Commercial publish flexible working principles…
At the start of the pandemic flexitime was suspended in Commercial Lines. Since then we have engaged with the business in an effort to see the reintroduction of it in some form as soon as was practical. Following on from our survey last year, which raised a number of concerns around the suspension, a working party (which included several union reps) was set up by AXA to look into flexible working in Commercial Lines, with a view to how this could work in the forthcoming smart working environment.
This working party gathered feedback from commercial staff across all grades and departments and has now produced a set of proposed principles for flexible working for Commercial going forward, which incorporates flexitime (now called banked hours) as an option giving employees access to different flexible working options, including the ability to work flexibly within the working day/ week and the ability to bank hours where there is a business need for additional hours to be worked. These guidelines are different from the old rather prescriptive flexitime charter rules and see a number of improvements but also see some changes that some people may feel impact them negatively.
The flexible working principles have now been published so employees can read and understand the proposed changes and we are encouraging you to provide feedback to your local union rep to be fed back into the working party about any major concerns you might possibly have with the new guidelines.
The principles are of course a compromise of many different viewpoints on the subject and whilst not everyone is going to be pleased with some of the proposed changes, the improvements from current rules hopefully demonstrate that whilst the end result is a compromise it is a definite improvement to the ongoing suspension of flexitime.
Pauline Prescott Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 11:19 am
This isn’t flexitime. Doesn’t feel it anyway. It feels more like a regulated way to build up time when it suits the company as opposed to an employee benefit. It actually feels like the benefit has been taken away from us and not replaced with anything that we could class as a benefit if that makes sense. The purpose of flexitime was for employees to work extra hours of their own accord, build time up and use it as a way to taking extra time off work or maybe even starting later/finishing early. That’s my understanding. The proposal is not anywhere near that and we have to get permission to build up time demonstrating that it suits a company need. There is no freedom to it.
1. There is no encouragement in the proposal to do any extra hours outside the core 9-5. This will potentially have an effect on service.
2. Potentially people will end up doing extra hours without any benefit. In the new proposal we won’t get any benefit of that extra time unless there is a business need and it is signed off before hand. You can’t just finish off a case and work an extra hour and get time for it without agreeing it in advance and so it’s not ‘flexible’ or workable for the individual
3. If the company just want to scrap flexitime altogether then there either has to be a financial implication to it in annual salary as they are removing a contracted benefit (I think contracted). Alternatively they have to increase everyone’s’ holiday entitlement to compensate for some of the extra days that will be missed and extra hours worked without benefitting from them. Out of interest I wonder how that fits with the Working Time Directive legislation?!
dalma hindry Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 12:43 pm
totally agree with Pauline’s post and cant think of anything that needs adding apart from, where is the trust, we are all adults and the majority of people are honest and hard working, lets have a little of that reciprocated and acknowledge by Our management,
Pauline Page Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 1:49 pm
Pauline Prescott has mirrored my thoughts but in a far better way than I ever could.
Working in a busy environment, you frequently found yourself doing a little extra and as a result you could take some time back for yourself. As a single parent who works full time this was a godsend for me as I could take time off (when mutually agreeable) and regroup without childcare issues.
I don’t disagree with the flexibility that has come out of the pandemic as it has enabled me to change my hours however the loss of flexitime has still had an impact. To move to a system whereby it has to be agreed, in advance, by the business for the purpose of the business, goes against the values that AXA had once promoted.
Flexitime allowed those that needed to take time off at short notice, the ability to do so. You cannot plan in advance for emergencies.
I fear that this change actually moves AXA further away from being an agile organisation than towards one.
Carole Maloney Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 2:03 pm
Flexible working was already in place in my area of AXA (part-time hours, condensed hours, term-time contracts etc)so I don’t see that this a new benefit. The loss of the flex-time charter is a significant detrimental change to our benefits. I totally agree with Pauline Prescott’s comments – she has conveyed the matter well and I support what she says. I don’t see how this new system is workable / manageable. I don’t agree that the old system caused disagreements / bad feeling within the dept. Flex-days were take off in planned / controlled way so that staffing levels were maintained.
Susan Chamberlain Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 2:48 pm
I work in the same area of Axa as Carole Maloney and completely agree with hers, and the other contributors, comments. Flexitime has always been used responsibly within our Department and worked to the benefit of both Company and Employee. This change benefits only the Company and makes staff feel like they can’t be trusted. Having worked for Axa for many years, it makes me feel demoralised and unappreciated. It is neither practical or fair!
