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Leave perm, 5 year long job for 9 month fixed term. Band 3 to band 4 NHS.

15 replies

GardeningGirl92 · 17/06/2021 23:15

Hi everyone. I have a little dilemma but I think a story is needed to make a informed decision 😅

Currently I'm a part time (was 22.5hrs over 4 days, just lowered to 20 hours over 4 days) band 3 secretary in the NHS at my local hospital (about 15-20 minutes from home). I've been there for 5 years, with 3 years at the top of my band. Last March, due to personal traumatic issues, I was suffering with anxiety and had asked to work from home as I was being told by colleagues to 'just cheer up' I felt if I was at home I could still work but not have to deal with those comments but this was denied and I eventually had to take sick leave. When I had a back to work interview I was informed the whole team had moved to home working around a week after I had taken sick leave. I returned in October and was able to work from home half of my working week. Unfortunately I was really ill with an unknown illness at the beginning of this year, and did not recover from the fatigue and had to take more sick leave for what turned out to be severe anaemia. Before I returned I had an occupational health appointment who advised I work some hours from home in order to assist my recovery but my manager denied this. So I returned and have been back in the office 4 days a week since the end of March, the nurses in the team are still part time home working while x2 admin are not allowed Despite being provided with all equipment needed. I had to reduce my work hours when I came back as due to covid, my sons school hours have changed and I work around dropping him off and picking up as I am a single parent with no one available to do the school run. A bit of background, I enjoy my work and I'm really passionate about what I do. It isn't a typical secretary role in the NHS. It's really varied and I'm in charge of my own workload But also have to take on whatever is thrown at me by the team of nurses. Over the last couple of years there's been a big addition to my main duties in my contract and I focus alot more on communications such as a newsletter, Internet pages and Facebook which were not in my job profile, it has just evolved and I really enjoy those aspects. There has been no mention of band progression or promotion. There is currently a review of our team happening, I think mainly focused on my manager but is being kept on the DL.

I have been looking for home working opportunities as I found I was much more productive when I had the opportunity to work from home, albeit just a couple of months.
Yesterday I had an interview for a band 4, project support officer for a transformation team at a much larger hospital which is about 30 minutes away. It was advertised as a fixed term 12 month contract for 22.5 over 3 days, with home/flexible working so it being further away wouldn't matter so much. At the start of the interview, I was informed that if they had multiple successful candidates had recently acquired funding for other vacancies that had not yet been advertised that they would be able to offer, if this specific post was filled. I had applied for this one as it was doing in the same sort of area I currently work in and I felt that experience would be good going into a slightly different role.

Interview went well I thought and they told me I would get a call this afternoon. They are really positive about working from home and said the need to be on site is very little and even then you wouldn't be expected to do the full day in the office if it wasn't required - you could go back home to work.

The interviewer rang and said it was good news, that she was ringing to offer me a job but the one I applied for had been filled although it had been really close and she had gone back and forth on the decision. She asked if I'd like to hear about the opportunity so I said of course. Basically the transformation team have other departments they are working with so there are multiple projects I could work on. She said they really wanted to employ me so the ball was in my court and I could take my fancy basically. She said they would be full time posts and asked if that would be something I'm interested in - I asked if the hours were set as full time as it wasn't what I had planned on although I would consider it if it was home working and she said they would be open to negotiation again saying its basically up to me but said the same opportunity for flexible working would apply as long as you can travel to site if you're needed. They are the same band, same title just in a different field to what I'm used to. They are also only funded for 9 months instead of 12.
She really stressed that they wanted to employ me and that although she couldn't promise anything in terms of future positions she said they don't want to lose good staff.

So do I make the move? Leave a job I love doing but get no progression but is permanent but is also in a toxic environment. Its what I know and it is currently working well and I'm managing although dropping my son off and then having only 30 minutes to drive to work, find somewhere to park (nightmare) and then walk 10 minutes to the office is stressful and exhausting.

Do I go full time if I take it? Financially yes but I've never worked full time while I've been a parent. I've also never worked from home most of the time so it's new territory. Or would it be better just to negotiate more hours than I do now (I could gain an hour a day just by not commuting) but still finish when my son is home. He is 8 now so is much more able to keep himself occupied but would I feel the mum guilt sitting and working while he's just got home from school.

I'm torn. On the one hand it could be the start of a brand new opportunity, on the other I could be leaving a permanent job that work wise I love but team wise cause me so much stress to then be jobless in 9 months. I would obviously start looking for a job beforehand but there's no guarantee.

She asked if I'd like a meeting with her and her manager to discuss the areas they would be in and I said yes so that's on Monday so I have a few days.

Any thoughts would be welcome, also anyone home working, single parents I'd love to know how it's gone for you. Is full time possible because of the home working or is it still a struggle. If you work from home, is collecting your child from school allowed? It's literally around the corner.

Also my manager isn't aware yet and still have the issue of references etc.

I hate making decisions if you can't tell. :) thank you for reading!

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55378OO8 · 17/06/2021 23:20

If the jobs are both in the NHS then can't you ask for a secondment?