Implementing Flexible Hours Policy and Attendance Management for Media Companies

Dear Seniors,

I have just joined a new media company with a staff of not more than 30 employees. It is a 5-day working company. I want to implement a policy of a total of 45 working hours over the 5 days, with working hours from 9:30 to 6:30.

Currently, the prevailing policy here is that if an employee is 3 days late, 1 day's salary is deducted. However, I would like to introduce a policy where employees must complete 45 hours of work within the 5 working days. Since the employees are in target-oriented roles, I am primarily focused on their results. How can I establish this type of policy? Please advise.

Thank you.

Hi Sonal,

I too work in a media company with the same setup - 5 days working week, about 30 employees, and timings from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm.

I assume you must have an attendance policy in place. If not, you need to create one. If you already have one, please send a notification stating the modifications in the attendance policy effective from a certain date. Include points specifying that employees' working hours will be calculated weekly and should be a minimum of 45 hours.

However, there may be loopholes in this policy. For instance, an employee might request not to consider Monday as leave and work extra hours on Tuesday. Also, in client-based work, missing deadlines due to such flexibility could lead to losses for the company. There could be other issues as well.

My suggestion is to consider making the '3 days late, 1 day salary cut' rule more flexible. Instead of being strict, you could evaluate the total hours worked by the individual and adjust the rule accordingly. Additionally, implementing a flexible hours policy could be beneficial. For example, allowing employees to start work at 10:30 am, but ensuring they complete 9 hours accordingly.

It's essential to assess the company's environment. If you believe such policies won't impact work or deadlines, you can proceed. Otherwise, consider being more lenient with timings; minor delays of 5-10 minutes should not affect the creativity of your team.

PS: I am interested to know which company you are associated with. Since we both work in media companies, we can share insights on working culture and benefit from each other's experiences.

Smiles,
Swati