What do you reckon? Is this positive change can it/ will it work? Is this the Royal Air Force or the Avon catalogue?
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All very well but I see most are talking about I.T. What about ac and equipment that go tits up when you least expect it, the guys n gals that fix said equipment and the ones that are needed to support said guys n gals. The only flexible working in that environment is usually working extra hours. Always been a fact of life in the RAF that some work all hours whilst some get on all the expeds, it's never been a fair playing field and never will. No real solution, it's life.
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In my last RAF job, we had a policy for flexi which met the principle that it would be granted unless there was a compelling reason to reject it. We built in checks and balances which prevented a line manager unilaterally rejecting applications without the WO or SEngO agreeing. There were a few other parts of it which met resistance, such as prioritisation in the event of contention between applicants.
It was within an Eng HQ so undoubtedly easier to manage than those contributing to maintenance and flying programmes. It worked well and the quality of life improved markedly. We didn't have the facility to track man hours, so it was done on trust. We never explored WFH, maybe mod-net is better placed to provide this functionality if you can prise a laptop out of CIS.
It was within an Eng HQ so undoubtedly easier to manage than those contributing to maintenance and flying programmes. It worked well and the quality of life improved markedly. We didn't have the facility to track man hours, so it was done on trust. We never explored WFH, maybe mod-net is better placed to provide this functionality if you can prise a laptop out of CIS.
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Thats a fair point, but there are also answers to that way you can work vs the way you do work.
Most airports also work 24/7 - and many with less 'days off' than the RAF gets, but in Europe it is mainly done with 3x 8-hour shifts not the UK-style of 2x 12(11.5)-hour shifts. Their shift systems work to the WTD and give enough time at home, so the work/life balance is quite fair...it's not for everyone, mind, and the lack of overtime is felt more too.
Most civil airports in UK work the 2 shifts due to most LAEs opting out of the WTD and going bust for overtime wages and/or extra TOIL (Time Off In Lieu)
I stick to my salaried working times...9-4:30 (ish) Mon-Fri, but then, I'm on the phone, even on Hols.
We already do - using an MoD laptop from home is done over home Wifi using VPN. MODNet uses Anyconnect for example.
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My time as a Fast Jet Sqn Clerk from 1994 through to 2011 (3 tours over 13 years) was almost entirely done on flexible working hours. Out of a team of three, one would start at 0730 and finish around 1530, one would start around 0830 and finish around 1630 and one would start at 1000 and have a cut-off time to finish as 1800. If someone was off, then there was just "earlies and lates". We did this because we had identified that our "customers" were busy towing aircraft out or attending Met briefs first thing, and didn't need 3 people to support them, and that there was an evening shift that started around 1630 that would otherwise have to wait a week or come in early to sort any HR queries out.
We were mocked by our 8-5 (with an hour for lunch) bretheren in PSF and accused of "arse wiping", but we stuck at it, never had a backlog, and every single Sqn I served on had a fantastic working relationship with both aircrew and engineers who could see the benefits of flexible working every single day.
We were mocked by our 8-5 (with an hour for lunch) bretheren in PSF and accused of "arse wiping", but we stuck at it, never had a backlog, and every single Sqn I served on had a fantastic working relationship with both aircrew and engineers who could see the benefits of flexible working every single day.
Witty_Banter
Flight Sergeant
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It's horses for courses, really. Flexi does work, but is completely ROLE dependent. It's never going to work for everyone, but could be applied to a good portion of RAF establishments and sections. It still doesn't change the fact that we are short on manpower, and you need manpower to make it work properly (someone's got to cover the guy on flexi!).
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Is this Flexible Working, or is it Flexi-time?
They are two different things.
They are two different things.
rocket scientist
Sergeant
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We've always had "flexible-working" as far as I can remember when my first ever Flt Sgt said "if you want to start knocking off early, you need to start coming in early first".
As for working from home, I've covered DEOC duty weekend shifts from home, given that the job basically consisted of receiving phonecalls, making further phonecalls and updating A/C state sheets.
As for working from home, I've covered DEOC duty weekend shifts from home, given that the job basically consisted of receiving phonecalls, making further phonecalls and updating A/C state sheets.
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Sqn life as a growbag is modelled around a form of flexi-time. You have checks to pass circa every 6 months so you sit in your office reading the books and suing the databases to learn numbers etc until you are happy you can get through your checks..then your time is yours largely.
I would typically be in for a non-flying (or planning to fly) day at around 0900, brew and a gossip in the tea-bar then retire to a quiet space somewhere with a book on an area that I had either heard was flavour of the day for checkers or where I felt I had forgotten a lot of it. Around 1100 I would start to canvas opinion on lunch activities i.e. mess for a fat boys (and maybe a sharpener or two) or circuits. Whatever was chosen I would peel off home after it and do the whole thing again the following day until a flight was assigned.
As a checker in later life I would follow the same pattern but I would choose a reference source that I thought the people I had to fly with were maybe ignoring a bit and hammer them on it during a flight to keep them on their toes. If they were switched on they'd look at what books I had my nose in or had signed out....
I would typically be in for a non-flying (or planning to fly) day at around 0900, brew and a gossip in the tea-bar then retire to a quiet space somewhere with a book on an area that I had either heard was flavour of the day for checkers or where I felt I had forgotten a lot of it. Around 1100 I would start to canvas opinion on lunch activities i.e. mess for a fat boys (and maybe a sharpener or two) or circuits. Whatever was chosen I would peel off home after it and do the whole thing again the following day until a flight was assigned.
As a checker in later life I would follow the same pattern but I would choose a reference source that I thought the people I had to fly with were maybe ignoring a bit and hammer them on it during a flight to keep them on their toes. If they were switched on they'd look at what books I had my nose in or had signed out....