Carol Bradshaw Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 3:01 pm
I have always respected and valued the flexitime benefit. It made me proud to work for a company that truly believed in give and take, working together and benefiting together. I will always work extra hours to get the work done for the benefit of my customer and for my own well being and without complaint as I know that my hard work is valued. The PR on AXA’s intranet is all about work life balance and smarter ways of working, about valuing employees and working and benefitting together. Working under Covid restrictions has been hard and yet I felt we all pulled together. I am utterly dismayed about how the proposed changes to flexitime has been announced, its like a slap in the face and the timing appalling, I feel inconsequential, distrusted and totally demoralised. Where has been the discussion around this matter? Why have we been given only two days to respond, how little does AXA think of its employees? I have worked at AXA knowing that AXA salaries are lower than the norm in the market but I have benefitted from a better work life balance and that’s was worth every penny I have lost and every hour I have worked in addition to my contracted hours.
The proposed way of flexitime working is not workable and does not promote a healthy way of working. It is not possible to predict when you need to put those extra hours in, our job requires us to provide an excellent service to our customers and sometimes that means working late to get work out. It is impossible to predict how long your workload will take and request in advance permission to work extra hours. Plus we will lose even more time reporting why we need time. Essentially employees will work the extra hours, get no benefit, be demoralised, be less productive and lose respect.
Sarah McGurdy Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 3:16 pm
I completely agree with Pauline Prescott, it seems like the benefit for employees has been taken away and feels like a similar system to over-time which works in favour of the company targets, rather than the employees direct benefit. Flex-time has always worked well in my experience, it’s difficult to measure each individuals workload due to the variety of work people can have so flex-time did always seem to work for each individual as a way to manage their workload but also maintain a good work/life balance.
Gill McCulley Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 3:52 pm
I cannot see how the proposed banked hours will work in reality.
Bare bones staffing levels mean there is a need to work extra hours just to keep on top of workloads/cover for colleagues holidays etc. and we should be able to claim back those hours without having to go begging and/or make a case to a team manager first. This feels like a lack of trust by the business in staff.
Limiting the amount of time that can be claimed back to 6 days a year will mean people are working for nothing or service levels suffer.
Laura Malley Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 4:06 pm
I am a single mum of 2 working full time, the old flexi time system is a massive benefit to me and something I will really struggle to be without once we get back into the office.
The current proposals to what we have at the moment will make a massive impact to most peoples working lives here at AXA and I hate to say it but I think AXA will find that this is more than likely a benefit which is make or break for most people. Something I am sure they could do without with current staffing levels being as low as they are.
The old system was managed well by team leaders, it left you feeling motivated, trusted and a valued member of staff. The new system is likely to make staff feel like a work horse with no concern or regard to mental state or workload. I am sure it will also become very clear very quickly, of how much extra AXA staff do, to provide the excellent service to our customers that we pride ourselves on.
Andrew Nixon Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 4:39 pm
I don’t benefit from flextime, but remember how beneficial it was when i did get it, for both AXA and us individually. This is a needless change that is trying to fix something that isn’t broken, and which is only going to result in everybody losing.
Anon Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 5:12 pm
So, reducing flextime. How can that be good when customers need us outside 9-5?
Anonymous Said,
May 12, 2021 @ 7:11 pm
Flexitime had always been one of benefits of working at axa. It has always worked well was managed well and was a plus point. The impact of flex time is people working their set hours finishing on time. I think the loss of flex days will make a massive impact on people’s lifestyles and mental health.
Jean Ratcliffe Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 9:34 am
Totally agree with all above comments. In effect we are losing up to 13 days a year as this it not a workable system and favours the company not the employees. Appears we are no longer trusted to have flex if system so regimented. With all the talk we hear about work/life balance this totally goes against all that and suggests the “encouragement†to strike a good work/life balance is purely paying lip service to it. I cannot think of anyone in our office ever abusing the system and with the workloads we all have, will result in people working ridiculous hours to provide the service we all strive for and getting nothing back in return
Margaret Rule Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 9:40 am
I can’t see how this is going to work in the Connect call centre envioronment, which means a lot of people will be missing out.
What about the 5 o’clock calls which go on until twenty past and the ten minutes in the morning logging in to be ready to take calls at 9 o’clock? All this time mounts up but can’t be claimed back. In my opinion this is creating inequality as people working in some environments, won’t have a benefit which others will
Carol Bradshaw Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 10:11 am
Laura’s comments really express how I feel so I have copied them. The current system is managed well by team leaders, trust them.
