Czechs began to schedule work when they wanted. But there was a problem

Employees can choose to arrange their own working hours at the workplace. Until now, they have had this option only if they work remotely, usually in the context of a so-called home office.

One of the recently approved amendments to the Labor Law provides for this improvement. At the end of July, the Law Collection will announce that the regulations on employee working and rest time will be implemented. From January 2025.

The aim of this innovation is to make employees happier and thus better balance work and private life. They decide for themselves, for example, to spend five hours at the workplace, pick up their children from school, take them to the club and then return to the workplace in the remaining three hours, or to travel from, for example, home.

“Until now, the Labour Code explicitly permitted this option only when the employee worked remotely. Now, a so-called self-arrangement agreement will also be possible for situations where the employee works at the employer’s workplace,” said the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which is responsible for implementing the change.

However: the employer must agree to the employee’s specific request to adjust working hours. This can significantly narrow the target audience of the news.

“It is, of course, impossible to use self-scheduling for all work. It also depends on the relationship between the employee and the employer and the mutual trust between them,” said Kateřina Kozáková, a legal expert at the Chamber of Commerce. She cited two examples with very different positions:

“An office cleaner has to clean the office every day between 6pm and 10pm. The employer knows that the work will take two hours and doesn’t care when he finishes the work in that time interval. On the other hand, an IT specialist mainly works from home but needs to complete specific tasks at the workplace and may not be sure how long the work will take,” says Kozáková.

Martin Jánský, CEO of Randstad Czech Republic, said self-arranging working hours is most often used in professions with a high degree of flexibility, such as assistants, administrators or clerks.

“Manufacturing workers may not have this option on a larger scale, as shifts here are planned in advance. However, even in these businesses, if an employee needs to swap shifts or change shifts, employers will often try to accommodate their needs,” Jánský said.

Tomáš Procházka, a labor law expert at Aegis Law, said that the Czech Republic’s amendments already provide for acceptable forms of self-arrangement.

“As part of the review, we managed to get rid of the initial administrative ballast in the proposal. The amendments to the Labor Code are catching up with the practice that has long been in place in many workplaces. In other words, companies can allow employees to decide when to work,” Procházka said.

“The biggest impact will be in positions where the employer doesn’t really care when the work is done – as long as it’s done. These can be various administrative or professional positions. But maybe parents with children also want to manage their work hours more in a way that childcare allows,” Procházka explains.

If the employer agrees, not only the employee in the classic employment relationship, but also the so-called Deal makeri.e. persons working under a work activity agreement (DPČ) or a work performance agreement (DPP).

“The disadvantage of the new regulations remains the so-called surcharge, due to which companies are generally prohibited from deciding on their own working hours in the evening or on weekends, since under the labor law they are obliged to register such separate working hours and pay the employee a supplement to his salary,” Procházka noted.

“This mainly affects employees with children because it prevents them from putting their children to bed and then finishing the rest of their work, or leaving work early and finishing work over the weekend, when a family member can then perhaps help with childcare. All of this will continue to happen in practice, of course, it just won’t be talked about out loud,” he added.

There are no requirements under the Labor Law for working time allocation agreements. Lawyers say it is advisable to think carefully in advance about what self-arrangement should look like. The maximum length of shifts should be stipulated, and statutory rest periods and breaks should be specified.

“We have received requests from clients for a written agreement between employers and employees on the self-arrangement of working hours. The parties should first consider all the conditions for the employee to arrange working hours, such as whether it is necessary to notify the employer in advance or to identify time periods when working hours cannot be arranged due to the employer’s organization,” adds Adam Valíček, partner at Valíček & Rolling pin law firm.

The agreement on the work schedule can be terminated with fifteen days’ notice. After that, the employer will arrange the working hours in the traditional way.

Katerina Khovolkova

At Peníze.cz he focuses mainly on personal finance and the labor market. He has been working in the media since the 1990s. She started out working at the Czech News Agency, then in the editorial office of MF Dnes, iDnes, worked at the websites Hospodářské noviny and Aktuálně.cz… Other articles by the author.

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