Hybrid Working Policy

Hybrid is a flexible approach to working that encourages you to work in a location appropriate to the task that you are undertaking, be that in the office, at home, or another location.

Hybrid working and flexible working are different although sometimes the terms can be used interchangeably which can lead to confusion. Hybrid working focuses primarily on where you work whereas flexible working focuses more on when you work. For example flexible working can mean working part-time, working compressed hours (e.g. a 9 day fortnight) or working term-time only. Hybrid working is about the location of where you undertake your work e.g. in the office or from home or any other location as agreed with your line manager. You can still work a flexible working pattern and work in a hybrid way.

The pandemic has shown that there can be greater flexibility in how we work and increased engagement and productivity in working in new ways. Hybrid working brings important benefits through offering flexibility and empowerment, trusting our people to flex where they work in consultation with their manager, and being managed on their performance based on measurable outputs. These benefits can include helping to create a more inclusive culture, enabling improved work-life balance, supporting positive staff health and wellbeing and helping to achieve better outcomes including positively impacting productivity. Hybrid working also aligns to the University’s sustainability agenda and enables us to make more effective use of the University’s estate.

Hybrid working can support inclusion and of course inclusion is a very important aspect of our Strategy 2030. Hybrid working may enable you to strike a better balance, by making it easier for you to agree to work from home on days when you are not required on campus. This could make it easier to support your family, not just by reducing your commute, but also as you will have more flexibility when and how you deliver your work. However, it does need to be managed properly otherwise it may lead to challenges too, including employees who are working remotely not being sufficiently included, recognised or having equal employee voice. A Hybrid Working Toolkit is available for managers to support the effective implementation of hybrid working.

Most roles that do not require continuous presence on campus for face-to-face interaction with students /colleagues /stakeholders or are location specific (e.g. laboratory based roles, security, cleaning) are likely to be suitable for some element of remote working. However to create a positive and thriving culture it is essential that our colleagues engage in the culture and life of our campus, fostering a shared sense of community, inclusivity and belonging. As a consequence, Queen Mary will rarely support fully remote working. Your manager will have a discussion with you and your team using the Hybrid Working Policy and the toolkit to review the suitability of remote working for you.

The proportion of home and on-campus working will depend on the nature of your role and what is agreed locally within your team/department. All teams are encouraged to discuss with their manager how hybrid working might work in their specific circumstances, although it is not expected that anyone will work from home all of the time.

Hybrid working is fluid and arrangements may change depending on the needs of the University and the needs of your team. Hybrid working may enable you to strike a better balance, by making it easier for you to agree to work from home on days when you are not required on campus. This could make it easier to support your family, not just by reducing your commute, but also as you will have more flexibility when and how you deliver your work. It is however not a fixed arrangement and cannot be used to provide cover for regular childcare or other caring responsibilities. For staff with caring responsibilities it is expected that appropriate arrangements will be in place for any dependents to avoid interruption to work during normal working hours. If you need certainty that you can have particular times or days off for caring purposes, or you need a guaranteed arrangement to enable you to manage childcare or other caring responsibilities on a regular basis, then this would be more appropriately dealt with under the University's Flexible Working Policy.

One of the principles of hybrid working is that staff should be available and accessible whilst working remotely; this will include providing cover aligned with the requirements of the job. Staff may be required to attend campus on a day they planned to be at home and must comply with all reasonable requests to attend e.g. for business critical reasons, unplanned circumstances, sickness absence, citizenship etc. As far as is reasonably possible, the University will provide two days’ notice of any such requests.

Yes as hybrid working agreements are informal and do not represent guaranteed patterns of work. Individuals must be able to flex any hybrid working arrangement to be able to return to their core place of work, and hours of work, should this be required, in line with changing business needs. If you require a working arrangement that has a guaranteed pattern of working hours then a request should be made through a flexible working application.

It is important for your manager to be aware that you and your team’s circumstances may change, whether that be your needs, tasks or objectives, as well as personal circumstances and preferences. Changes will require some flexibility to accommodate, but you should raise and discuss these with your line manager at the earliest opportunity so they can consider any changes required to the hybrid working arrangement.

To create a positive and thriving culture it is essential that you and your colleagues are able to engage in the culture and life of our campuses, fostering a shared sense of community, inclusivity and belonging. It’s for this very reason that the University will rarely support fully remote working and a presence on campus each week will be expected. The opportunity for teams to come together in person is vital to enabling cohesive functional team working and our shared workspaces will provide you with important opportunities for informal communications, development through shared experience and observation, and networking.

You and your team must ensure your Outlook calendar is up to date and shows where you are on any given day. For this reason, it’s important you give your line manager and your team access to your calendar. Appointments for confidential entries can be made private as needed.

The balance between home and on-campus working will depend on the nature of your role and what is agreed locally within your team/department. All staff are expected to spend a good proportion of their time working on our campuses to support our students and staff living, studying and working here. Those staff who are in roles which are directly student or staff facing or provide support to colleagues in these roles are likely to have an increased on campus presence.

You should discuss with your manager how hybrid working might work in your specific circumstances as in some cases, due to service need, you may have to be on campus on the same days each week.

This is something that should be discussed with your manager as the situation arises as it will depend on a number of factors at that time such as the needs of the service. If you require a working arrangement that has a guaranteed pattern of attendance then a request should be made through a flexible working application.

You are encouraged to discuss this and reach an agreement with your manager but if you are not able to, it may be appropriate for you to discuss it with the next level of management. It should be noted that hybrid working is a non-contractual arrangement.

The opportunity for teams to meet in person provides a vital support structure as well as enabling cohesive functional team working. Meeting in person provides important opportunities for informal communications and networking, that are crucial, particularly early on in a career and for new staff, and to support organisational culture and learning and foster a sense of inclusivity and belonging.

All roles in the University have a part to play in delivering a high quality in-person service to our students, this includes roles that are not directly student facing. Seeing colleagues in person also provides vital support structures as well as enabling cohesive functional team working.

Any decisions regarding a flexible working application should be made on a case by case basis and any decision not to approve a flexible working request must be made with reference to the 8 fair business reasons as detailed in the Flexible Working Policy.

The balance between home and on-campus working will depend on the nature of your role and what is agreed locally within your team/department. All staff are expected to spend a good proportion of their time working on our campuses to support our students and staff living, studying and working here. Those staff who are in roles which are directly student or staff facing, or provide support to colleagues in these roles, are likely to have an increased on campus presence. Local management teams will agree what the most appropriate arrangements are for their service.