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Working day and flexible hours

The working day and flexible working hours are applicable to Administration and Services Staff.

Likewise, the 35-hour working day is applicable to staff hired with resources corresponding to R&D activities, agreements, programmes and USC-specific studies.

Working days at the University of Santiago are as follows:

 

Normal continuous working day

This will be 35 hours per week and will be carried out, in general, from Monday to Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the morning shift and from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in the afternoon shift.

In general, the centres will remain open from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., unless the needs of the service require other times.

Split working day

From Monday to Friday, up to a total of 35 hours per week. During the reduced working hours period, this staff shall work a 30-hour working week which, in view of the diversity of their working hours, shall be agreed with the person in charge of the service or activity in question.

Irregular working day

35 hours per week on a monthly basis, not adjusted for the shift. During the period of reduced working hours, this staff shall work a 30-hour working week, not adjusted to the shift.

Other working days

The rest of the working days established in the University will be adapted to comply with the 35 hours with the specifics that apply in each case, negotiated with the corresponding bodies and with prior authorisation from the Management:

  • Night shift
  • Working day of the Infant School employees
  • Working day of the Modern Languages Centre employees
  • Special working day carried out on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays

Likewise, the 35-hour working day is applicable to staff hired with resources corresponding to R&D activities, agreements, programmes and USC-specific studies.

The working week shall be 30 hours in general, during the months of June, July and August, as well as during Easter and the Christmas period established in each year's calendar. It will be carried out for staff on the morning shift from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and for staff on the afternoon shift from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Schools and libraries will be open from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.

The reduction in working hours for part-time employees shall be proportional to the number of hours represented by their employment contract.

The annual working day shall include 1 hour of mandatory training per week during working hours, which may be accumulated up to 40 hours of training per year. In the event that such training cannot be carried out for justified reasons, it must be accredited as actual working hours.

Break in the continuous working day

During the continuous working day, a break of 30 minutes may be taken, which shall be counted as effective work. This interruption will not affect the provision of services and, in general, will take place between 10:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. for morning shift staff and between 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. for afternoon shift staff.

Interruption of the working day

Staff who have other working hours, as set forth in Article 43 of the collective bargaining agreement for administrative and services staff may interrupt their working day, for those that work continuously, in the period between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., for at least one hour.

All University administration and services staff must record the clocking-in and clocking-out of the day's work in their usual computer terminal. The necessary means will be provided to perform the clocking in/out in those cases in which the staff do not have a computer terminal.

Staff must remain at their work station for the entirety of their working day, except in the following cases:

  • Rest break, regulated in the previous section and excluded from the duty to clock in.
  • Absences that do not involve the common performance of the job must be previously communicated to the person in charge of the administrative unit. The employee shall register and justify, if applicable, in advance in the Évalos platform, the absences corresponding to scheduled activities that have a known duration or subsequently when the duration is not known or is a case of force majeure.

 

Continuous working day

Staff who have established a continuous working day may benefit from this type of flexible times, as long as they comply with the applicable working hours on a monthly basis, guarantee the opening of the centres during the established times and the adequate provision of the service.

Fixed part: 5 hours from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the morning shift and from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the afternoon shift.

Flexible part: for the morning shift, the remaining hours to complete the day will be from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday. These hours may be longer than 6:30 p.m. provided that the centre or building remains open due to its regular opening times.

In the afternoon shift, the remaining hours to complete the day will be from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. or from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. These hours may begin before 11:30 a.m. provided that the centre or building is open because it has normal opening hours that establish this.

The maximum legal working day may not be exceeded in order to recover the hours for the flexible part of the working day.

During the reduced working day during the summer, Easter and Christmas, the flexible part of the working day may begin at 8:30 a.m., as long as it does not imply the opening of the centre before its established opening times and the workers can access the building. The rest of the flexible working day will be recovered under the same terms as those established for the ordinary working day, respecting the opening and closing hours of the centres.

A maximum of 7 hours will be deducted from the recoverable hours for leave due to personal issues.

Exceptionally, working times other than those proposed in the preceding paragraphs may be carried out, depending on the needs of the department, as proposed by the administration and services staff affected, with the approval of the person in charge of the organisational unit and approved by the Management.

