Cultural Flexitime

כ'ט בחשון תשס"ח

It seems Britain is far ahead of the United States in providing its citizens "cultural flexitime" at their places of employment as a human resources "standard" policy.

Civil servants to take bank holidays on religious days of their choice
09.11.07 ThisIsLondon News

Civil servants will be able to take bank holidays on the religious days of their choice under moves to introduce "cultural flexitime".

Officials in the education department will be allowed to work from home on statutory days off and take the time owed to mark their own religious traditions.

It means staff will be able to work at home on Christmas Day for the first time this year and swap it for a different religious festival such as Eid or Diwali.

The pioneering arrangements also apply to cultural traditions, meaning a Welsh employee could move a bank holiday to St David's Day.

Some public bodies and firms already offer similar arrangements, such as allowing Christian holidays to be exchanged for festivals from other religions.

Staff will be able to switch all eight statutory days off, including Christmas, Easter and secular bank holidays.

The arrangements also apply to minority religions such as Baha'i and Zoroastrianism, and staff could ask for time off to mark pagan festivals such as the summer solstice.

"If the department continues to show it is committed to valuing its people, meeting their different needs and improving their working environment, then our people will be committed to working harder and going that extra mile to help us deliver the challenging agenda ahead." (Anne Copeland, human resources director at the DCSF)

Staff choosing to swap bank holidays for other key dates will not be required to prove that they follow a different faith.

"As a progressive department, we are more than pleased to meet the request, as we believe it's both good for employees and the business."

Read full article at link above.

Completely wow! Progressive at it's best!