Hours per week & Job Size + examples

Flowtly Editorial Team7 min

In Flowtly, understanding the concepts of Job Size and Weekly working time is crucial for effectively managing employee workloads, scheduling, and compliance with labor laws. These features play a significant role in calculating holiday entitlements and overall employee management.

Job Size

Job Size refers to the expected workload or employment capacity for an employee, expressed in terms of hours and minutes per week and additional percentage indicator of full-time employment (FTE) calculated dynamically, once "Weekly working hours" and "Job Size" are provided.

An employee with Hours per Week equal to 100% of Job Size is considered full-time.

An employee with Hours per Week equal to 50% of Job Size is considered part-time.

Job Size directly influences holiday entitlements, which are prorated based on the FTE. For instance, a part-time employee working 50% of full-time hours will receive half the holiday entitlement of a full-time employee.

Weekly working time

Weekly Working Time is the total number of working hours an employee is expected to complete in a standard week. This measure is used to manage workloads, schedule shifts, and calculate hourly wages.

Note: Weekly working time can be less than Job Size, but cannot be greater than the Job Size. This ensures that the reported working hours remain within the defined employment parameters and prevents inconsistencies in work scheduling and payroll calculations. If you enter a Weekly working time greater than the Job Size, both fields are marked and the form reads Weekly working time cannot exceed the job size, so the two can be brought back into a valid relationship before the agreement is saved.

Key Points:

  • Standard Work Week: Defines the standard number of hours constituting a full-time work week, which typically ranges from 35 to 40 hours, depending on organizational policies and local labor laws.
  • Part-Time and Flex-Time: Allows for part-time and flexible working arrangements by specifying fewer or variable hours per week.
  • Overtime Calculation: Helps in determining eligibility for overtime pay when employees work beyond their stipulated hours per week.

What the contract will mean

While Job Size and Weekly working time are being set on an agreement, Flowtly states in plain language what the values currently entered add up to, below the FTE indicator. It follows the fields as they change, so it describes the contract about to be saved rather than the one already stored.

For a contract below full time it reads, with the figures entered:

  • Works 20:00 of 40:00 hours a week (50%).
  • Accrues 50% of the annual leave entitlement.
  • Timesheet target: 4:00 per working day.

The timesheet target is the weekly working time spread across the working days in the organization's week, so it is what a person on this contract is expected to book on a normal working day. A contract at 100% reads Full-time contract. Accrues the full annual leave entitlement. alongside the same timesheet target.

When job size equals weekly working time

Job Size is the full-time week the contract is measured against; Weekly working time is what this particular person works. Entering the same figure in both makes the contract 100% FTE, whatever that figure is. Someone contracted for 20 hours against a job size of 20 hours is full-time and accrues a full annual leave entitlement, not half of one.

That is right for an organization whose full-time week genuinely is 20 hours, and wrong for one whose full-time week is 40. There is no separate setting that states the organization's full-time week, so Flowtly compares the contract against the full-time week that the organization's own active agreements settle on. Where that comparison puts the job size below the usual one, a warning takes the place of the description:

Job size equals weekly working time — This contract counts as full time (FTE 100%) and will accrue the full annual leave entitlement, even though 20:00 is below your organization's usual 40:00. Is that intended?

It is a question, not a block. A contract that really is full-time at those hours can be saved exactly as entered. Where it was not intended, raise the Job Size to the organization's full-time week and leave the Weekly working time at the hours actually worked — the FTE then falls to the true proportion, and the leave entitlement follows it. Correcting the job size on an agreement that has been running changes the entitlement it accrues, so it is worth checking the person's annual leave afterwards; see Annual Leave.

Where an organization has too few comparable agreements to establish a usual full-time week, or its agreements do not agree on one, no warning appears. The description is then given without question, so a small organization with unconventional hours is never told its contracts look wrong.

