Working Hours Act. It is crucial that at the end of the financial year the contractually agreed average working hours have been worked within a certain period of time.
As is the case with all flexible models, the time worked is best documented precisely using established software. With the lifetime working time model, working time is saved up over a longer period of time and can then be utilised in the form of a sabbatical year or early retirement, for example.
Working flexitime is particularly popular with employees - more flexibility, better Work-life balanceetc. But you as an employer also benefit to a similar extent from the various flexitime models.
The advantages of flexitime for employees are manifold and make this working time model an attractive benefit with numerous positive aspects:
| Work-life balance | Flexitime enables employees to better coordinate appointments and combine work and private life more effectively, which is particularly advantageous for families. |
| Stress-free organisation of work routes | Flexible working hours reduce the stress of travelling to work, as employees do not have to arrive at peak times and can therefore avoid traffic jams and overcrowded public transport. |
| Consideration of individual lifestyles | Employees can organise their day according to their own preferences, whether they are early risers or night owls, and thus maximise their individual productivity. |
| More motivation & productivity | The increased flexibility and personal responsibility lead to a higher degree of autonomy, which increases employee motivation and productivity. |
Of course, not all that glitters is gold. Despite many positive aspects, there are also potential disadvantages of flexitime that both your employees and you as an employer should be aware of:
| Difficult co-operation | Limited joint working hours can make it more difficult to organise meetings and agreements and affect team spirit, as colleagues only meet for short periods of time. |
| Transparency | Different working hours require increased communication in order to maintain an overview of tasks and projects, which can influence transparency within the team. |
| Time recording | Employees themselves must ensure that they adhere to their contractually agreed working hours and avoid working minus or overtime. Switching from trust-based working hours to time recording can be a challenge at first, but offers many advantages in the long term. |
Flexitime not only offers advantages for employees, but also represents added value for you as an employer:
| Productivity & employee satisfaction | Motivated employees tend to be sick less often, work more effectively and show greater satisfaction with their work, which improves the company's overall performance. |
| Attractiveness as an employer | Companies with satisfied employees have a better reputation on the labour market, attract qualified talent and strengthen their competitiveness. |
| Long-term planning through loyalty | Valued employees with more autonomy stay with the company longer, which enables more stable and long-term planning. |
Although the disadvantages for you as an employer are limited, certain challenges can arise when introducing flexitime:
| Increased need for transparency | Flexible working hours require increased communication and clear agreements to ensure smooth collaboration. |
| Costs & administrative expenses | The introduction of flexitime can mean additional costs and increased administrative effort for correct time recording. |
| Unclear workflows | Flexible working hours can lead to less structured working environments, which can result in challenging planning of work processes. |
How can you now integrate flexitime with the Obligation to record working hours without restricting the flexibility of the working models in your company? With a suitable tool like ZEP, this process is straightforward. Whether mobile from home or stationary in the office - your employees can record their working hours at any time and from anywhere using digital time recording via an app. The recorded data is synchronised directly with the software on the PC. As an employer, you therefore always have an overview of who has worked how much and when.
The aim of software like ZEP is to relieve you of as much work as possible. Instead of relying on pen and paper, which can easily get lost, ZEP enables you to record all your employees' working times digitally. With the Overtime, Absence & Leave Module you can display your employees' attendance and absence times at the click of a mouse. Despite flexitime, the electronic recording of working hours provides a precise overview of accumulated minus or overtime, which can be compensated later.
The labour or collective agreement usually stipulates how overtime is to be treated. Flexitime-related overtime is treated in a similar way. This can either be compensated financially, for example in the event of termination, by taking time off in lieu. In ZEP, every employee has a personal overtime account. With the Absenteeism module every hour of overtime is registered by comparing it with the time recording. In the ZEP calendar, your employees can easily apply for time off in lieu for overtime reduction.
Even with flexitime arrangements, the statutory break times must be observed. This also applies to qualified flexitime, where your employees can determine their own working hours and duration. Here too, it is necessary to monitor compliance with the prescribed breaks by means of time recording. As the employer, you are responsible for this. You can find the exact break regulations in § 4 ArbSchG read up on it. Because: Even with flexitime, you still have to Duty of care as an employer comply.
Flexitime offers numerous benefits such as flexibility and a better work-life balance for your employees. In order to fully utilise these benefits, precise time recording is crucial. Regardless of the flexitime model chosen - whether with core working time, without core working time, qualified flexitime, functional time or annualised working time - time recording should be simple and reliable. Digital tools such as ZEP make it easier to document and manage working hours, overtime and breaks.
By using such software solutions, you as an employer maintain an overview and your employees benefit from the flexibility. Efficient time recording ensures compliance with all legal requirements and contributes to satisfaction and productivity within the company.
Yes, overtime can also occur with flexitime. This is either compensated financially or by time off in lieu and can be accurately documented using time recording tools such as ZEP.
The number of flexitime days is not specified by law and depends on the individual agreements in the company. These should be regulated in the labour or collective agreement or in the flexitime agreement.
Yes, the employer can cancel flexitime if there are operational reasons for doing so. However, this should be done in consultation with the works council and in accordance with the contractual provisions.
Flexitime regulations are subject to the Working Hours Act (ArbZG), which regulates the maximum daily working hours (§ 3 ArbZG) as well as break and rest times (§§ 4, 5 ArbZG). Further provisions and requirements for flexitime can be found in the Works Constitution Act (§ 87 BetrVG).
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