Confidence working hours (förtroendearbetstid)

Confidence working hours are those working hours that an employee has the confidence to dispose of on his / her own tasks. This means that the employee is responsible for allocating his or her working hours based on the requirements of the business and the tasks. No registration of worked hours is required. Of course, the employee informs his manager and colleagues about how the working hours are being spent.

For employees with confidence working hours, the other provisions of Chapter 4, Villkorsavtalet, do not apply, ie there are no rules for calculating working hours and thus there are no specified working time measures. However, the EU directive on working hours always applies (11 hours daily and 36 hours weekly).

Individual agreements on confidence working hours are primarily intended to be applied to administrative staff. Persons covered by “Chefsavtalet” have confidence working hours by default, and a special form for confidence working hours is not needed for this category of personnel. For the positions that are classified as teachers in Appendix 5 to the Villkorsavtal, working hours are unregulated.

The working time at a workplace must be adapted to the activity being conducted and to the requirements that exist in a good work environment. The ultimate goal is to achieve the highest quality and efficient activity possible. In cases where employees' work can advantageously be controlled and monitored based on achievement of results and goal management rather than focusing on how many hours an employee works, under the right conditions, confidence working time may be appropriate. At the same time, the working hours of confidence, if used in the right way, creates conditions for the employee to develop to become more independent and responsible. The employee also has greater opportunities to flexibly combine work and private life without affecting the result.

Individual agreements on confidence working hours are an opportunity and not a right. As a manager, it is decided on a case-by-case basis whether it is appropriate to have working hours of confidence in relation to the nature of the tasks, requirements for availability vis-à-vis the activity and the confidence of the individual employee to place their own working time.

The purpose is not for the employee to work more or less than the ordinary working hours measure allows. Instead, it is the requirements of the work tasks that affect the scope of working time at each time. The employer decides on the basis of his / her supervisory rights which tasks are to be performed. Confidence working hours should not mean an increased workload for the individual employee. A prerequisite for confidence working hours is that the responsible manager, through continuous dialogue, follows up the employee's total workload.

Confidence working hours and the concepts of "work at home" or "work from a distance" (distansarbete) should not be confused. There is no right for a person who has confidence working time to work at home on a temporary or regular basis. These issues are decided by the responsible manager in a special order and can also be applied to employees with flexible or fixed working hours if the activity permits. If you work at home regularly, a “working from distance” agreement must be signed for the employee.

To think of:

• The agreement must be in writing, Form for confidence working hours.
• For Saco-S and OFR / S, P, O and others, the agreement runs until further notice. For members of Seko the agreement is valid for a limited period of one year unless otherwise agreed.
• Termination provisions must be included. (1 month recommended).
• Before an agreement is reached, the HR function at the department and the relevant local employee organizations must be informed (if the employee is a member).

Please read the key parties' written work on confidence hours (in Swedish only).