Hourly stock exchange: the way to manage the peaks and valleys of the business

January, Epiphany; February, Valentine's Day; May, Mother's Day; November, Black Friday; December, Christmas?

Do you have a store or a factory and every time there is a commercial date you suffer from the thought that you will have to double your staff to meet your customers' expectations? Not necessarily!

Having hour pool agreements with your workers may be the alternative you are looking for. On the one hand, you control the working time according to the peaks of activity. On the other hand, workers benefit from less intense periods to reconcile work and personal life. Everyone wins and the law respects the law.

Let's look at what is a bag of hours, how Spanish legislation regulates its practice and what benefits it brings. Let's agree, finally, that even if the bag is exhausted, the day of spending is spent! 😉 .

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What is a bag of hours?

Coming from the Anglo-Saxon model, the bag of hours in English is known as bank of hours. This system, which aims to increase business productivity, is based on adapting the working hours of workers according to the specific needs of the business.

In other words, it consists of an irregular distribution of working hours at certain times.

The application of this model requires vigilance to ensure the rest periods between working days established by law.

In which periods and for which types of company is this model relevant?

Generally, the model of agreement with bag of hours in the contract is common in companies subject to seasonality, i.e., subject to production peaks. Businesses with fluctuating activity throughout the year find this model relevant.

Within the framework of flexible working hours, the aim is to extend or reduce the working day for a given period of time. Among others, this avoids having to resort to the ERTE or Expedientes de Regulación Temporal de Empleo (Temporary Employment Regulation Files).

Applicable legal provisions

Regarding the possibility for companies to establish irregular distribution systems within the work schedule, the Workers' Statute establishes that:

By collective agreement or, failing this, by agreement between the company and the workers' representatives, the irregular distribution of the working day throughout the year may be established. In the absence of an agreement, the company may distribute ten percent of the working day irregularly throughout the year.

Regarding the practice of the bag of hours, it starts to be applied as from Law 3/2012, of July 6, on urgent measures for the reform of the labor market.

Management of the distribution of hours in the company

When the collective bargaining agreement or pact does not make specific reference to the bag of hours, the law determines that the company may distribute, throughout the year, 10% of the hours. Other exceptions include:

• The distribution of hours must be made over a period of 12 months, without therefore the same coinciding with the calendar year;
• the decision to distribute working hours must be justifiable to the competent authority in case of control;
• working hours can only be distributed among working days and does not apply to employees with reduced working hours;
• the notification of the new distribution of working hours must be made by the company five days before it becomes effective;
• The distribution of time in a daily workday cannot exceed 9 hours.

How is the compensation to be made?

The collective bargaining agreement will determine the way in which the compensation of the differences between the working day and the maximum duration of the ordinary legal working day will be made. In the absence of this specificity, by law, the differences must be compensated within 12 months of their occurrence.

What is a union hours pool?

Regarding the bag of union hours, this applies to company members, legal representatives and personnel delegates.

As legal representatives of the workers, the aim is to facilitate their work through a series of measures, depending on the size of the company for which they work:

According to data from the Central Directory of Companies of the National Institute of Statistics, companies with fifty or fewer workers make up 99.23% of Spanish companies.

How to manage the labor pool in the company?

Companies that decide to implement the labor model by bag of hours, must do so in accordance with the legal provisions that we have reviewed above. From the beginning, it is necessary for the company to establish the number of working hours according to the work to be performed and to be as clear as possible about the annual work schedule. The same must be available to workers to facilitate visibility and its proper functioning.

To carry out this work, many companies choose to implement time and attendance tools. These solutions collect in one place all the information regarding employee vacations and absences, so that planning work times is much faster and simpler.

In addition, the integrated alerts and notifications systems facilitate compliance with the law regarding advance notice of changes in the distribution of hours in the working day.

5 advantages of the distribution of hours

Better business organization

This system allows companies to organize their workforce in the way that suits them best. Concentrating efforts on peak periods of the year and reducing them at less active times is not only strategic for the business, but also for the workers, who can enjoy greater autonomy throughout their working day.

2. Increased motivation

Moments of heavy workload can lead to stress and fatigue. However, a work model that compensates periods of intense work with moments of calm can result in a motivating factor for the workforce.

Keeping in mind a date for the fulfillment of objectives and knowing that after this date there will be a moment of calm can contribute to a better performance in the company.

3. Greater family reconciliation

Workers under this model can better organize their time and adapt it to the specific needs of their personal routines. Spending more time with the family or being able to take care of matters that normally would not be handled outside the weekly work schedule is quite attractive.

4. Reduced overtime

This model, by favoring effective working time, lends itself to reducing the need for workers to work overtime. Good forecasting of the times that will require duplication of effort leads to better organization of the work schedule.

5. Greater resilience

Businesses that already contemplate the system of working by bag of hours can adapt better to certain eventualities. Having to reduce work rhythms and even the number of active personnel from one moment to the next can be better managed if you are already used to working at a fluctuating pace.

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To sum up...

• The bag of hours is a practice that consists of distributing work times irregularly.
• While maintaining the same number of hours stipulated by law for the working day, this system is part of a flexitime model.
• Its objective is to optimize work, concentrating efforts in peak periods, for example, in companies subject to seasonality.
• This model is regulated by Spanish law, specifically by the Workers' Statute, with regard to working time.
• Each company is free to manage this practice in the way that suits them best and can decide to use digital tools that facilitate the organization of work.
• Motivation, productivity and efficiency are just some of the benefits of implementing this practice.

Do you have any questions? Leave them in the comments!