The staff that are covered by this modality will be able to compensate the possible non-compliance of the monthly computation of hours of the flexible part of their working times within the flexible part of the working times of the following calendar month in which they occur. For this purpose, you will have to file a request to "compensate the non-compliance of working times".

Other working days

For groups that have other working hours that are different to those listed in section 1.1, adapted working times may be established in order to have access to flexible working hours, depending on the needs of the department, as proposed by the administration and services staff affected, with the approval of the person in charge of the organisational unit and approved by the Management. For this staff, the recovery of possible non-compliance with the working day shall be considered under the same terms as for the staff in section 6.1.

Units with customer service

Offices which have a customer service will have general opening hours from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Monday to Friday. In those units that the Management determines, if there are staff with flexible hours, additional hours for opening to the public may be established in order to organise the provision of the service in a stable afternoon schedule, to deal with the members of the university community that carry out their activity in that time slot, especially the student body.

The rest of the hours to be compensated by the staff shall be carried out on the remaining days from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. or from 2:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., unless the centre or building remains open longer due to a longer established opening times.

The times shall be proposed by the administrative unit in question and must be authorised by the Management.

Flexibility authorisation procedure

Flexible working hours shall be granted at the request of the employee and shall require a favourable report from the person in charge of the administrative unit in question, stating that an adequate provision of the department is guaranteed and that the following issues are observed:

  • That the efficient use of infrastructures should be encouraged.
  • That it does not involve services that had not been provided prior to the granting.
  • That the provision of services related to opening hours for the public, opening and closing of buildings or facilities, maintenance work and teaching or research activity is ensured.

Exceptionally, this may be denied due to the needs of the department or due to the duties performed by the employee requesting it.

The provision of the flexitime service may be temporarily suspended when duly justified by the needs of the department, with prior authorisation from the Management.

Employees with children or foster children under twelve years of age in their care or with relatives up to the second degree, who, due to illness or advanced age, need the assistance of other persons, may request flexible working hours.

Men and women who are in the process of annulment, separation or divorce shall have the same right, from the filing of the legal action or, by decision of the person concerned, from the request for prior provisional measures, until three months have elapsed from the aforementioned action or, if applicable, from the aforementioned request.

A daily reference schedule shall be established in each case at the request of the person concerned and with the report of the person responsible for the administrative unit to which they belong, within the indicated range, as broadly as possible to meet the needs of the service, between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. / 10:00 p.m., depending on the assigned work shift and the opening times of the work centre. These working times may be requested continuously or discontinuously, as long as they are included in the indicated margin, as well as individually for each day of the week.

Within the fixed daily reference working hours, the person concerned may work their working day freely, provided that all the applicable working hours are completed on a monthly basis.

However, and since the granting of this flexibility for work-life balance is legally subordinated to the needs of the department, which must be clearly identified, motivated and justified, when the worker's request cannot be met under terms of the requested reference working time because their presence at their work post must be ensured at certain daily hours, before denying their request for work-life balance, a voluntary amendment or improvement procedure may be carried out in accordance with Article 68 of Law 39/2015, of 1 October, on the common administrative procedure of public administrations.

In this sense, the employee will be informed of the hours in which their daily presence is required, trying as far as possible to make the needs of the department compatible with their request. In the event that the employee accepts the daily attendance working times proposed by the Administration, a written record shall be undertaken and the requested conciliation shall be granted, including in the resolution that grants the flexibility for conciliation both the daily reference working times and the specific conditions of compulsory attendance established.

This modality shall be incompatible with the flexible hours established in section 6.

Staff with flexible working hours due to family and work conciliation may compensate possible non-compliance with working hours on a monthly basis in the month following the month in which they occur. For this purpose, you will have to file a request to "compensate the non-compliance of working times".

For duly motivated reasons of conciliation (school adaptation period, summer camp schedules, etc.), the division of a day for personal issues may be authorised in 7 hours to be able to use them separately and compensate absences in the flexible part of the day.

The contents of this page were updated on 09.18.2024.