Q: My employees have been working four-day weeks since March 2009. Do we have to change contracts of employment and what problems could we have returning to a five-day week should staff opt to keep reduced hours?
Feb 03 2010
Answered by: Peter Done Ask a question
My employees have been working four-day weeks since March 2009. Do we have to change contracts of employment and what problems could we have returning to a five-day week should staff opt to keep reduced hours?
It is probably a bit late in the day to start worrying about changing contracts now. In the absence of any documentation indicating the contrary, a tribunal would probably regard the current position as a temporary accommodation by your employees not to enforce their normal full-time contractual hours of work for the time being. You are fortunate to have avoided constructive dismissal claims so far – and lucky to have such co-operative employees. If you tried to change their contracts to four days a week they might actually refuse.
After suffering a 20 per cent pay cut for so long, I would imagine that the vast majority of your employees would be happy to return to full-time work as soon as possible. However, having rearranged their lives to suit your business for so long, there may be a few who require more time than others to make alternative childcare and travel arrangements before returning to their normal contractual hours. There may also be a few who have grown accustomed to spending more time with their families and who would rather not revert to five day working.
I am assuming that you didn’t actually promise that employees would have the option to refuse to return to their contractual hours. If at all possible I would recommend trying to repay the flexibility your employees have shown you thus far by doing your best to accommodate their wishes. This can normally be managed by a combination of overtime, job-share and casual or agency worker arrangements. In addition, many employees now have a statutory right to request flexible working. Employers are required to give proper consideration to such requests, which should only be refused after following a prescribed process and for prescribed reasons. If you agree to such requests, then you should issue a proper written amendment to contract letter setting out the new terms.
If allowing any employees to remain on a four day week would harm the recovery of your business and jeopardise other people’s jobs, then you should explain this fully to the employees concerned – they are more likely to accept the position if they understand it. However, given the still tenuous nature of the economic recovery, I would think long and hard about whether it is in your long term interests to damage the good will of your workforce by insisting that all employees return to their contractual hours against their wishes. You may need them to be flexible again in the future.
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