Flex your Life @ LUHFT

Please bear with us as we support you to Flex your Life at LUHFT. Our support pages are being continuously developed and updated, together with any useful resources. 

 

What is Flex Your Life @ LUHFT?

Flex your Life at LUHFT is an offer to enhance Flexible Working (or commonly known as Flex) across the trust, helping colleagues to have greater choice in how, where and when they work. We want to create happy and healthy teams who are connected to the work they do, and you’ve told us that having opportunities for flexible working is essential to having a healthy work life balance.

 

Watch a short, useful video which provides you with more information on Flex your Life at LUHFT below.

Flexible working is now more important than ever, as we support a diverse workforce and recognise the need for flexibility to support happy, healthy fulfilled colleagues and teams who have a balanced working life at LUHFT.

 

Please find a useful one page overview of Flex your Life at LUHFT here.

What are some of the opportunities for Flex @ LUHFT?

There are many different types of Flexibility on offer at LUHFT, which could involve either informal or short-term arrangements to help you stay well or could be formally agreed and result in a permanent change to your role and contract. Not all roles within the trust will be suitable for every type of flexibility, but we’ll be open and honest with you and work together to find alternative solutions where possible. Examples of flexible working may include:

 

1. A Nurse working full time who reduces their hours so that they can spend time with their new baby granddaughter.
2. A Pharmacy Technician who has a set shift patterns to work weekends, which allows them to study part-time.
3. A Data Analyst colleague who shifts their start and finish times to take a child to nursery.

 

Flexible working looks different for everyone, but working together to understand what flexibility means individually and as a team at LUHFT is key to ensuring happy, healthy teams.

 

You can find a more exhaustive list of potential flexible working options at LUHFT in the Flexible working Employee Guide here.

 

What has changed? Quick links:

To support flexible working at LUHFT a number of new and updated documents, policies and processes have been co-created:

• Flexible Working One Page Guidance Doc
• Manager Flex Guide– Full of key information and guidance to help you fully consider any requests submitted by your team.
• Employee Guide – To help employees understand what type of flexible working options are available and how they may work in practice.
• Template Toolkit – This includes template letters to adapt and send to colleagues.
• Flexible Working Roster Guide - A guidance document detailing potential set up of roster records following flexible working requests.
• ESR Written and Video Guides – To help individuals understand how to submit a request and managers to process requests via ESR.Trust guidance document available here, and video tutorials can be accessed via the following links - Employee tutorials and Manager tutorials.
• Agile and Homeworking Guidance – Replaces the previous policy and should be read in conjunction of the policy when considering home or agile working.
• Carers Passport - guidance on supporting unpaid carers outside of traditional flexible working options and using the Carer Passport can be found on the Staff Hub here.
• Flexible Working Policy Page - click here to go ot the Flexible Working policy page

Support for you as a colleague at LUHFT:

Flexible Working guide for colleagues – a useful guide to support you as a colleague at LUHFT to understand everything you need to know about the new LUHFT approach to Flexible working, guidance and support with making a flexible working request, options for flexible working at LUHFT as well as myth busting and common FAQs.

 

Making a Flexible working request:

All flexible working requests must be made via ESR Employee Self Service. This should be done after an initial conversation with your line manager. You can find updated guidance to support you to make a request via ESR here.

 

FAQS:

• What is flexible working?

The NHS has defined flexible working as ‘an arrangement which supports an individual to have a greater choice in when, where and how they work’. At LUHFT colleagues have told us that we need to improve flexible working opportunities across the Trust.

• How do I make a request?

All staff employed on a permanent or fixed term contract are entitled to make a flexible working request. You can submit 2 flexible working applications within a 12-month period. Requests should be made after careful consideration of your current working situation and what you may like/need to look different. After a conversation with your line manager, you can make a request via ESR (more information on making Flexible working requests via ESR can be found here.)

• I’m considering asking my manager for flexible working, how can I best prepare?

It is important that before making a flexible working request you have considered your options and thought abut the ideal changes which would help you to reach effective (or more effective) work life balance. When working with your line manager to consider your request you may need to work together to consider how to balance your needs, with the needs of your team, as well as the experience of our service users.

• What types of flexible working are available to me?

There are a range of flexible working options available, as a member of LUHFT, they may include changes to working days/shifts, compressed or condensed hours, flexitime, home working. Flexible working is not ‘one size fits all’ and we recognise the individual needs of the organisation. Ad-hoc/irregular arrangements may also be included (e.g. shift swapping, infrequent homeworking or short-term adjustments) – these may not always need to be recorded on ESR and are seen as more ‘informal’ flexible working arrangements.

 

Support for you as a People Manager:

There are a number of supportive tools and resources to support you to get started with supporting your team to request flexible working. You can find a number of these resources below:

Flexible working guide for Managers: a useful guide to support you as a manager at LUHFT to understand everything you need to know about the new LUHFT approach to Flexible working, guidance for supporting flexible working within your team, and options for supporting and having conversations about flexible working. The guide also includes LUHFT myth busting and common FAQs.

 

To support as many People Managers and Leaders as possible, there are a number of Flex your Life at LUHFT Launch Briefings taking place. The sessions will introduce People Managers to the offer, bringing them up to speed on what’s new including; the new Flexible working policy, and, the process of using ESR to request, and manage, flexible working in your team. All sessions will be delivered via MS Teams and bookable via ESR by clicking here.

 

FAQS:

• What are the benefits of allowing my team to work flexibly?

As a manager, you play a pivotal role in creating a culture that promotes healthy, happy teams. By acting as a role model, having open and honest conversations about what flexibility looks like, and trusting colleagues to work in a way which suits them – it can allow for greater work life balance of your team members.

• I’m a manager and I’ve just had a flexible working request come through, what do I do next?

The key principle at the heart of getting flexible working right is finding a working pattern that works for the organisation/service, the team, other colleagues’ work-life balance, and the individual(s) who are making the request. Having an open, honest, exploratory conversation with your team members, allows an opportunity to identify options to meet the needs of all. Aside from this, practically, you will need to manage all requests via ESR. You can find more information on the process for this here.

• I’m worried that if I say yes then my whole team will want flexible working, how do I manage this?

You may be thinking that granting flexible working to one colleague may lead to all colleagues in your team wanting it and its natural to worry about how you’re going to meet everyone’s needs. Avoid making decisions about flexible working based on your assumptions and fears about how it might work. The reality is that Flexibility will look different for everyone based on their roles and circumstances outside of work, and not everyone will want the same thing. You can find further guidance and support in managing flexible working within your team, department, service area in the Flexible Working guide for Managers.

 

Where to go for further support:

As a colleague: If you need support with flexible working, making a request or want to know more about the Trust approach please speak with your line manager.

As a manager: If you need further clarity, guidance or support with supporting flexible working within your team, please contact the relevant Business HR Team for your site/Division.

For additional support and advice with the Flex your Life : Please contact: organisational.development@liverpoolft.nhs.uk 

For support with making and managing Flexible working requests via ESR: Please review the ESR guidance page here. Should issues remain please contact workforce@liverpoolft.nhs.uk