The old system was managed well by team leaders, it left you feeling motivated, trusted and a valued member of staff. The new system is likely to make staff feel like a work horse with no concern or regard to mental state or workload. I am sure it will also become very clear very quickly, of how much extra AXA staff do, to provide the excellent service to our customers that we pride ourselves on
Tanya Salmon Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 10:50 am
It’s disappointing that our commercial leadership team have not been transparent in telling is why flex was suspended for over a year and why it needs a complete overhaul.
AXA have built the business around One AXA and our values yet they have failed to display them with this proposal. Claims who are part of commercial have not had their flex time suspended nor is it being changed, where is the One AXA?
The proposal shows no trust in staff to manage time and customer needs, frankly I do not see how the monitoring and pre-agreeing can be carried out day to day.
Laura Ellington Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 10:54 am
I work in claims myself however I do really support what people are saying here in the comments. Flexitime is often the reason that people stay at AXA – they often know that the pay is slighter lower than competitors but value the extra days off (you could argue they are invaluable for a lot of people!). This change will likely result in higher attrition rates and make it more difficult to recruit unless wages are increased. Working extra hours for free/without getting the time back will impact work life balance and could result in burn out which is not good for employees or AXA.
Kristian Wilson Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 11:03 am
• Banked hours have to be agreed beforehand? Feels like agreed overtime rather than flexible working? Should we not be getting overtime pay for such hours…
• 30 min blocks, presume this is minimum 30 mins rather than actual blocks of 30 (30, 60 or 90 etc), so if I do 40 mins, will I lose 10 mins of that?
• What if it’s agreed to do 30 mins extra and it only then takes 20 mins to complete the required task, would we still get the full 30 mins?
• Why reduced from 13 days per year to 6 days? Some employees are more inclined to do this than others – and some are more able to (ie no childcare responsibilities).
It feels like AXA are trying to discourage people from working extra hours where needed to get best results for the business.
Once you get past 6 days used there is no encouragement whatsoever to continue working flexibly and there will undoubtedly come a time when this is necessary – especially in the build up to christmas (end of the year), by which time many employees may have used their annual “quotaâ€.
• Presume this will not kick in until the next start of a year, surely it’s not fair to take benefits away midway through the year?
• Am I correct in spotting that this will also now apply to senior underwriters and management? If so then this is a very positive step forward by AXA and is to be warmly welcomed. Notwithstanding my above points however
• How does this now compare with other similar companies in our market space?
• Are AXA looking to offer any different benefits to make up for this loss of 7 potential extra day’s holiday? (bear in mind that we are only taking back those extra 7 days which we will have worked above and beyond our normal quota)
Jackie Gibbons Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 11:11 am
I cannot see how the new revised flex-working would actually work in practice and agree with the comments above. As far as I’m aware there wasn’t any issues with the current flex-time system as it was well managed by the team leaders, and in changing this, is a benefit that staff will lose out on.
The new system will lead to staff working extra hours without benefit to meet customer deadlines as it isn’t always possible to have extra working hours pre agreed if something is urgent and needs to be actioned.
Whilst we are being asked to look after our mental health and ensure we have a good work/life balance this seems to go against this.
Carolyn Cooling Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 11:21 am
I think that there has been some extremely valid comments made so far from my colleagues.
I will admit I missed having the extra days over the last 12 months and I know work benefits from extra time that I put in as I regularly work until 6pm and lose it just to get things finished, so its a one way deal at the moment. Which is unfair.
Flexi time is a fantastic addition to the AXA benefits that are on offer. As this is part of our signed and agreed working contract, if this is to be reduced from 13 to 6 days are we compensated in some way?
Fraser Hyldon Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 11:37 am
I am massively disappointed with the new “flexitime” proposals. It is not always possible to pre-arrange or book in flexitime as a lot of times it is ad-hoc. Most people under the old arrangements would have worked way more than 13 days worth of flexitime so the days in lieu were deserved. The new arrangements could lead to less productivity as people will be less inclined to work hours outside of their contracted hours.
Anon Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 11:38 am
This new flex system is just glorified overtime.
The benefit of flex was that you could log in and out as and when to get on top of work, finish things off, deal with things that might come in at 5pm, etc.
To get things pre-approved is unrealistic – you don’t know if something is going to pop up as urgent – so now they are expecting for people to do this for free?
