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A |
- Annualised hours - contractual
working hours are expressed in the total number of hours
to be worked per year, allowing flexible working patterns
throughout the year.
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B |
- Business and/or life coaching -
the employer offers support from a trained mentor, normally
based outside the firm, either over the phone or face-to-face.
The employee has regular sessions with their coach who
advises on issues relating to business and personal
goals.
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C |
- Career breaks - a break from
employment with an organisation, usually following maternity
leave. The contract of employment ceases but the individual
and organisation remain in contact at agreed intervals.
The individual has a set amount of time (say 1, 3 or
5 years) during which they can decide whether or not
to return to work, although their job may not always
be held open Career breaks are increasingly being opened
up to all employees including non-parents to facilitate
personal development.
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- Childcare vouchers - these
vouchers, given, sold by employers to parents at a reduced
cost or substituted for a part of salary, enable working
parents to save money on childcare. As such, they are
a good way of encouraging staff retention, particularly
among women returning from maternity leave. The Government
does not expect employers to pay National Insurance
on the vouchers thus enabling them to pass the 10% saving
on to their employees. Parents can buy each £10
voucher for £9 and can then spend the vouchers
on any form of legal childcare, including childminders,
nurseries, nannies, family relatives and out-of-school
schemes for the over 5’s.
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- Company fitness centre - this
is a gym or health club either owned by or outsourced
by a company for use by employees. The gym is usually
based on-site.
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- Concierge services / Lifestyle management
services - the employer buys in the services
of a company that assists employees in managing their
busy home lives by doing time-consuming tasks for them.
Tasks can range from dog walking to sourcing emergency
childcare or organising a wedding. The cost varies according
to the level of service; at the highest level, concierge
companies will find you a private jet for hire within
24 hours.
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- Consolidated hours - contractual
full-time hours are worked in 4 longer days instead
of 5 days.
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- Core hours - hours
(say 10am to 4pm) during which flexitime workers must
be engaged in work.
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E |
- Emergency leave - employees
have the right to take a reasonable period of time off
work to deal with an emergency involving a dependant,
such as a child, and not be dismissed or victimised
for doing so. The DTI document Family
emergency? Your right to time off (PL506) provides
more details.
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- Employee assistance programmes -
these organisations offer a mix of counselling, concierge
services and information on everything from finding
schools to help with bereavement. Employers pay a subscription
so that employees can phone for help at any time of
the day or night. Employee assistance programmes also
help businesses understand what their employees’
key stressors are so that they can address the root
causes.
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F |
- Family-friendly - any policy
or practice deemed to help families spend more time
together and/or enjoy a better quality of life.
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- Fixed-term contract - sometimes
referred to as a short-term or temporary contract, this
type of employment contract is established for a fixed
period of time only. Contracts can have an end date
and/or be renewable.
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- Flexible benefits - employees
are offered a raft of benefits from which they can choose
those that suit their circumstances and are appropriate
to their life stage. This may mean that an employee
can buy more holiday days, increase their healthcare
benefits, or buy leisure or retail vouchers at a reduced
rate. Employees decide which benefits they want on an
annual basis and those benefits then remain in force
for a year.
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- Flexible working - any form
of alternative working pattern that is negotiable between
the employer and employee. Flexible working allows employees
to meet personal commitments (such as dropping children
off at school) and aspirations (such as doing a degree)
and meet business demands.
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- Flexitime - a system permitting
flexibility of working hours at the beginning or end
of the day. Employees must work the ‘core hours’
set by the company and complete an agreed total number
of hours.
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H |
- Holiday purchase scheme - a
scheme that enables employees to buy an additional number
of days’ holiday on top of their annual entitlement.
The cost of a day’s holiday will usually vary
according to salary and be taken out of an employee’s
annual pay. There is usually a limit to the number of
days that can be bought.
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- Home working - by arrangement
with the employer, the employee works from home either
all or part of the working week. Home workers can be
full- or part-time employees. The employer normally
provides technological facilities in the home worker’s
home.
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I |
- Improved maternity provisions -
provisions provided by the employer that are in excess
of the statutory minimum. Examples include higher pay
whilst on maternity leave or offering a ‘returnee’s
bonus’.
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- In-house occupational health provisions
- the provision of work-related health facilities enabling
employees to have medicals (either prior to recruitment
or on request), health checks and get advice on health
issues.
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J |
- Job share - an arrangement
by which the responsibilities of one job are split between
two part-time workers.
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M |
- Mentoring - the employer provides
personal coaching from a trained mentor, who is either
an employee or from an outside firm, to support the
employee with career-related issues.
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O |
- On-site childcare facilities / On-site crèche
- the employer has a nursery or crèche
at the place of employment for staff with children.
Such facilities reduce time travelling to and from work,
since parents don’t have to drop off and pick
up their children elsewhere, and employees can visit
their children at lunchtimes. Crèches and nurseries
save time and reduce anxiety in case of illness or emergencies.
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P |
- Parental leave - leave that
parents or adoptive parents (both men and women) can
take by law to care for their child after its arrival
or adoption. Employers must allow parents to take the
statutory minimum length of unpaid leave, but some offer
enhanced provisions, such as paid leave.
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- Part-time working - working
fewer hours than the normal number of full-time hours
set by an organisation but with the same status as a
full-time worker.
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- Private healthcare benefits -
the employer buys in healthcare services from a private
healthcare firm, to enable employees to receive free
healthcare benefits, or benefits at a reduced cost.
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S |
- Sabbatical - a period of unpaid
leave granted at intervals for rest, study or travel.
Can also be described as a career break, but is usually
taken for reasons of personal development (or perhaps
health) rather than to care for a child. Sabbaticals
were originally granted only to academics.
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- Self-managed working - employees
manage their own working pattern and time to deliver
agreed outputs.
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- Shift working - the working
day is split into shifts (say of 12pm to 8pm and 8pm
to 4am) enabling operational hours to be extended. Employees
work one shift a day; they can be full- or part-time
workers.
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- Subsidised healthcare or complementary therapies
- the employer offers therapies, such as massage
or osteopathy, at a reduced cost to employees. The therapist
usually visits the workplace once or twice a week.
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T |
- Teleworking / Telecommuting -
the use of technology, such as computers and telephones,
to enable employees to work from home while maintaining
contact with colleagues, customers or a central office.
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- Term-time contracts - contractual
working hours are established during school terms only
and school holidays are not worked. Pay can be averaged
out over 12 monthly instalments or paid only for time
worked, i.e. the employee does not receive pay during
school holidays. The contract of employment continues
during school holidays.
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- Time in lieu provisions - employees
take time off as a form of compensation for hours they
have worked in addition to their contractual hours.
Employees take time off in proportion to the number
of extra hours worked, so 10 hours’ additional
work would equate to 10 hours’ time in lieu. They
do not receive overtime pay.
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- Time sovereignty - the control
an individual has over their work and workload, including
when, where and how they work. The more autonomy individuals
have, the less stressed they are likely to be.
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U |
- Unpaid leave - absence from
work for a set period of time, as agreed between the
employer and employee. The contract of employment remains
in force but salary stops. The employer and employee
need to discuss whether benefits, such as holiday accrual,
continue or not.
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W |
- Work-life balance
- having a measure of control over when, where
and how you work, leading to being able to enjoy an
optimal quality of life. Work-life balance is achieved
when an individual’s right to a fulfilled life
inside and outside paid work is accepted and respected
as the norm, to the mutual benefit of the individual,
business and society.
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