Can I resign from part of my job?

[EmmaGrundy]

When I started working for my current employers, my role was FT with one team. Over time, my role has been adjusted, so that I now spend 4 days a week with another team and 1 day a week with my original team. My contract has not been altered, so it still says I'm employed to work FT with the original team. The only paperwork I have is from the team leader for the team I started with, and is a 1 page document in which she sets out what she expects me to do over the year in one day a week.

Do you think I can resign only from the role with the original team and keep working 4 days a week with the other team?

[flowery]

No. You can ask whether you can go down to 4 days a week and whether those 4 days can be entirely with the new team, but you have no right to insist they allow you to do this.

Why do you want to do this? Is it because you see it as a way of reducing your hours to part time, or is it because you don't enjoy working for the original team? How long have you been working for your employer?

[glammanana]

No your contract is with the team you work for one day a week,if you need to reduce your hours can you not drop one day from the other team you are attached too.?

[EmmaGrundy]

Thank you for the replies, sorry this post is lengthy. There are a number of reasons for wanting to go down to 4 days a week, including that I could manage financially on the reduced income. I find that the expectations of what can be done in the 1 day a week are unrealistic. It's not really the volume of work but the associated stress and the bleeding of work into what should be non-work time (weekends and holidays). The team leader for the team where I am 1 day a week told me that the organistaion does not "approve" of such small fractional posts and I don't think they would be sorry to lose me, because they would bundle my time up with time saved from other fractional members of staff who are leaving and that would mean that they could recruit for a FT replacement (regarded as much better value for money).

My work for the 1 day a week team has always been good or at least not problematic. Last year my appraisal resulted in the top possible grading being given but I feel unhappy in the team, don't like the way it is managed and would like to leave.

My objective is really to leave the 1 day a week team, rather than to go PT. I wouldn't want to drop a day from the 4 day a week team - due to the nature of the work, I would end up doing the same amount of work anyway - it's not the sort of role where you can just put an out of office on and log out. Although I take this role with me, at the weekends and on holiday, the associated stress is not so great as with the other role.

[EmmaGrundy]

Oh, sorry, I haven't answered your question about timings. I have been with the employer since 2006, new role since 2008, with gradual increases of time allocated for the new role, up to the current 4 days a week 2 years ago.

[flowery]

Sounds like it would be worth an exploratory discussion with your manager then, but as I say, you can't just resign from a bit of your job.

[EmmaGrundy]

Thank you. I have a meeting on Monday, so will try.