They have unfairly took this away from us with no explanation and cut the days from 13 days to 6. It seems unfair and underhand.
We are also supposed to be One AXA but the flex position is not the same across all of AXA so don’t see how that is fair either.
Alistair Conboy Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 11:45 am
The current Flexitime arrangement is arguably the single most valuable benefit of working at AXA. It has always been a feature of my time with AXA and has been effective for each and every team I have worked within across multiple sites.
Alison Ashley Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 11:46 am
Getting time approved first and logging on the same day, is just not workable, as previous comments state, it feels more like overtime. This new arrangement is not in the interest of our customers and your trusted employees. Flexi-time has certainly been a factor with me staying with AXA for the past nearly 19 years. Please think again AXA management.
Shelley Brett Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 11:59 am
I’ve worked for the Company for many years and in this time I believe that flexi-time has been managed responsibly.
Many of us have benefited from flexi time in one way or another. My sister and I were our Dad’s principal carers for the last seven-years of his life. Flexi allowed me the work life balance to fulfil the needs of my job and allow me to support our Dad and my sister as we cared for him during his life with dementia.
The Company is keen to promote a healthy work life balance. Taking away flexi time is doing the opposite. The alternative proposals don’t compensate for the loss of this benefit.
I hope that the Company and the Union are able to come up with a solution in the near future.
Shona Edwards Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 12:09 pm
Agree with most of the above comments. Where is the trust? We are all grown ups and wouldn’t be taking time out of our own lives to work extra hours if it wasn’t necessary. This will force a lot of 9-5 working with subsequent reduction in service delivery – if Axa want to see the true picture of workload v’s staff then they will certainly get to see it if people start working standard hours. And it wont be pretty. Flexitime was always a valuable employee benefit and its as good as gone – we should receive some sort of salary compensation for this. Flexible working needs to mean just that and for it work for Axa,Employees & the customer – they key word needs to be TRUST.
Chris Jones Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 12:21 pm
I am not sure why the company is taking this stance and it’s not treating staff fairly or with the respect we deserve.
If the reason is due to certain people abusing the benefit then those people need to be handled accordingly but instead the honest work force are being punished or at least that’s how it feels.
this could actually hurt the company more than staff as surely service will be effected as previously mentioned and staff may actually now look at what benefits other companies offer and lose some really good people which has happened before.
I think AXA need to tread carefully and remember we are the ones turning the cogs.
We get told what an amazing job we do every year but then have our benefits removed or reduced, how is this rewarding?
C Alexandra Francis Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 12:42 pm
The current flex time arrangement is a main benefit offered by AXA at the moment. I echo the previous comment about the concerns with work-life balance, customer service implications and potential unpaid overtime.
I know many of my team members work outside the normal 9-5 hours to keep on top of our work in the busy times and the current flex tine arrangement allows us to benefit from these extra worked hours.
Danny Foster Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 1:40 pm
Whilst I understand that a change to Flex-Time may be necessary given the overall changes to how we work, I think the proposed changes do seem to take away the benefit of ‘Flex Time’. To many staff who feel this is an added benefit and put in the extra time to keep AXA service levels and customer satisfaction on track, this may seem like a penalisation rather than an amendment of benefits.
The comments so far bear out that this is seen as a negative change all round and could potentially have the opposite of the desired effect for AXA and its customers.
anon Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 1:40 pm
This approach seems out of step with what the exec such as Claudio are saying. Our CEO has just sent out an email advocating employee health and made extra holiday days available (unpaid but nevertheless). I wonder if the exec are aware of this opposing approach that not only runs against employee welfare, but ultimately limits company flexibility to be able to deal with peaks and troughs in demand
Elizabeth Bate Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 1:54 pm
I have to agree with all of the comments above. Flex time has always been a brilliant benefit and endorses the Axa Work Life Balance.
Have we any idea what extra hours employees are already doing? (6 days x 7 hours is 42 hours.)Is this enough?
I trust both AXA and the Union will find the best solution for all of us.
Tracy Sanderson Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 2:03 pm
I totally agree with all the points raised in particular Gill McCulley.
Bare bones staffing levels mean there is a need to work extra hours just to keep on top of workloads/cover for colleagues holidays etc. and we should be able to claim back those hours without having to go begging and/or make a case to a team manager first. This feels like a lack of trust by the business in staff.
Also, working in Connect with Margaret, I want to re-iterate her points- working in a callcentre type environment means frequently working after 5 having been caught on a phone call. How do they propose to give that time back? People working in some environments will benefit more than others.
