Working hours policy
Purpose
The purpose of the policy is to:
- Provide guidelines for the regulation and management of normal working hours
- Clarify the Company’s view on overtime
- Maintain maximum productivity
- Ensure consistency in the management of working hours and the granting of leave with regards to overtime.
The Company deals with overtime based on what is prescribed in the BCEA.
NML neither expects nor encourages regularly working overtime as we promote a healthy work-life balance. If an employee realises that they are often working more than a normal 40 hour week, they are expected to inform their manager so that their manager can investigate and determine the cause.
Occasionally a project may require a team to work additional hours, but this will be communicated with employees in advance. The relevant Project Manager (PM) may then grant paid time off as compensation for overtime requested by the Employer. The granting of paid time off will be at Management’s discretion. Management will take the employee’s earnings, the amount of overtime worked as well as the reason for such overtime into account before granting paid time off.
Application
This policy applies to all New Media Labs Services (Pty) Ltd, hereinafter referred to as “the Company,” employees.
Definitions
| BCEA | Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Chapter 2 of the BCEA, that primarily deals with the regulation of working hours of employees, is not applicable to the following employees: senior managerial staff, sales staff who regulate their own hours, and employees working less than 24 hours per month for the Employer. |
|---|---|
| Earnings | Gross pay before deductions |
| Earnings Threshold | An amount determined and confirmed by the Minister of Labour. The amount was R205 433.30 per year at time of publishing of this policy. Employees earning above this Earnings Threshold per year will be excluded from Sections 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17(2), and 18(3) of the BCEA. This means that such employees cannot demand to be paid for overtime worked, nor can they demand to be granted paid time off in view of payment. |
| Employee | An employee who is in the employment of the Company on a permanent full-time basis. |
| Manager | A person with direct managerial responsibility for a particular employee. |
| On-call | Times (outside of normal working hours) when an employee is supposed to be reachable to the Client and/or Employer in order to provide expertise if necessary. |
| Overtime | All hours worked in excess of the employee's normal hours of work will be regarded as overtime. Therefore, if an employee is contracted to work 45 hours per week normal time, then any hours in excess of that is overtime worked. All overtime is voluntary and may only be worked by agreement between Employer and employee. |
Working hours
The work week at NML consists of 40 hours per week; 8 hours per day. The business operating hours are from 08h00 to 17h00, Monday to Friday, with an hour lunch break. The Company may organize meetings, and expect attendance, at any time within these business operating hours. Employees should note that they may be required to work reasonable hours outside of these official times, according to the demands of the position.
Employees are expected to report for work before 09:30 as this is the time when most project stand-ups happen. Employees should be available until at least 16:00. Keep in mind that you need to maintain an 8-hour workday, regardless of what time you choose to report for duty or end your workday.
Employees may work flexible hours on the following conditions:
- that his/her availability during normal working hours does not create a problem within the team, and
- that an honest 8-hour work day is maintained.
Lunch and smoke breaks
Lunch and smoke breaks are excluded from the 8-hour work day. Employees are entitled to a 60 minute lunch break which has to be taken between 12h00 and 14h00. If you prefer to take 30 minutes lunch and leave earlier or start later, you can arrange this with your manager.
Overtime
From time to time teams may be required to work longer hours than usual to accommodate project demands. However, the relevant Project Manager (PM) will inform team members of this in advance. Overtime cannot simply be taken as it needs to be approved by the relevant PM first.
Should the PM find that overtime is necessary, time off in lieu of pay for overtime worked may be granted at Management’s discretion. Such time off may then be taken at the end of the project and after consultation with team members who will be directly affected by the relevant employee’s absence.
If the PM finds that overtime is needed, employees will work a maximum of 3 hours overtime per day or 10 hours overtime in any one week.
On-call shifts
As a developer or tech lead it is part and parcel of the job to occasionally be expected to be on-call after hours. At NML this occurs on an ad hoc basis. Therefore possible compensation, in the form of paid time off, for being on call will be at Management’s sole discretion.
When on-call, you are expected to address client issues within 2 hours of receiving a notification that a problem has arisen. You are not expected to come to NML premises and can therefore resolve the relevant issue from anywhere that has a reliable internet connection.
Calculation of paid time off
Paid time off for overtime worked is not an entitlement to those employees earning above the Earnings Threshold, but a benefit granted by NML. Should the relevant PM find that the granting of paid time off for overtime worked is justified, you will receive the same number of hours paid time off as you worked overtime.
Instances in which overtime will not be recognized:
- If there are enough team members to complete the project
- When an employee works voluntarily during a leave period
- If, according to the PM’s assessment, work can be done during normal working hours
- If an employee is unable to prove what work they did during the period of overtime, over and above what was expected to be achieved during an 8-hour work day.
Procedure
Applications for paid time off for overtime worked must be done via PaySpace. The relevant PM will review and approve/decline your application. Project Managers’ overtime are reviewed and approved/declined by the Office Manager. Any application for time off for overtime worked must be submitted within a month of the project concluding on which you worked the overtime.