Alternative Work Arrangements

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.

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

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).

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

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.

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 awa@amapceo.on.ca. Each agreement must be signed off on by the AMAPCEO office.

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).