Who are applicable to the Scheme

1. The Flexi-time Scheme of the University is applicable for all full-time Administrative & Support Staff as well as Research Support Staff on regular and non-regular terms. Since academic and teaching staff members have already had a flexible working arrangement according to their teaching timetables and other commitments, the Scheme is not applicable for them. The scheme is also not applicable to staff who are on shift duty.

What is Flexi-time

2. ‘Flexi-time’ is a variable work schedule in contrast to the current standard work arrangements requiring staff members to work a standard from 8:30 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. each working day. Under Flexi-time, there is normally a core period of the day when staff members must be at work, whilst the rest of the working day is “Flexi-time”, in which staff members can choose when they work, subject to achieving total daily hours.

Core and Flexi-time

3. Under the Flexi-time Scheme, the ‘Core time’ and ‘Flexi-time’ in a working day (from Monday to Friday) are as follows:

Staff members are not required to fix their one-hour lunch hour in their Flexi-time schedule, which may vary from time to time. 

Working Hours

4. Both the normal office hours of the University and the conditioned working hours of staff members will remain unchanged under the Scheme. Departments/Centres/Offices will continue to provide services during the normal office hours (from 8:30 a.m. to 5:20 p.m.) from Monday to Friday (or Saturday for some Departments/Centres/Offices). Staff members whose conditioned working hours are 44 hours per week are required to work the conditioned working hours of 8.8 hours per day with one hour lunch break. Likewise, the few staff members whose conditioned working hours are 45 hours per week excluding meal break are required to work the conditioned working hours of 9 hours per day excluding meal break. 

Working Hours of a half-day

5. Staff members who cannot attend work for the core time in the morning (i.e., 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon) should take 0.5 day’s Vacation Leave. The same will apply to the core time in the afternoon (i.e., 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.). For those who work for the conditioned 44 working hours per week, the number of working hours for a half-day is 3.9 hours (i.e., [8.8 hours – 1 hour lunch break]/2). It means that when taking a half-day off, a staff member has to work for 3.9 hours (i.e., 3 hours and 54 minutes) for the other half-day. To maintain consistency and equity, the arrangement of 3.9 hours for half day will apply to staff who do not change their current working hours, i.e., 8:30 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. The number of working hours for half-day for those with conditioned working hours of 45 hours is 4.5 hours. 

Implementation

6. The Flexi-time Scheme has been implemented since 1 April 2012.

Administration of the Scheme

7. A staff member who wishes to join the Flexi-time Scheme may submit his/her Flexi-time schedule to his/her Line Manager, Dean and HoD, as appropriate, who will then discuss and agree with him/her about the Flexi-time arrangements. In case an agreement cannot be reached, the standard working hours (i.e., 8:30 am – 5:20 pm) should be followed as before. An approved departmental Flexi-time schedule which shows all individual Flexi-time schedules of colleagues should be promulgated to all staff members of the Department/Centre/Office concerned so as to facilitate internal communication and co-ordination among colleagues. Staff members are required to work according to the approved schedule and cannot change their schedules without approval from the Line Managers, Deans and HoDs or their delegated authorities, as appropriate.

8. To minimize the administrative work, no attendance records of staff members are required, though Line Managers, Deans, and HoDs should monitor the situation to avoid any abuse of the Scheme. Once individual Flexi-time schedule for colleagues has been drawn up, it should normally be maintained for at least 3 months without changes unless there is a good reason for change.   

Other Arrangements

9. To facilitate the implementation of the Scheme, meetings within department or across departments should be scheduled within the ‘Core time’ as far as possible. The time schedule of the school bus will remain unchanged. In general, the Flexi-time Scheme will not affect the current ‘General Arrangement on the Approach of Typhoons and Rainstorms’ except that the morning and afternoon sessions of a working day (from Monday to Friday) are now clearly defined to end at 1:00 p.m. and to start at 2:00 p.m. respectively, and that all staff members will leave the office in the evening according to their normal working hours or flexi-time schedule, as appropriate.