Compressed Hours - Holiday entitlement

Katiekat123

Hi

Wondering if anybody has changed shifts to have a better work life balance, I believe what I have requested is called compressed hours 

I am contracted for 40 hours a week  8hrs Mon-Fri  (I don't always do 9-5 shifts they can vary each day due the nature of my role, but are always 8 hours)  I get 30 days annual leave, my organisation is open 365 days so bank holidays are just a normal day.

Due to a family member needing more support I've put in a request for a more flexible approach I asked to do a 9 day fortnight to meet the 40 hours contract this is 8hours 54 minutes per day and one day off every other week 

This has been accepted, and I have a letter from HR confirming this 
"You will be working on a 9-day fortnight working pattern with a non-working day every other Friday. This equates to 9 working days of 8.9 hours (8hrs 54min).  As part of this new arrangement, you will need to book all future annual leave in hours, including bank holidays. Your annual leave entitlement and annual salary will remain the same". 

I've since had a msg sent on a TEAMs chat screen  to say, I have to book annual leave in days not hours, and is pro rata,  no formal letter, when looking on our electronic holidays booking system, my annual leave (April 24-Mar25) has dropped to 29 days for this year, and next years (April 25- Mar 26) has dropped to 27 days 

I've asked for a meeting to get an understanding of holiday entitlement, but wondered if any one has any advice on what my entitlement should be so I am prepared 

Thank you to anyone who replies 

LightFlare

Sounds an odd way of doing it - but it still makes sense

27 x 8.9  =  30 x 8

so you get the same amount of time off either way.

I would ask for clarification on what happens if you want an odd hour off and clarify your exact hours to be worked if requesting half a day’s leave (if that’s a thing in your workplace)

The drop to 29 this year will (I assume) be pro rata and looks right if your leave runs 1st April to 31st March and you are starting your new shift pattern as of 1st Dec

Caz3121

within my organisation we would use hourly leave for those that work irregular hours - not the same number of hours each day In your case your previous leave was 6 weeks....5 days per week x 6 = 30 days With your new compressed hours to take 6 weeks off you would use 27 days...9 days for each fortnight assuming you start this from December April to November = 8 months, 30 days pro-rata = 20 days December - March = 4 months, 27 days pro-rata = 9 days all looks correct

Katiekat123

Hi

It started 25th November 

quote
"Starting 25th November 2024, you will be able to begin working under the agreed-upon flexible schedule outlined in your request on a three-month trial basis. At which point, a review meeting will be held to determine whether your request will be approved on a permanent basis, whether your trial period could be extended up to a further three months or whether this is declined". 


Ideally I would have preferred hours not days moving forwards, and yes I hadn't thought about half days off which is an option in our normal hours holiday entitlement.

I just want to go into the meeting with the full facts, as I believe there may be opposition to this being made a permanent change, and don't wish my challenging holidays to sway the negatives they have about the changes

TELLIT01

When working a pattern other than the standard one, it's pretty normal for leave entitlement to be converted to hours.  If the company is now saying the OP has to book in days, they will need to keep their own record of how many hours they are entitled to and how many they have taken.  That should be a responsibility of their manager or HR, but they would seem to be 'delegating'.

saajan_12

Not sure what the issue is really - at 27 days you have 27x8.9 = 240.3 hours off, which matches the 30x8 = 240 hours you'd have with a normal pattern. Half days would also work largely the same way, and use up 4.5 hours now. They don't have to allow taking off an hour here or there if they don't want to. The only time it becomes relevant is how granular to pro-rata in the year that you leave the company, but many just round up in the number of days you get anyway.  

Katiekat123

Thank you for your replies, that's helped a lot, was querying whether pro rata is correct or as it stated holiday entitlement would remain the same ie 30 days 
Appreciate your help,

kimwp

You are working the same number of hours, so you are entitled to the same hours of holiday. But your days are longer, so your holiday days off use up more of your holiday hours and you end up with fewer holiday days as a result. But it's the same amount of paid time off (or should be).

EnPointe

TELLIT01 said:

When working a pattern other than the standard one, it's pretty normal for leave entitlement to be converted to hours.  If the company is now saying the OP has to book in days, they will need to keep their own record of how many hours they are entitled to and how many they have taken.  That should be a responsibility of their manager or HR, but they would seem to be 'delegating'.

it;'s pretty standard for  the  systems behind   leave to work in hours regardless 

EnPointe

kimwp said:

You are working the same number of hours, so you are entitled to the same hours of holiday. But your days are longer, so your holiday days off use up more of your holiday hours and you end up with fewer holiday days as a result. But it's the same amount of paid time off (or should be).

exactly  this ...