How to implement flextime in your business

How to implement flextime effectively in your business

Flextime is one of the most popular working time models in Germany. With core working hours and a flexible time frame, it offers employees a great deal of flexibility. But how can you optimise this working time model in your business and get even more out of it for yourself and your employees with the right tools and tricks? You will find out in this blog article.

Die wichtigsten Fragen im Überblick

What is flextime?

Flextime is a flexible working time model made up of core working hours and a flexible time frame in which employees can freely choose when they want to put in their working hours.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of flextime?

Flextime gives your employees considerably more flexibility, above all in combining private life and work better. It does have to be well organised, however, so that communication within the company or with customers does not suffer as a result. Flextime gives your employees considerably more flexibility, above all in combining private life and work better. It does have to be well organised, however, so that communication within the company or with customers does not suffer as a result.

What is flextime without core working hours?

Flextime without core working hours simply gives employees a time frame within which they can distribute their working hours flexibly. There is no fixed “core” in which they have to work no matter what.

What exactly is flextime?

Flextime builds on the concept of core working hours. That means the employer specifies at which times employees have to work (for example Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). Where the work is done – that is, whether from the home office or on site at the office – can be specified by the employer.

In the flexible time frame beyond that, however, employees are allowed to shape their working hours themselves. So they can decide for themselves whether they want to come in earlier or would rather leave later, or whether they prefer regular hours. The hours are then usually booked to what is known as a flextime account and can be viewed at any time.

You can find out more about working time accounts here.

Variants of flextime, illustration of flextime with core working hours and without core working hours

The advantages and disadvantages of flextime

Like any other working time model, flextime can bring advantages and disadvantages for you. We have put together a few advantages and disadvantages of flextime for you:

Advantages

Flextime makes flexibility possible for your employees without a lot of organisational effort. The core working hours, or the frame within which work is done, provide a certain structure while at the same time allowing your employees to combine private life and work better. As a result, absences can also drop sharply. Doctor’s appointments and childcare are much easier to fit in with a more flexible working time model, without working hours inevitably being lost for it. The core working hours additionally ensure that you remain reachable for your customers and that people can still exchange ideas within the company.

Disadvantages

Flextime does, however, always require a written agreement from both sides. And when introducing it you have to bear in mind that this working time model is not suitable for every department of your business. That can lead to dissatisfaction through unequal treatment. Of course it also has to be clearly agreed when the core working hours fall, and that they are well organised and used, so that smooth communication continues to be assured.

How can you make better use of flextime in your business?

Maybe you have already introduced the working time model in your business and are now wondering how you can act even more effectively for your company. We want to introduce you to a tool that is intended to help you reduce in particular the bureaucratic effort around flextime. The tool is the clockin app for smartphone and tablet. With the following four steps you can use clockin for yourself within a flextime set-up:

1. Automated time tracking

clockin was developed as a tool for digital time tracking. With a few clicks your employees can clock in here in the morning and clock out again at the end of shift. Thanks to the mobile app this can be done from the office as well as from the home office. That way the app records your employees’ working hours no matter where and when they work.

2. Accurate billing

The clockin app gives you as an employer an overview of all the hours your employees have recorded. Here you not only see how employees have clocked their hours, you also receive an automatic timesheet at the end of the month. The recorded hours are calculated precisely here, which lets you bill your employees’ working hours accurately despite the flexible working time model.

3. Flexible reporting

With clockin’s work schedules you can set the fixed core working hours individually for every employee.

Illustration of work schedules in the clockin app

A tool like clockin is really what makes it possible to run a model like flextime without worry, because you can define and assign it clearly and can follow at any time what is happening in your business.

4. Easy integration with existing systems

clockin can be integrated seamlessly with other tools and platforms. The data is transferred and processed automatically, which saves time and effort. With the DATEV integration, for example, correct calculations of working hours and wage payments can be ensured. The integration with lexoffice synchronises your accounting and administrative processes. And thanks to the open REST API you can integrate the functionality into almost any system. That way relevant data is simply exchanged between the systems without much effort.

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