Flexibility in the Workplace Policy

The university’s Flexibility in the Workplace Policy codifies a long-standing practice that permits work units to allow employees to stagger arrival and departure times as necessary and to vary the number of workdays in the office so long as an employee’s FTE commitment is fulfilled within the university workweek (Friday to Thursday). This policy also allows for occasional, incidental remote work based on individual circumstances.

Policy Statement

Flexibility in the workplace allows UF managers and employees in their work units to make arrangements for working conditions that suit their academic and business needs along with helping employees maintain a work/life balance.  The combined impact is to improve the productivity and efficiency of their work units, while increasing job satisfaction and engagement.  Most typically, examples of allowable flexibility include changing what hours are worked (earlier or later start and end times, for example) and where work is performed.

The following are examples of arrangements that are permitted under this policy:

• Rather than a five-day workweek, a condensed schedule fits the same amount of work over a shorter amount of time—such as four days, working 10 hours each day—giving the employee an additional day off during the week. So long as a full-time employee fulfills a 40-hour workweek (based on the university’s workweek that runs from Friday through Thursday), any combination is acceptable.  A lunch break of at least 30 minutes must be provided each day as part of an agreed upon schedule.
• An employee begins work at 8:30 a.m. and departs at 5:30 p.m., with an hour lunch, even though other colleagues arrive at 8:00 a.m. and depart at 5:00 p.m. This is an example only; other starting and departing times are permitted.
• Employees work from home on occasion to accommodate quiet time to finish a project or to be on hand for a personal circumstance that would still allow them to fulfill their work duties remotely. Working from home on occasion should not be substituted when an employee cannot fulfill their job duties and it would be more appropriate to use paid time off.
• Employees “flex” their schedule to come in later and then work later on a particular day, different from their normal schedules, in order to accommodate a personal appointment in the morning, rather than use paid time off.

Full- and part-time work from home or other non-UF site that occur on a regularly scheduled basis must be approved under the university’s Remote Work Location Policy.