Alternate Work Schedule

[Smurphy430]

As a general question and all quality assurance and reasonable surveillance being adhered to. Is there any prohibition on letting contractors work an alternate work schedule, e.g. 9 hour days for 8 days, 1-8 hour day and one day off?

I can find no prohibition against the practice any input would be appreciated.

[ji20874]

Does your contract specify working hours?

[Smurphy430]

Yes, the current contract specifies 5 days 8 hour days 40 hour week. We are considering this to help the contractor staff

[Navy_Contracting_4]

If you want to change the specified work hours so that they're flexible enough to allow for alternate work schedules, I can think of nothing that would prevent you from doing that.

[joel hoffman]

As a general question and all quality assurance and reasonable surveillance being adhered to. Is there any prohibition on letting contractors work an alternate work schedule, e.g. 9 hour days for 8 days, 1-8 hour day and one day off?

I can find no prohibition against the practice any input would be appreciated.

No prohibitiion. As a caveat, if you modify the contract, you should state something similar to "The Contractor may alternatively work an alternative work schedule of: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX at no additional cost to the Government."

Also - if this is necessary for the Contractor's benefit, .e.g., to make up scheduled progress for inexcusable delays, you (as a steward of the Taxpayers) may need to ask for some type of consideration, if there is any additional cost to the Taxpayers.

[policyguy]

According to GAO "...The use of altered work schedules is more difficult for Government contractors than for other employers because of legislation which requires payment of overtime premiums when emplyees work more than 8 hours a day..."

Here's the link for reference: http://www.gao.gov/products/PSAD-76-124

[C Culham]

While there is no prohibition I question whether you have misplaced your want to "help the contractor staff" to the detriment of the contractor. My thought here is why do you think you need to "help" the contractor staff isn't that the contractors job?

Policyguy's reference is a very good in that it addresses one of the primary issues. Further you have not indicated what labor laws apply to your contract. Overall let me point to some specific info that you should consider.

FAR 22.103

Service Contract Act Wage Determinations - While many contractors pay health and welfare by the hour they are allowed, and some do pay, by the week or month. You have to be aware of how your contractor is currently paying as a change as you suggest might require the contractor to change their payrolling system.

I would suggest your proposed change is ill advised.

[ji20874]

I agree that the change is probably ill advised. If the contract says 5 days 8 hour days 40 hour week, it says so for a reason -- has anything changed on the side of the Government's requirement? Has the contractor requested a contract change? It is likely the contractor can already allow its employees flexible hours -- we usually don't care how the contractor manages its employees. If the contract requirement is for a warm body to be at a receiptionist's desk 5 days 8 hour days 40 hour week, the contractor can provide one employee for the morning hours and another employee for the afternoon hours.

In my earlier question, I asked, "Does your contract specify working hours?" I probably should have asked, Does your contract specify working hours for individual contractor employees?

But if there is no change in the Government requirement, and no request for change from the contractor, then there is no reason to do anything at all.

[joel hoffman]

Many contracts limit the allowable "workling hours" to coincide with normal government installation or government office hours for various reasons. I think that you'd have to modify such a restriction to allow "an alternate work schedule, e.g. 9 hour days for 8 days, 1-8 hour day and one day off." However, my caveat stands that you should ALLOW it as an alternate to the current requirement, not mandate it and the Government should not assume any responsibility for it if the purpose is to "help the contractor staff". If the alternate work schedule increases the costs to the Government (TAXPAYERS) and is for the benefit of the Contractor, then the KO should look out for the interests of the Taxpayers and the Government in consideration of this gesture.

[Cajuncharlie]

For seven years or so, I worked for a company whose normal work schedule included choices, along with 5 X 8 hour weeks, 9 hours Mo-Th and 8 or 0 hours alternate Fridays. This was part of a timekeeping policy that was part of an approved accounting system. The business entity that I was in worked mostly federal contracts, but the work schedules were corporate wide, subject to change based on project or contract requirements.

Most of the time, where I worked (not in Government facitlities), the system was allowed as long as there was coverage each Friday, such as half the section on "A" schedule and the other on "B" schedule, or even coverage by remote support from out of town with contact information in an email out-of-office auto-reply. The only time I was not allowed to work that schedule was on a very high value, high profile, short schedule mega-project, when I worked all the hours I could stand.

It is a wonderful system, not only a great boost for morale, and although I don't have the metrics, the perception was that it actually cut absenteeism by allowing weekday time for personal errands.

I disagree with those who would not allow a contractor to use it unless there are very specific performance requirements that such a schedule would not support.

[ji20874]

Why are we talking about the Government allowing it or not allowing it? Can't a contractor do it without Government permission? Does the Government set hours for individual contractor employees, or only require a contractor to provide coverage 5x8? If a contract requires a warm body at a work station 5x8, I would suggest the contractor already has flexibility to offer flexible work hours to is employees -- if it wants to offer an eight-nines-and-an-eight schedule to one of its employees, it can -- the employee does eight hours of contract work and one hour of non-contract work -- on that employee's AWS, the contractor provides a substitute employee to do eight hours of contract work.

Oh, I forgot, we often approach contracts like we're hiring employees... ;-)