Andy Hume Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 2:26 pm
Whilst this change doesn’t directly impact me in IT, I have every sympathy with all of the above comments and my colleagues in the Underwriting departments.
Flexitime is a tremendous benefit, and not from the perspective of being able to build time for TOIL days. When my children were younger I did the morning school run (and occasional pick up from after school club) which meant I didn’t tend to get to the office until around 9:20 which wasn’t an issue I just worked later. Now we are in Bolton rather than Lytham it is great to able to leave before the traffic or work later if there has been an incident on the motorway, to allow it to be cleared.
I think the company might face a working to rule directive on something like this, which benefits no-one.
chris Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 2:29 pm
Seems very unfair.. I do work in area that isn’t impacted but have had flexi before and its been a massive benefit.
It would be interesting to know if this is just commercial under John who is changing this. Or are other non commercial business areas also using the current situation to reduce flexi-able working arrangements. Has this been tried and failed before and are management looking to take ‘advantage’ of the current situation?
Andy Robinson Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 2:52 pm
This is going to affect me and my colleagues significantly, is the union going to ballot the members?
Anon Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 3:22 pm
This was the main benefit of working at AXA, as others have touched on AXA salaries are so far out of step with the rest of the market so flexitime was the reason so many of us stayed here. Effectively now they want us to do the work with no tangible benefit to employees. Absolutely shocking and it couldn’t be further away from “ONE Axa”.
Sharne Hardman Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 4:17 pm
I think Kristian Wilson’s comments are spot on – how can I get agreement to work extra as I can never plan when I will need to start early/work late, it all depends on what has “cropped up” during my working day.
I have always been happy to work extra hours as needed and often a lot more than I was claiming back in flexi-time.
For me, Flexi time has been one of the main benefits of working in AXA – especially as a working mum. It has always been well managed in my branch by TTM’s and management.
I fear that the new proposals will stop people working those extra hours and sticking to 9-5 which is going to have massive impact on service and work loads which is worrying !
Keith Starmer Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 6:14 pm
Flex has always been a factor in me remaining within AXA. Given AXA’s pay is at the lower end of the market, this change is a disaster. I see the company have set up a working party but what is the union leadership doing to protect us?
Anon Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 6:26 pm
I echo all the previous comments. Do they expect we complete the work now in our own time. Is this why the company want us working from home?
Janet Ashfield Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 7:07 pm
I work in the same department as Pauline Prescott, Carole Maloney, Susan Chamberlain, Gill McCulley and Shelley Brett. I’ve always felt that flex was a huge benefit of working for AXA. Our department has always managed this fairly. Flex accrued from having to work extra time to deal with that 4.55 phone call, along with extra hours worked to cover staff vacancies, holidays and sickness, was used fairly and flexi days granted in the same way a day’s annual leave would be so what’s the difference when assessing operational needs?
My contracted hours end at 14.30 every day but I invariably get a call at 14.25 which takes me past that. The new arrangement means I would have to know in advance that that call was coming and would have to stay until 15.00 to make sure I could bank the time. If I left at 14.55 I would have worked an extra 25 minutes for no benefit.
We weren’t aware prior to lockdown that AXA considered this flexi system to be not fit for purpose so it’s come as a complete surprise to us that it hasn’t been reinstated in its previous format.
It feels grossly unfair that some areas of the Company still enjoy the benefits of the previous flex arrangement and I don’t feel AXA have provided any justification for the change.
Lorraine Martin Said,
May 13, 2021 @ 7:39 pm
I can only echo my colleagues comments. I can’t see how getting the pre agreement from a manager is workable on BAU basis, especially when staying late to assist a customer, which is not something that can be planned for. Having to ask to stay late to help a customer really shows a lack of trust in us to do the right thing for AXA and the customer. These changes are effectively a removal of the flexi time benefit, I would much rather the flexi time remained as it was but if these changes go ahead I think we should be compensated financially.
Anon Said,
May 14, 2021 @ 9:09 am
This is effectively a pay cut by stealth. They know staff care about what they do so will likely work the same amount of hours for less flex days in lieu. It’s a great way to upset a workforce that has worked tirelessly through the pandemic.
Bernie Tomlinson Said,
May 14, 2021 @ 9:14 am
I too agree with all the comments on this page. Having worked for AXA for over 20 years I can’t remember experiencing any issue’s with using flexitime to take days off, it has always been well managed by the team managers and the employee’s as well, it this has always been recognised as a valued benefit that helps us all to have a better work/life balance.
