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Original poster

Is this sexist?

34 replies

Gandalf456 · 15/12/2020 15:44

A few parents at work were doing overtime between 10 and 2 at work and asked for the hours to be contracted so they could have a bit more security and holiday pay.

The response from the boss was that 'we'd all like to do those hours but the business needs longer shifts. '

The thing that grated was that it was said in such a patronising way - as if it were just a whim, not a necessity due to childcare.

In fact, most of them would prefer to be in the position to do more hours and have better pay and more respect

Opinions?

OP posts:
midgebabe · 16/12/2020 14:51

I note you said "parents" and then asked if it was sexist

Are you saying that all the parent s involved were all of the same sex

Canwecancel2020 · 16/12/2020 14:48

It should be in your contract/employee handbook how you would go about applying for change of hours/flexible working. If you go about it through official channels, presumably they do have to consider it impartially but are not required to agree if it doesn’t fit with the needs of the business? Maybe your boss was having a bad day, maybe they have a massive headache covering a rota and managing a staff budget? I don’t think you would get very far complaining that their tone was sarcastic if what they actually said was sensible.

Original poster
Gandalf456 · 16/12/2020 09:04

Perhsps, midgebabe. Have another read (and imagine it said in a somewhat sarcastic tone).

OP posts:
midgebabe · 16/12/2020 08:51

Negative comments? Did I miss something?

Original poster
Gandalf456 · 16/12/2020 08:23

To clarify:

It's a supermarket and I'm an elected spokesperson.

The majority of employees are part time and it's a mixture of students, parents, people with other jobs and people approaching retirement.

It's tricky to recruit full timers due to the pay and the hours. A lot of the above do work the evening shift, including most of the parents..The older people tend to do part time day shifts. Students do a combination of evenings and weekends.

I completely understand the notion of flexibility working both ways but, legally, they have to consider a request. The fact that they're happy to take overtime in the hours I mentioned in the op over a number of years, to me, shows it's a viable option and it fulfills a business need - ie the busy lunchtime rush.

Perhaps the managers hadn't broken any laws by what they said but it seemed a bit unnecessary, considering there are other groups who have a need to do evening hours (same length - 5-9) due to their personal circumstances and don't get the same negative comments

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 15/12/2020 23:49

I'm not clear what's happening either. It's possible that if the way things are set up ends up with one sex being disadvantaged relative to the other, it could constitute indirect sex discrimination.

archive.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1814

EyesOpening · 15/12/2020 23:36

I’m not sure what you mean as you’re saying it’s overtime but then it sounds like they’re doing shorter shifts?

DidoLamenting · 15/12/2020 22:56

It doesn't sound patronising. I don't fully understand what they were asking for but I dislike the assumption that just because you are a parent you should get priority in setting hours/ shifts over everyone else.

And, sorry but employees do seem to forget flexibility has to work both ways- what they want has to fit in with what the business needs.

Canwecancel2020 · 15/12/2020 22:39

These are strange times with childcare being so patchy, but I do understand bosses not wanting to be boxed in with staff being contracted to daytime hours only. It can make it really difficult to recruit for the less desirable hours (evenings and weekends) or cover staff holidays if you have permanent staff contracted in to doing bits of daytime/school hours when other people are doing long days or a disproportionate number of late shifts. Presumably it depends on your industry though.