Am I being cake and eat it?

[Sounbelievablydull]

I will try and be brief
We just had a reorganisation at work. I had been performing a role for 18 months which I was invited along with others to apply for. It was advertised as full time. I work three days a week. When I applied I was clear that I could only work three days but was also clear that I was doing lots of unpaid hours to make the service a success which it has been.
I was appointed to the role and am now on a months trial.
I spoke to my new manager about my concerns re all the extra hours and her reply after discussing my case with a colleague who is at the same grade as me involved a lot of stuff about how I should be paid for my hours but will not be as no budget how I need to manage my time better etc
I am so upset and angry
How can there be no budget if it was advertised as full time?
If I make a fuss will I be deemed to have failed the trial?
Really not sure what I should do next. I like the job but feel so tricked and used

[TeaBelle]

Did you apply for 3 days or ft? Either way, do the hours you are paid for and not more

[TeaBelle]

Sorry, sent too soon.
The job I do was initially ft but I applied and got it on 3 days. The extra 2 days budget has now been used to do other things with so even if I wanted/needed to do some extra, the money has already been spent.

[NapQueen]

You need to stop doing any extra. Your job is PT and they have spent the remainder of the budget so in effect can only pay for a PT position. You need to fulfil your PT obligations and it ends there.

[Stillunexpected]

If you applied for three days and made it clear you could only work three days then that is what you should do. Mentioning all the unpaid hours you were doing in order to make the service successful was confusing. Were you suggesting that, in fact, the job could not be done in three days, that you were going to continue to do these extra unpaid hours, that you were going to continue to do them but expect to be paid or something else?

[Sounbelievablydull]

Very difficult to do that though because it is a role that supports much less experienced staff and I can end up in situations where I cannot just clock off.
I feel angry because I was clear all through the process that it is a role that demands a full time person. I have really been doing practically full time for the past year . They have not spent the budget as they have deleted other posts they just know I will continue to work from goodwill very public sector attitude. All I was asking was for an extra few hours pay or a job share
Especially angry that my manager discussed my situation with my colleague - who is bone idle-even sending her the email I had sent to him

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

What do you want out of this?

What will happen if you fail the trial? Will you be offered another job or will you be made redundant? Will the job be readvertised as full time?

Can the job be done in 3 days? Would you do it full time?

Are there other ways round it like additional training for junior staff, formal procedures to follow and contact you in emergencies?

Where has the additional budget gone?

Can you sit down with your manager and discuss with him rather than doing it by email?

If posts have been deleted, has there been systematic changes in the service that have not actually resulted in reduced work load, can this be referred back to the people who carried out the restructuring work load assessment or are there changes that need temporary additional support to be implemented?

Can you suck it up for a month and then just work your 3 days and find ways of shoehorning it in? If you want to be paid for your extra hours, can you renegotiate for 4 days, would that work?

[Letmehaveausername]

I don't think you're being cake, doesn't even sound as if you're eating cake either. No one is sad while eating cake.

I've no real advice to offer but they can't not pay you for the hours you work...

[BackforGood]

I agree with other replies - you need to have decided if you want to work full, or part time.
If the job was full time, and you are clear it needs to be, then you needed to have agreed to take on a FT job.
If you want to work PT, then you need to establish boundaries and a way of ensuring you do only work the amount you are paid for.
Unless there is an agreed 'overtime payment' in the T&C, then stop working the extra hours.

[Brokenbiscuit]

OP, I don't understand.

You applied for a full time job but said you could only do it part time. You stated at the time that you had been doing unpaid overtime to make the role successful.

Presumably, you then accepted the role on a PT contract. Was there any agreement - written or otherwise - about how you would be compensated for any overtime? Or did you just assume that you could claim the extra hours and did they just assume that you were saying you'd be happy to carry on doing the extra hours for free?

What I don't really understand is why you said you could only work 3 days if you were -and are - actually doing so much more? Wouldn't it have been better to negotiate a higher number of hours in your contract? Or is it that you only want the extra hours when it suits you, and if so, did you make this clear at interview?

If the post has been offered on PT hours, they may well have earmarked the budget for something else. Also, some organisations don't allow paid overtime for staff on higher grades - I can't pay overtime to more senior members of my team, even if they're part time, without getting their contracts amended to reflect a temporary change in hours. Could that be the issue here?

[Sounbelievablydull]

Firstly thankyou for all your replies
I have worked part time for a number of years as I have caring obligations on the other days
Originally I was asked to set up and oversee a new service and the agreement was if it were successful then a full time management structure would be put in place.
I suppose I am a bit of a perfectionist and wanted it to work so mainly stuck to my three days but stayed late and did go in for other meetings etc if I could. My then manager offered to increase my hours but I declined and said I would prefer the time as once increased I'd never be able to decrease
Then the restructure- I made it plain I have emails etc to say that I wanted to work three days but experiance had shown me that it was not doable in three short days.
I was told I had to apply for a range of full time jobs as part of a competitive process with other colleagues and my hours could be looked at later were I successful.
So I was successful if you can call it that but even as the trial begins o have already had to work 8 extra hours this week alone. I wanted to discuss maybe being paid for three long days and I'd continue to be flexible but now have had an outright no. I did email asking for a meeting to discuss I'd I'd already tried to speak to my new manager but he did not have time to speak to me then and had said he'd contact me . I was keen to not let things drift on in the same old pattern . Hence my title I've got my 3 day job that I wanted but I'm now asking for more pay!
The email implication is that I'm struggling with time management, delegation etc and no recognition that I'm being expected to work covering what was clearly advertised as a full time post in three days

[Whathaveilost]

Do you have a union that could give you support?

[Lilaclily]

I'd wait until after the trial before you start negotiating
You might end up losing out, they might say you failed the trial and then what will happen?

[Sounbelievablydull]

Yes that's exactly what my husband said so I think I'll just be smiley and say I'll look at ways of working more efficiently.
Still feel inwardly furious though.

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

Can you identify people in your organisation who can take on more of the role?

You are not the first person to experience working part time but being expected to do a full time role in that time and being compared in your role to full time colleagues. Find a mentor in another part of the organisation who can help.

Get through the trial but get a handle of where the budget has gone. Don't let it go.. If the structure is built round a full time role, that budget won't have gone away yet. 2 days of your salary could fund a part time PA which might help.

[Sounbelievablydull]

It's so good to have somewhere to sound off safely and get some objective.
Based on all the above I think my plan is to

1. Not have any further discussion until my post is actually confirmed as the disaster would be them saying I cannot manage it and who knows what other horror they'll find for me.
   
2. Try and make some kind of relationship with the new manager so that I come across as committed and effective which I am
   
3. Keep an accurate log of all my activity for the next few weeks as evidence of what I'm being asked to do
   
4. Not discuss any of this in real life with anyone
   
5. If I am still working very many excess hours at the end of this period think about having an informal chat with someone further up the chain of command for advice
   
6. Of all else fails go to the Union for some support

[Sounbelievablydull]

Update probably more for myself
I acted like a sullen sulky teenager so so bad
I could not speak civilly to the despised colleague or my new manager
So angry with myself for being ultra passive aggressive

[Rosamund1]

I'm late to the thread but will echo the others. If you are part time make it very clear when you do and do not work and stick to that. I found that sometimes people genuinely forget you are not meant to be there. Something as simple as an office signature 'my office hours are 10-4 Monday - Thursday or whatever'. Could make a difference.

I did also found some people were resentful of part time hours, as if I was being given extra Holliday or something and would try and sabotage it by landing me with last minute emergencies all the time.

[Rosamund1]

Holiday.