Darron Aithwaite Said,
May 14, 2021 @ 9:17 am
I’ve not previously benefitted from flexi-time but it is something that I’ve always found allows Axa to stand out above some of the other large Insurers in the market and people really do value its use and would recommend Axa as a place to work off the back of having this benefit, if the opportunity for me to use it in the future came up then I definitely would avail.
It doesn’t seem balanced to drop from 13 days to 6 and require prior approval before allowing people to use this benefit going forward in order to be able to work from home a couple of days a week?
Anne McNamara Said,
May 14, 2021 @ 12:13 pm
I totally agree with all the above comments. I also have worked at AXA for almost 20 years and to have 13 days flex taken off us now really feels like a kick in the teeth for all the hard work we have put in during the pandemic. If I spend 15 minutes past 5pm on the phone due to no fault of my own I should be able to get that time back. I wouldn’t have known that morning I would need to bank that time so wouldn’t be able to agree it in advance and therefore my time will be lost.
Devil's Advocate Said,
May 14, 2021 @ 3:23 pm
I understand the opinions above as we all have our own personal situations to consider. For me, whilst the proposal is not ideal it still offers a degree of flexibility as opposed to being withdrawn altogether. A complete withdrawal would still result in us having to work beyond 5pm to finish off a phone call,etc so that aspect isn’t going to change regardless. It’s just that we would never be able to accrue any additional time whatsoever if that happened.
Personally my work/life balance during the last 12mths has improved significantly whilst having to WFH. To finish work and instantly be at home is far more beneficial for me than having to wait for public transport or being sat in a traffic jam. If AXA are going to offer a WFH/hybrid solution going forward (and get it right), then the proposed flex arrangement doesn’t cause me any concern.
Neil Cooper Said,
May 14, 2021 @ 3:39 pm
I echo the points already made. Flextime is the one benefit that keeps a lot of staff at AXA when they could be paid better salaries elsewhere. The proposed changes will not work. It will introduce inconsistencies across teams, never mind branches on deciding what is a business need as it will be interpreted differently. Flex time has always been a benefit to suit both the employee and AXA where the proposed change is for the benefit of AXA alone.
It has always been managed well with flex days only being taken when staffing levels allowed.
Staff have always worked extra hours (above and beyond what can be carried forward) knowing they have the benefit of flex time. Removing the benefit will just leave staff deflated and feeling that they are not valued or trusted. People will question why they should put in the extra hours for no benefit and is likely to lead to more absence through sickness due to the stress of workloads in a 9 to 5 environment.
Having flextime creates a lot of goodwill from staff which should not be underestimated
Martin Gibbons Said,
May 14, 2021 @ 3:47 pm
I was surprised when I read about the changes to flexible working arrangements. I don’t work in Commercial and so I’m not directly impacted, but I’d be very disappointed if they were implemented at some point in the future in my area of work.
I can only echo all the comments made previously. I’ve always found the flexible arrangements to be a huge benefit which has been managed well in the area I’ve worked and based around trust and accountability.
I think everyone respects and values the benefit flexitime offers. I know many people who are always willing to work the extra hours, to get work done for the benefit of others and to ensure targets are hit. And often there are employees who will still lose hours at the end of the month.
How are contracts of employment affected by such a significant change? Given the length of time the original arrangements have been in place, would the ‘old’ flexitime arrangements be classed as an implied part of the employment contract?
Given that there is so much focus around Mental Health and Work/Life balance at present, I really can’t see any advantage to this new arrangement, and it appears to be a significant detriment to employees.
Shelley Brett Said,
May 17, 2021 @ 8:52 am
Why is only commercial underwriting affected? What is the rationale behind this please?
Mr Work to Rule Said,
May 18, 2021 @ 11:08 am
“I’m sorry caller I can no longer continue this conversation as it is now 5pm and I have not agreed the banking of additional hours with my manager. Goodbye”
Anon Said,
May 19, 2021 @ 4:17 pm
The current principles of flexitime are one of the main reasons people join AXA, why would or do they need changing? Isn’t this a change in employment contracts as highlighted by Martin above. This sounds like the opposite of flexible working, who agrees quiet times? My unit has never been quiet and how often these maybe? If this was rolled out for the whole of AXA (which is no doubt the plan) I could see a lot of departures. It’s essentially overtime without the pay.