Is this fair or are they taking the mick a bit?

[Melonrunner]

This is about my husband's work. I'm not going to say exactly what he does as I don't want to put him or myself. The usual set up at work is as follows. He is office based and works in a team of around 8. They have three types of shifts, early, lates and days. On the early and late shift they are responsible for picking up cases as they come in and have to deal with them immediately. At the start of the shifts there are cases waiting to be taken. If they have spare time in those shifts they manage their other cases which are ongoing. Day shifts are for managing the other cases too.

In an ideal world you each have around 10 cases and if you have less than 10 your work load is significantly easier and less stressful. Usually my husband has 10-15.

Now, husband is working with 4 of his teammates who are fasting and who have changed their shifts slightly to make sure they are home during the hours they are allowed to eat and to make sure they are not overtired. As such all their hours fall between 8-8. They start early shift later than everyone else who miss they handing out of cases. They start late shift earlier than everyone else so the thinking was they take some of the cases then to make the case load fairer across the team. However they find other office space to their usual office when they first come in (another team is in that space) and don't move down when the official shift starts! The therefore have been taking no extra cases this week and only dealing with their long term ones.

So now my husbands cases are exceeding 15 and theirs are less than 10. Plus he is helping out one of his colleges as she has gone home 3 times in the last fortnight with migraine (unusual for her).

So my husband is coming home very stressed, doing work at home (unpaid) and it's impacting on our family time when usually all his work is completed in the office. My husband won't say anything as his manager has been great at authorising annual leave at short notice when our son has been ill, lets him swap shifts when their is a school play etc. But he always takes on his fair share of cases.

Are they taking the mick or do you think this is ok as its only for a month and maybe they will help out more afterwards?

[Melonrunner]

Meant to say 3 teammates.

[DeathStare]

I don't think anyone is taking the mick - I just think it hasn't been well thought through. And I don't think it's his colleagues fault or them being difficult. It's a management responsibility to make sure workloads are balanced.

I think he should just have a word with his manager about how workloads can be fairly distributed in this period - including the period when his colleague is going off sick, as he alone shouldn't be covering this.

[Ledkr]

We have three people fasting in our office and you wouldn't even notice.
Can they not eat as soon as they get home and take snacks to keep them going to eat as soon as sun down?

[chicaguapa]

I don't think they're taking the mick tbh. Fasting during Ramadam is extremely important to them and I doubt they've considered the wider effects of this. I'd suck it up. It's only for a month.

[redshoeblueshoe]

As you have said his manager is very reasonable, so he should talk to him. I expect his colleagues migraines are caused by the stress.

[Melonrunner]

Yes I think you are right it's a management problem. But I still think they could come down from the spare office at late shift start time and at least take on their usual share of cases. At present they are avoiding that completely.

Ledkr- they are total fasting until sundown so no snacks or water.

[Gazelda]

I don't think they're taking the mick. If they've agreed with their change in shift patterns with management, then it's up to management to ensure the caseload is still being covered appropriately.
Surely it's your DH's responsibility to alert his manager that his caseload has increased significantly and he isn't able to devote as much time to each thst they merit? That wouldn't be a complaint about 'fairness', just a professional heads up about work performance.

[DeathStare]

. But I still think they could come down from the spare office at late shift start time and at least take on their usual share of cases. At present they are avoiding that completely.

They've probably just got into the swing of working and haven't noticed that they could now come down to the usual office.

If he doesn't fancy a chat with the manager (though I don't know why) maybe your DH could just pop into the other office where they are and say "you can come down now. The last shift has gone and we're about to allocate cases"

[IceRoadDucker]

From what you've said yes, I do think they're taking the mick. They know how the case loads work so they know they should be picking up cases during the early and late shifts.

Husband should definitely speak to his manager.

[ThenLaterWhenItGotDark]

The management sound very reasonable.

It's not really your place, or your husband's, to comment on what you (obviously) see as a privileged situation for your husband's (muslim) colleagues.

Like you said, the manager has been great in giving your husband short notice leave when your child has been ill. Maybe in those situations the other workers also have more cases/do work at home?

[Buttock]

Sorry, I'm fasting and this is all I keep thinking of when you've written "cases"

[DecaffCoffeeAndRollupsPlease]

Could you suggest your husband halts the process of handing out cases at the beginning of the late shift whilst he goes to fetch the others, seeing if that spreads things out more evenly. If his workload is still high after trying that, he's absolutely right to flag up his workload with his manager.

[Melonrunner]

Lol buttock, he probably needs all of those for the amount of paper work he has!

Husband said last night he won't say anything unless it becomes totally unmanageable. He said his manager can see the number of cases each person has, and said he would feel guilty complaining.

He said he will make a few 'jokes' and see if they take the hint and do a little more. He said by the end of the week they will be twiddling thumbs is they don't have any new cases, so hopefully they will start taking some!

[Nousernameforme]

What happened last year or was it the same?

[cdtaylornats]

Perhaps in a burst of religious equality he should leave the colleagues in the lurch at Christmas and New Year.

Management should be asked what would be done if all of the staff wanted to fast at this time and there was no other cover.

[Arkwright]

Having worked with quite a few people doing the fast especially pharmacists they carry on as normal. They work the same hours and do the same amount of work. He should raise it with management.

[ArgyMargy]

If you're in the uk colleagues would be fasting between about 4.30am and 9.45pm. Do they provide 24 hour cover? If not it seems a non-issue.

[Melonrunner]

Last year he was on a different team with no fasting Muslims, so no idea of how it usually works. Must be incredibly hard to fast for all that time, I find it impossible just to diet!

[Inertia]

I think your husband should leave the fasting out of it,but talk to his line manager about how current arrangements for shifts and office space are leading to uneven caseloads.

The allocation system seems bizarre - are cases only given to people in the manager's line of sight, rather than a rota? Surely it's not as simple as just hiding in a different office? Who has oversight of everyone's caseload?

[ilovesooty]

I think talking the situation through with the manager would be a lot better than PA jokes.

[Nannawifeofbaldr]

Sorry, I have no idea why this is worthy of a thread on Mumsnet.

This is purely a case of flagging it to the manager and having them put in a new process to cover the temporary unusual shift patterns.

There is nothing controversial, confusing or complex here. It would take me or any other good manager less than 30 mins to resolve.

Unless you just wanted to make some kind of point about people fasting for Ramadan of course.

[LaContessaDiPlump]

It sounds rather unmanageable now - surely it would be better to tackle a nascent problem rather than a full-blown one that has potentially caused bad feeling amongst colleagues (not just your DH)?

[ilovesooty]

And the post above about Christmas and New Year is absolutely ridiculous.

[Melonrunner]

Argy- I'm not sure about all of his colleges but one eats at 9:45 and then 2am (then goes back to sleep). They start later so they are not tired. Earliest usual start is 7am. Fasters are coming in for 8 (hence missing the case load handout from overnight).

[mybumstinksofbeans]

YANBU. They are taking the mick. If you can't do your job for whatever reason then get a new job. Why should your husband, or anybody else, have to do extra work because of someone elses brain washed ideas that they can't eat during certain times. Ridiculous.