Would you apply for this job if you were me?

[MrsTWH]

I have been stepping up at work for a year now, into a manager’s role. It was a department on it’s knees - no staff, not meeting targets, etc. I’ve recruited a team, balanced the books, turned it around, working really hard and getting excellent feedback. It’s a challenging role. Even though I am full time, we are still short staffed and need to make rapid improvements and so I still end up doing probably 30 hours of unpaid overtime per month.

The job has just been advertised on a permanent basis... on 0.9FTE. So essentially a Friday afternoon off, equates to around 3 hours a week. I will essentially still be doing well over FT hours but for 10% less pay! And if meetings are scheduled for that Friday afternoon, I would be expected to attend them and just rearrange my time off (if I could find a time to actually take it). No reduction in workload. Would be expected to do same job and deliver the same standard.

Am I being unreasonable to think this is crap?! I would rather go full time or even 0.8 so I could actually switch off for a day (though not sure I could take the 20% hit in salary).
I’m really fed up. I want the job. My line manager is enthusiastic about me applying but has not responded to my questions about why it’s part time, who would cover the extra workload or whether they would consider FT.

Or am I cutting off my nose to spite my face and should just go for it for less money?

Is there likely to be much competition? If not, apply and when you're appointed start to negotiate. Maybe have a suggestion for where the 0.10 of salary could be found

In not sure if I would especially if they still expect you to do 30 hours unpaid overtime a month and for less money. Also the Friday afternoon meeting thing is odd. If we're organising meetings in work we check each others calendars to see when everyone is free. We wouldn't expect anyone to come in when they're not scheduled to be in. Sounds like they might take you for a ride.

I wouldn’t unless you think you could negotiate up to FT. In addition to the 10% pay cut there are likely to be implications for your pension contributions.

I'd do it if I loved the job and the people. It's morally wrong of them though so I'd be sad.

They are really exploiting you. Is this a small company?

Absolutely not.

Of course your manager wants you to go for it. You’ve already proved for a year that you’re quite happy to regularly do 30 hours of unpaid overtime a month.

I think you’d be absolutely off your head to
a. Apply for it
b. Continue working the way you are without addressing with your manager your current working hours, job title and pay.

I'd apply, but then not be available on the afternoon I wasn't working, unless agreed in advance. The point of an afternoon off is to be able to do something nice with it, like a regular activity, or a long weekend.
If they think the job doesn't need full time hours, then there's no need to be doing unpaid overtime. If you take the financial hit, there has to be a benefit for you.
Would having some flexibility on halfdays work to your advantage at all?

If you had to work the Friday afternoon off would they then let you take another afternoon off in lieu?

I am being paid appropriately for the role/have the right job title for the job I’m currently doing, but contract essentially states that although my working hours are 37 per week, that I will do the hours needed to fulfil the role. So I don’t see how it can be done on 0.9 FTE. This is not a small company, it’s public sector. This is a cost saving exercise!

Not sure about how much competition there will be. It’s a relatively niche role and nobody internal will have the same experience as me. Cannot say for sure about external competition though. I suspect it will get a lot of applicants but none who have the right experience.

I love the idea of an afternoon off per week but only if it’s protected - so I suppose I would have to make sure it was.

I wouldn’t. You are already giving them almost an extra week a month and if they don’t see it as full time then they don’t fully appreciate the work that you have done and are doing. Unless you can see your workload reducing in the future I would explain why I wasn’t applying and leave it there

I think with a 0.9 FTE job you end up doing 1 FTE of the work. I used to work 0.8 FTE and I’d say I ended up doing at least 0.9 FTE of the work ( it necessarily the hours - I didn’t work Fridays). I certainly achieved more than some colleagues who worked full time.

I think what they’re doing is awful. I think the trust would be damaged that they proposed this. If you looked for another job elsewhere how easy would it be to find one?

If you go for it and your Friday afternoons are non-working you must protect that time and have firm boundaries. A booked commitment Friday afternoons (real or pretend - ‘oh that’s when I volunteer at a charity shop’) perhaps. If they decide they need you they’ll need to find the money to pay you.

Good luck.

I am being paid appropriately for the role

You’re not though.

You’re working 30 hours a month in unpaid overtime, that’s neatly 3 months a year of unpaid work. You’re working almost a quarter of the year for free.

I’m surprised your line manager has let this happen. If I had a member of staff needing to do 30 hours extra each month I’d be extremely concerned that the role was more than a full time job, or the person doing it was not able to manage their time and workload effectively.

Do you log all the hours you do?
Do they know you're doing 30 additional hours every month?

They're paying you 37 hours pw, you're doing 44. Now they want to pay you .8 of 37 hours

Personally I'd ask them to explain who is going to be doing the balance of the work from now on

But you seem happy to be paid fir 37 hours & do 44, so you're probably mad enough to do it for a reduction in pay!

Don’t want to be too outing but it’s an education role (so like teaching, where there is an expectation of planning/marking outside of your contact hours). That’s why I essentially do 44 hrs instead of 37.

Public sector, you say? Join a union, if not already, and raise a grievance against manager/HR partner. Ask for the (revised) job to be re-evaluated - is it really a 0.9 post? Is it realistic to do that work in less time? If this is your job and your hours are being cut, do you have a job to go back to? They could find the shortfall by making that post part time, maybe?