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Ontario Public Service

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  2. Collective Agreement & Fact Sheets
  3. Alternative Work Arrangements
Ontario Public Service

Alternative Work Arrangements

Table of contents

Table of contents

  • Types of alternative work arrangements (AWAs)
  • Compressed Work Weeks
  • Flexible Hours
  • Telecommuting
  • Other
  • How to request an alternative work arrangement
  • If your request is denied
  • If you have questions or need assistance

Your time is precious. That’s why AMAPCEO has negotiated strong language in your Collective Agreement to put you in more control of your time. You may consider entering into an agreement with your Employer allowing you to use compressed work weeks, flexible hours, and telecommuting.

These alternative work arrangements can help you avoid commuting during peak times, spend more time with loved ones, tend to dependent care needs, or better balance your work/life commitments.

The ability to collectively negotiate the terms and conditions of your employment, including alternatives to traditional work arrangements, is an important advantage of being a unionized professional.

Your Collective Agreement defines the parameters of such arrangements in Article 47.

Fact Sheet

Bargaining Unit: Ontario Public Service (OPS)

Collective Agreement Article: 47
First Published: August 5, 2020
Last Updated: January 29, 2021

Jump Menu Anchor: Types of alternative work arrangements (AWAs)

Types of alternative work arrangements (AWAs)

An alternative work arrangement (AWA) can be established between your manager and you individually, or as a group of employees in the same unit. The formal agreement must follow one of the standardized templates starting on page 158 of your Collective Agreement.

Jump Menu Anchor: Compressed Work Weeks

Compressed work weeks (CWWs)

You and your supervisor can agree for you to work a compressed work week (CWW) schedule. In a CWW, you work additional time each day, which will accumulate to earn you a day off work on a regular cycle.

For example, with a three-week CWW schedule, you would:

  • work an extra 31 minutes each day for 14 working days and enjoy the 15th day off.

Or with a four-week CWW schedule, you would:

  • work an extra 23 minutes each day for 19 working days and enjoy the 20th day off.

Request a Compressed Work Week

Jump Menu Anchor: Flexible Hours

Flexible hours

You and your supervisor can agree on a flexible or alternative daily schedule, using the template agreement on page 166 of your Collective Agreement. These alternative start and end times can be consistent across each workday or vary for different days of the week.

Your total number of hours worked each week must still equal the number of hours in a regular work week (or the hours in your compressed work week, if you are also using that option).

Jump Menu Anchor: Telecommuting

Telecommuting

You and your supervisor can agree for you to work from an alternate worksite for an agreed-upon number or hours or days per week.

The most typical location for telecommuting is your home.

Request to telecommute

Jump Menu Anchor: Other

Other

Other types of alternative work arrangements include job sharing, regular part-time, and pre-retirement part-time. More details on these can be found in your Employer’s “Flex Work Program Guide” on InsideOPS.

Jump Menu Anchor: How to request an alternative work arrangement

How to request an alternative work arrangement

1. Consider which alternative work arrangement(s) would work best for you.

2. Review the OPS policies, guidelines, and forms around AWAs before making your request. These documents can be found on the Employer’s InsideOPS intranet. Where there is a conflict between the Employer policy and your Collective Agreement, your Collective Agreement takes precedence.

3. Request your alternative work arrangement to your manager.

  • AMAPCEO has an online tool you can use to submit a compressed work week and/or remote work request to your manager, along with your draft agreement.
  • Consider the Employer’s policies, the operational viability of your request for your work unit, and tailor your request to your supervisor accordingly.
  • Try to anticipate and address any issues or objections you think your supervisor may have.

4. Submit your request to your supervisor in writing. If you used the AMAPCEO online tool, it will do so for you automatically.

5. When considering your AWA request, your supervisor must consider your request and its operational viability in good faith.

6. Once your manager has agreed to an alternative work arrangement, a formal agreement with the details will need to be established.

  • If you used our online tool to generate your request, your manager will have received your draft agreement(s) to sign and send back to you.
  • If you need to change your request, you can use our online tool to submit a new request and draft agreement(s) with the revised details.
  • Otherwise, you or your Employer should draft the appropriate alternative work arrangement agreements for you to sign. The agreements must follow the appropriate standardized templates starting on page 158 of your Collective Agreement.

7. Submit your arrangement agreement to AMAPCEO at amapceo@amapceo.on.ca. Each agreement must be signed off on by the AMAPCEO office.

 

Jump Menu Anchor: If your request is denied

If your request is denied:

  • You have the option of approaching your supervisor to informally try and resolve the issue. Explain how you believe your request is operationally viable. Try to address your supervisor’s objections. Be persistent. You may wish to ask for help from an AMAPCEO Workplace Representative with this.
  • If your request is still denied, request this denial and rationale in writing from your supervisor.
  • If you believe your supervisor’s denial is not reasonable, you have the option of working with a Workplace Representative to request to file a formal dispute (a grievance).
A person working from home, writing in a notebook and in front of a computer.
Get Started

Request a Compressed Work Week or to Work Remotely

AMAPCEO has a quick and easy form to help get you started on your request for a Compressed Work Week or to work remotely. Fill in the information, and it will send your request to your manager.

Jump Menu Anchor: If you have questions or need assistance

If you have questions or need assistance

Please contact an AMAPCEO Workplace Representative near you. They do not have to be in your Ministry.

Workplace Representatives are trained union members who have volunteered to confidentially assist members like you in the workplace. They should be your first point of contact in seeking information and representation with an issue at work.

Your Workplace Representative may ask you to use the union’s secure web-based system, RADAR, to provide details about your situation. RADAR will help you and your Workplace Representative keep track of things without the privacy concerns that could come from using the Employer’s email system.

Learn More

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We would like to acknowledge Tkaronto, a Mohawk word meaning “the place in the water where the trees are standing.”

The AMAPCEO office is on the traditional unceded territory of Haudenosaunee speaking nations, including the Wendat, Seneca and Mohawk. These nations have been here since time immemorial and were in more recent times joined by the Mississaugas of the Credit.

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