Specific procedures apply if the employee’s proposal is based on his/her own health condition or disability or that of a family member; in such cases, you should immediately contact your local HR representative for guidance.
Employees are not required to give a reason when submitting flexible work arrangement proposals. A supervisor should evaluate each proposal on the business case, and should not deny a proposal based on an employee’s reason (or perceived lack of reason). Sometimes an employee may not wish to do so, especially if private family issues are the reason.
However, many employees will volunteer the reason why they are proposing a flexible work arrangement. Knowing the reason for an employee’s proposal may help a manager, especially when evaluating multiple proposals. It can be useful to know the parameters of each employee’s proposal, so that if their proposals don’t mesh, you can work together to generate alternative solutions. For example, if two employees propose a compressed work week with Fridays off, it can help to know that one person is hoping to attend a class at a specific time and the other wants one day to do volunteer work, but doesn’t care which day it is.