Alternative Working

Manager's Toolkit for Alternative Working Arrangements

In an effort to create conditions that provide for maximum productivity and encourage employee retention, FCPS is encouraging the consideration of alternative work arrangements when they meet specific business objectives.

Alternative Working includes altering employee schedules and/or worksites where appropriate and include the following:

• Flextime - A work schedule that splits the workday into two kinds of time - core time and flexible time. Employees currently assigned to the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) standard administrative office hours schedule (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) must work during established core time, and arrival and departure times are flexible to meet business and individual needs. Each assistant superintendent will establish core work hours for their departments.
  
  
• Compressed Work Schedule - A work schedule in which an employee works an altered number of hours in each day to total the same weekly or bi-weekly total, creating a work schedule that is not the traditional five 8-hour days per week.
  
  
• Teleworking - Work arrangements that allow for remote working one or more days a week, or bi-weekly, and do not alter the employee's duties and work performed. Less frequent or variable teleworking (i.e., during a period of recuperation from illness) is acceptable when the arrangements meet both business and individual needs.

Assistant superintendents will assess department functions closely to determine which employees or groups of employees would be eligible for alternative work arrangements. It is recognized that certain operations within FCPS do not lend themselves to alternative working. Because teleworking is often viewed by employees as a benefit, it is important that consistent criteria are applied to the granting or denial of teleworking arrangements. Assistant superintendents may exclude organizational units or positions from such arrangements to meet operational demands. Consideration and approval of employee requests for alternative work arrangements are based on the suitability of the work, the employee, and the work unit.