How Do You Draft a Half-Day Leave Policy for Flexible Work Hours? Seeking Insights!

Hello everyone,

I am in the process of drafting a Half-Day Leave policy and could use some guidance. What elements should be included? Specifically, I'm curious about how to track a half-day leave in our organization as we do not have a fixed time bracket (such as 9 - 5). Instead, our working hours are dependent on the number of hours an employee is required to work. If anyone has experience drafting such a policy or has seen this practice in their organizations, could you please provide some insights?

Many thanks, Medha

Dear Medha,

According to the information you provided, your organization does not adhere to a fixed working schedule such as 9-5, but instead, it depends on the number of working hours. Thus, you can develop your own policy based on the following:

Calculate the policy based on the total number of working hours per month divided by the standard 8 hours per day.

Here's an example:

1) If the total number of working hours is actually 208/8 (26 days * 8 hrs), then a full month's salary should be paid.

2) If the total number of working hours is 204/8 (25.5 days * 8 hrs), then half the salary would be considered as Loss of Pay (LOP).

However, ensure your policy aligns with your company's guidelines and consider the following:

1) Determine whether the salary is calculated for 30/31 days (including Sundays) or 26 days (excluding Sundays).

2) If you're following the above example, take into account the calculation of extra hours. Some employees might work at least 10 hours per day, in which case you would have to pay overtime allowance, or you have to make calculation workings (using IF functions in Excel).

Best Regards,
Kugan Paramasivam

Hi Medha,

A half-day leave is only applicable for Casual Leave, while the rest of the leaves are for a full day. It can either be for the first half of the office hours or the latter one. Two half-day leaves can be considered as one full day of Casual Leave. This way, you can keep track of your CL.

I hope your problem is answered.

RK Sinha
randhirsinha@yahoo.com