Usage examples:

Here are detailed examples with different work schedules:

  1. Standard Full-Time Employee (40 Hours per Week)

    • Scenario: A company defines its standard full-time work week as 40 hours.
    • Job Size: 40 hours (100%) - Full-Time
    • Weekly working hours: 40 hours
    • Description: Employee A works the full standard 40-hour week.
    • Holiday Entitlement: Receives full holiday entitlement based on the company’s policy for full-time employees.
    • Overtime: Any hours worked beyond 40 hours per week are considered overtime and eligible for overtime pay.
    • Use Case: An office manager working 8 hours a day, Monday to Friday, totaling 40 hours per week.

  2. Full-Time Employee with Reduced Hours (35 Hours 55 Minutes per Week)

    • Scenario: A company adopts a reduced full-time work week, considering 35 hours and 55 minutes as full-time.
    • Job Size: 35 hours and 55 minutes (100%) - Full-Time
    • Weekly working time: 35 hours and 55 minutes
    • Description: Employee B works 35 hours and 55 minutes per week, which is defined as full-time by the company’s standards.
    • Holiday Entitlement: Receives full holiday entitlement based on the company’s policy for full-time employees, even though their work week is shorter than the standard 40 hours.
    • Overtime: Any hours worked beyond 35 hours and 55 minutes per week are considered overtime and eligible for overtime pay.
    • Use Case: A doctor working 7 hours Monday to Thursday and 7 hours 55 minutes on Friday, totaling 35 hours and 55 minutes per week.

  3. Part-Time Employee (18 Hours per Week)

    • Scenario: A company defines a part-time role as 3/4 of a full-time position, where a full-time position is typically 40 hours.
    • Job Size:40 hours (means, employee cover only 45% of it)
    • Weekly working time: 18 hours
    • Description: Employee C works 18 hours per week, representing 45% of a full-time workload possible due to the job size.
    • Holiday Entitlement: Receives holiday entitlement prorated based on 45% of a full-time employee's entitlement.
    • Overtime: Any hours worked beyond 18 hours per week are considered overtime and eligible for overtime pay, if applicable.
    • Use Case: A part-time teacher working 4 hours a day, Monday to Wednesday, totaling 18 hours per week.

Example use cases

  • Employee Workload Management: Clearly define and track the expected and actual working hours for each employee to ensure balanced workloads and prevent burnout.
  • Accurate Holiday Entitlement Calculation: Automatically prorate holiday allowances for part-time employees based on their Job Size relative to a full-time equivalent.
  • Compliance and Overtime Tracking: Adhere to labor laws by accurately identifying full-time vs. part-time status and calculating overtime pay when employees exceed their defined Weekly Working Time or Job Size.
  • Flexible Work Arrangement Support: Facilitate various working models, including full-time, part-time, and flexible schedules, by clearly setting employment parameters.
  • Catching a Part-Time Contract Entered as Full-Time: Read the description under the FTE indicator while setting up an agreement, and confirm that a job size equal to the weekly working time is what was meant before saving.

Connection map

Refers toPart ofDerived from
Documented hereDocumented elsewhere
person works under agreement. agreement is of type agreement-type. agreement commits to job-size. agreement states weekly-working-time. weekly-working-time capped by job-size. job-size sizes capacity. work-schedule assigned to person.works underis of typecommits tostatescapped bysizesassigned toPPerson — An employee. The central record the rest of the workforce data hangs off — profile, documents, leave, benefits, rates.PersonAAgreement — The document formalizing the terms between the organisation and one employee or contractor. It is the foundation of the employees module: whether someone has an active agreement decides whether they appear in the other modules at all.AgreementAAgreement type — Which kind of document an agreement is. A standard employment agreement carries the terms; an annex extends one that would otherwise end; a termination closes the cooperation on a named date.Agreement typeJJob Size — The employment capacity an agreement commits to, in hours and minutes per week. The FTE percentage is calculated from it rather than entered: someone whose hours per week equal their job size is full-time.Job SizeWWeekly working time — The hours an employee is expected to work in a standard week. It may be less than job size but never more — entering more raises the job size to match.Weekly working timeCCapacity — A person's contracted week, less absence. Bookings are measured against their own contracted week, so 20 hours fills 83% of a 0.6 FTE and not 50%.CapacityWWork schedule — The working days, hours and breaks assigned to an employee, from the week the assignment starts. It is what the Work Time calendar draws.Work schedule

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