Functional time is a working time model that guarantees maximum flexibility for employees. However, there are a few requirements that must be met in order for flexitime to be implemented in a company or individual departments.
What is functional time?
There are several flexible working time models. They are all designed to give employees the opportunity to organize their own working hours to a certain extent. The best-known flexible working time model is probably flexitime, where employees can organize their working hours within a specified time window. Functional time is in some ways a further development of flexitime. In contrast to flexitime, however, there are no core working hours in functional time, within which employees have to organize their time. Instead, the team agrees among themselves who works at what time and takes on which tasks. Supervisors only take a reserved role and delegate responsibility to the employees. Supervisors only intervene in a moderating role in the planning process if the employees are unable to reach agreement or if disputes arise.
Prerequisites for a functioning functional time model
Certain prerequisites must be met for functional time to be implemented in a company. Functional time is therefore not suitable for every company or every department. The most important prerequisite is a team that pulls together and can coordinate with each other. It is important that the team members can agree and do not stand in each other’s way when it comes to working hours. If a department only has employees who all want to work between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m., function time will hardly work. Depending on the department, functional time may be more difficult to implement. Within the department, employees must be able to carry out all tasks so that times can be consciously agreed and swapped and no one has to be present for certain tasks. Functional time can be used well in administration, social services or customer service, for example. Working time accounts are also very important for functional time in order to better compensate for overtime and undertime.
Advantages and disadvantages of function time
Like every working time model, flexitime has advantages and disadvantages for both employers and employees.
Advantages for employers
- Flexible working hours motivate employees and reduce absences due to private appointments.
- The freedom to organize working hours and tasks increases productivity and leads to better results.
- Supervisors are relieved by the functional time, as the team itself takes care of the allocation of times and tasks.
Disadvantages for employers
- The functional model cannot be implemented in every department and employers need to be aware of exactly where they can and cannot use it.
- If the functional time model cannot be implemented in all departments, there is potential for conflict between the departments.
- The effort involved in recording working time can increase, which can cause resentment among some employees if they are responsible for recording it themselves.
Advantages for employees
- Employees benefit from greater flexibility in terms of working hours and work organization, which improves the work-life balance.
- If coordination within the team works, employees can coordinate their individual preferences for working hours and tasks.
- Employees can save time in a working time account and use it flexibly to take vacation days.
Disadvantages for employees
- Employees must be prepared to take on the planning and agreements independently and also bear the responsibility for these decisions.
- As it is not always possible to please everyone, friction can arise within the team if certain employees feel neglected.
- All employees in a department must be able to perform the tasks of all other employees so that the functional time can be used freely.
Both employers and employees must be prepared to meet these requirements and adapt to the circumstances. For employers, there are also legal aspects, as they must comply with the provisions of the Working Hours Act (ArbZG), even with flexible working time models such as functional time. They can also transfer this responsibility to employees, but if they do not comply with the regulations, the employer will be prosecuted. Therefore, all clarifying discussions should first be held before functional time is introduced so that everyone is on the same page.
