ADV and ATV; making arrangements for flexible work

Extra leave

‘Reduced working hours’ (ADV) and ‘hours of leave’ (ATV) are a kind of extra leave, on top of the standard holidays. This is not laid down by law, but in a CLA or company scheme. In some cases, it is not mentioned in either one, but you can still make agreements on this. If it is mentioned in a company scheme, the Works Council has the right to consent.

As an employer, this allows you to give employees more confidence, care for them and, at the same time, gain something in return. Not in the sense of everyone taking time off, but creating an atmosphere in a team or department where, at the same time, morale and productivity increase. The advantage is that it creates a working environment where people respond to each other. However, it is an option and you as an employer are providing the opportunity. Why do you want this? Because as an employer you also want to move with the times, there is more need given by many people to free time than money. Work should be fun and give something back. Originally, ADV and ATV were created in the 1980s to reduce high unemployment. With the aim that it allowed work to be divided among more people. Many employees got extra days off as a result. Nowadays, these two schemes have more the aim of increasing staff safety, health and productivity.

We often see these two concepts being mixed up. But as an employer or employee, you naturally want to know whether this is being applied correctly. ADV stands for Reduced Working Hours and ATV for Hours of Leave. With shorter working hours, the working week is shortened, in other words, the standard working week. And in the case of hours of leave, days off or hours of leave are taken.

Employees who participate in most collective agreements still accrue holiday allowance and pension for a day of ADV. This may be different for employees with a temporary employment contract; the hirer and employee are only paid for the hours worked.

In the latter case, therefore, a percentage is set annually for the reservation of holidays and public holidays. This is determined on the basis of the number of gross workable hours, the number of holidays and the number of public holidays. If the adv is not paid out in cash, this may mean that you have less entitlement to holidays. Usually, the holiday and public holiday reserve percentage lies between 5 and 6%.

Application

According to your contract, you work, for example, 38 hours. But in reality you work 40 hours per week. There is a difference of 2 hours. You take these hours later on. You agree this with your employer:

• You can opt for ADV, for example, which is an afternoon off every fortnight.
• Another option is ATV, where you choose to take the days off at any time as leave.

The difference with holidays is that holidays are always a legal right and ADV / ATV are not. ADV and ATV remain a mutual agreement between employer and employee in exceptional cases.

Exceptions

There are some exceptions:

• You do not accrue ADV or ATV if you are ill;
• Sometimes you can receive ADV or ATV as pay;
• You do not get your ADV or ATV back if you are ill during these hours;
• In most cases, non-cued ADV or ATV hours expire at the end of the year;
• Your employer is not obliged to pay out non-captured ADV or ATV if you are dismissed.

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