wording of flexible work request

[Snowfalls108]

Hello!
I work for a very small company with a much larger parent company. We are run indpendently, although back office stuff is done centrally.
In my small company my boss works 2 days a week, and in general I am the manager of the team of 4 others.
Now I'm not due until September but I'd like to give my boss as much notice as possible, and therefore plan to tell him on Friday. (had an early scan and been told all looking good)

I am planning on asking to take Maternity leave from September until just into the New Year, and then return to work but only part time and working that time (3 days a week) from home.

As far as my actual role goes, all I need is a computer and a phone. I live 2 minutes from the office so could nip in if there were any problems.
We have one other member of staff who works from home 10 days out of 12, but comes in for those extra 2 days.

Now how do I phrase all this to make it sound formal, and so that my boss says yes that's a brilliant idea!?

Any help much appreciated,

[weaselbudge]

If you are making a formal flexible working request then your employer can only reject your request for the following reasons:
Burden of additional costs
Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
Inability to reorganise work among existing staff
Inability to recruit additional staff
Detrimental impact on quality
Detrimental impact on performance
Insufficiency of work during the periods you propose to work
Planned structural changes.

So - make sure your written request pre-empts any issues your employer may have with any of the above.Sounds like none of these are problem for you so you should get what you want - good luck!! See direct gov website for more info on flexi working requests.

[Snowfalls108]

Hi Weaselbudge,

Thanks so much - that's really helpful.
I am now addressing all of those in my proposal.

Thanks,

[Snowfalls108]

very quick question - if I am putting in for reduced working hours for after my maternity but puttin it in advance does it effect my right to maternity pay?

[llareggub]

My advice is to wait until your maternity leave before submitting your proposals. It is fairly common for maternity leave to become a period of reflection in which attitudes change or become clarified. It certainly isn't unusual for women to change their minds about future working intentions. I'd leave it open. You don't have to give a return date at all at this stage.

[flowerybeanbag]

Agree with llareggub. I strongly recommend you don't make any kind of formal request yet. It's a year before this would take effect, and so much can change in that time, both personally and at work.

Some other things to take into account

You can only make one request a year, so it's worth waiting and making sure this is what you want before you request it formally

If you don't have DC already then you don't have any right to make a request yet at all.

It would be very unlikely indeed for any employer to agree to a formal request this early on, I would certainly not let any client of mine do so. Regardless of how good a case it may seem at the moment it is impossible from a business point of view to make an informed decision a year before something is supposed to happen.

3 months maternity leave is not very much at all. You may think you know exactly what you want to do when you return but some ridiculously high proportion of women change their mind about what they want to do once the baby has arrived and trying to set in stone what will happen after the baby is here when you are only in the early stages of pregnancy is premature to say the least.

If you worked for me I'd tell you to go away, relax and enjoy your pregnancy, then come back in 7 or 8 months time.

I hope that doesn't seem harsh, just trying to be honest.

[HappyMummyOfOne]

"and in general I am the manager of the team of 4 others" - when you do submit your request you'll need to ensure that you can still do this role if you are not office based and in far less time.

I presume you have childcare lined up for the three days, most companies would ask what arrangements you had in place if requesting to work from home.

[NatLex]

Just been turned down for flexi working, all I asked was to work one day at home. They ignored my circumstances and didn't even want to try it out. Feel very angry and disappointed, which now makes me want to leave :O(