This is no ordinary holiday. From 1 January 2023, Raiffeisen employees will be entitled to eight hours of “quality time” each month.
“A free day,” said Laurent Derkum, head of human resources at the bank with 650 employees. This is in addition to the provided for by the sector's collective agreement, which it shares. And the 8 hours can be taken in two half-days.
However, there is a difference: if this day of rest has not been taken in the current month, it will be lost. “The idea is not to add a day to the counter, but to have a different model, so that employees take it every month to balance their private and professional lives.” However, they have to ask their manager for it, who can refuse it depending on the needs of the team. “It is not a right, it could be withdrawn at any time, unlike legal leave.”
Flexible working hours from 7am to 7pm
This bonus day could be an argument for recruitment. “We have trouble finding the right profiles and keeping our young people, who tend to leave for the civil service,” conceded Derkum. “So we wanted to find something to differentiate ourselves on the job market.” However, the bank's turnover is “below 10%.”
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In addition to “quality time,” there are flexible working hours. Today, employees can organise themselves as they wish between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. as long as they work the fixed hours of 8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. In 2023, working hours will become completely flexible between 7am and 7pm. All the while “respecting the constraints linked to labour law: a break after six hours, no more than ten hours a day,” the HR director said. At the end of a three-month reference period, “the employee must have worked the hours stipulated in the contract,” he added. The organisation by team will be done in a “very informal” way to ensure a continuous presence, especially in the agencies.
“Quality time” is legal, provided it is transparent
As far as teleworking is concerned, employees have 100 days per year. But cross-border workers must respect the . For the latter, three to four satellite offices are to be set up “early next year” for a total of “40 to 50 places” and an unspecified budget. Their locations have not yet been communicated, but there will be some at each border. Some will come from a rearrangement of free space in existing agencies, others from renting square metres.
Raiffeisen is not alone in innovating in working time management. , . KPMG also relies on outsourcing, in addition to teleworking and flexible working hours, and claims to have increased the number of days off.
When asked about the legal aspect of “quality time,” Martine Mirkes, a lawyer at the Chambre des salariés believes that “a more favourable situation for the employee in relation to labour law is in order.” Nevertheless, “the employer must ensure that the rules for entitlement are transparent. In the event of refusal for the needs of the service, this must be justified objectively, to avoid any discrimination.”
, a lawyer specialising in labour law, confirms that this organisation is “possible if the conditions of this special day of rest are clearly defined and accepted by the employee.”
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.