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Flexible working arrangements

Employees can ask to change their work arrangements, place, hours, or days. Employers must consider this.

All employees can ask at any time to change:

  • hours of work (over a day, a week or year)
  • days of work
  • place of work.

Flexible work can also be used to change:

  • how work is done
  • how starting and ending work are managed
  • how work is managed in the workplace to help employees and businesses.

Flexible work doesn’t just mean working part-time instead or full-time or changing the shifts that you work.

Benefits, rights and responsibilities

Flexible working arrangements can benefit everyone — employers, employees, their families and communities.

How to apply

How an employee can apply for flexible working arrangements.

Considering a request

How to respond to an employee’s request for flexible working.

Approving a request

Once you’ve considered your employee’s request for flexible working arrangements, you need to let them know your decision in writing.

Declining a request

What to do when declining a request for flexible work arrangements.

Unresolved requests

How to deal with unresolved flexible work arrangements requests.

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Please note that this content will change over time and may be out of date.

® Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment