Page 4 | Asking for part time when offered new job

Olivetree23 · 2023-11-24T04:53:00+00:00

I’ve been offered a new job. It’s a new role and one a pool of new people in the newly created pool of roles. I want to ask to work part time - do you think I can? I’ve read a few threads on here from 2015 so 8 years ago and the advice was mixed. My husband thinks it’ll annoy them. Does anyone have advice please? It’s a full time (35) role. I could compress that into try o 4 days and need to given childcare availability

Bunnycat101 · 26/11/2023 08:58

It would be better all round if companies could spell out in adverts what they actually want or would consider. It’s actually helpful to know what ‘hybrid’ means now for example as there is a massive difference between office attendance once a week versus 4.

The best adverts I’ve seen are really clear about what they would accept for given roles. Eg would consider 0.9/compressed hours but unlikely to accept less or flexible requests for a Friday nwd are unlikely to be successful due to existing team working patterns.

namestevalian · 26/11/2023 11:12

Noimaginationforaun · 26/11/2023 05:45

I applied for a full time role and asked about part time. It was accepted. Slightly different as I reached out before I applied and asked if they would consider 4 days. They said yes, for the right candidate. I love working there now!

I can’t see how asking would hurt!

Yes asking at this stage is fine . I was just sharing how personally it frustrated me when people asked at offer when the role was advertised as full time .

People can still do it - I just find it very challenging

yellowlane · 26/11/2023 11:16

Definitely ask. I've negotiated part time after being offered the job on two occasions, however one was NHS and the other LA so they are very used to part time flexible working. My job is very in demand so there's a shortage of us which also helps.

Kathryn1983 · 27/11/2023 18:46

you can ask for flexible working including part time once you're in the role 6M (come next summer this will be a day one right!)
but you'll never know if they'll agree to it or not
personally as a hiring manager this is conversation I'd rather you'd had whilst negotiating as I could have contacted the second choice and offered them a job share etc
would you wind me up asking no
would you wind other managers up yes but that's their issue
you can ask they can say no and saying no isn't discriminatory unless you can prove they only said no due to a protected characteristic
I would only ask if it was something i really needed not just something I wished to have

Kathryn1983 · 27/11/2023 18:57

Mothersruin123 · 24/11/2023 08:04

I think it doesn't hurt to ask. Why would a prospective employer be annoyed? I don't think I'd want to work somewhere that took offence at a flexible working request.

They absolutely might say no due to the needs of the business, but sounds like there is also scope for you to find a solution that works for both of you. Even 4.5 days worked over 4 might be a compromise that works? It's also possible to suggest a trial period.

I made a 4 day week request at my current employer, they considered it and decided against. Probably correctly given the workload - I would have had to do the work anyway and would not then have been getting paid for it. A year later I had a flexible working request for a 9 day fortnight approved as I was able to demonstrate that this fit the workload pattern. So your starting work pattern doesn't need to be the only one you ever have.

I agree the companies shouldn't be annoyed but I can almost guarantee many will be - a lot of companies have an opinion that flexibility is something you earn after you've payed your dues or something that they just simply won't agree to on any terms
completely wrong I know and backwards thinking that is pushing us back not forwards and holding back women particularly

no harm in asking and maybe have a few fall back positions such as wfh or flexible hours or something but don't bank completely on the company being happy as a clam

2 part time employees cost companies more than 2 full time one as it's all to do with cost of the training and management and such

Luckylu123 · 28/11/2023 10:34

Did you ask? What did they say?

rwalker · 28/11/2023 10:48

pisses me right off spend hours going through the process
discount perfectly good applicants offer the role .only to be told they don’t want to work the hours you need and discussed at interview

back to sq 1

Kathryn1983 · 28/11/2023 14:50

Bunnycat101 · 26/11/2023 08:58

It would be better all round if companies could spell out in adverts what they actually want or would consider. It’s actually helpful to know what ‘hybrid’ means now for example as there is a massive difference between office attendance once a week versus 4.

The best adverts I’ve seen are really clear about what they would accept for given roles. Eg would consider 0.9/compressed hours but unlikely to accept less or flexible requests for a Friday nwd are unlikely to be successful due to existing team working patterns.

This was brought to parliament by the working group but they didn't buy into it!
I agree it should be a legal requirement for all adverts to have wording about flexibility of location and hours and such
obviously there are jobs that just can't be don't pt and others that simply can't be don't remotely but companies make a huge song and dance about those tiny number of jobs and use that to block other reasonable and truly workable requests!
hopefully once the flexible working bill becomes law next may ish making requests a day one right and refusals requiring a consultation this will improve but I think they need to make the reasons for refusals a bit more airtight really they're pretty broad and easy to choose one that doesn't apply currently!

Kathryn1983 · 28/11/2023 15:02

Loopytiles · 25/11/2023 07:53

No harm in asking.

Disagree with those saying you should have brought it up at interview. There is still discrimination against PT workers. It’s fine to raise Ts&Cs after offer.

As a recruiting and line manager I wouldn’t agree to a request to do full time hours in 4 days as this is rarely good for either party IME.

See I disagree and think 4 long days for many roles works great!
lots of huge manufacturing companies do half a day Friday anyway so in my field missing a few hours Friday would impact virtually no one!
mondays where I work now are super quiet in the office too as many work Tuesday to Friday with holiday days etc
shift working companies often agree 4 long days when they want someone to do a project that's days not shift as an in between situation as shift workers rarely want to give up those weekday days off
I also worked for an Israeli company year ago and again Friday is their non working day and they also wouldn't have bat an eye at a 4 day request on that basis

blueshoes · 28/11/2023 15:31

wideawakeinthemiddleofthenightagain · 26/11/2023 07:04

We've just had this and said no. It was only one position we were recruiting for and, before advertising, we'd discussed what we were looking for and what flexibility we could accept before deciding that, with such a variety of patterns already in that department, we needed the new person to be in consistently. This was specifically mentioned in the ad. Before the closing date, we had at least two calls asking if those hours were set and, when we said yes, they said they wouldn't apply. We then had someone ask at the end of their interview. They were a strong candidate but we had at least two other strong candidates so we confirmed they couldn't be changed and they withdrew. Therefore, it was particularly annoying when one of the seemingly strong candidates announced after having been offered the job what working patterns they would consider doing. This included a slightly later starting time twice a week when one of the things mentioned had been that they would be part of the team opening up the office. Just no!
It felt like a real waste of our time but was also frustrating as it hadn't been a fair process. The people who'd spoken to us before the closing date could have been excellent but we'd ruled them out. For that matter, there could have been a number of potential applicants who ruled themselves out as they didn't want a full time, office based role. If the person who raised it earlier in the interview process hadn't done so, it would have been a toss up between them and this person who got through to the next stage so this person had taken advantage of that.
We did this is all knowledge that they could put in a flexible working request once they start. However, we also had a clear business case for why we'd reject that.

Yes, I haven't considered this perspective.

The non-time wasters who decently weeded themselves out of the process before the offer stage lost out over the person who was prepared to string the prospective employer along until the last stage and pull the pt request out of the bad when the employer had the fewest options.

From this angle, it is quite a cf move to do and would make me think twice about this person.

Loopytiles · 28/11/2023 20:10

In the example above the employer didn’t want anyone PT (or seeking later start times twice a week), made this clear in the ad and potential and actual applicants asked Qs at different stages of the selection process and were given the same information and took decisions about their application.

No one’s time was wasted. Candidates decide how much time to spend on an application and whether they want the job, at any stage of the process (or indeed before actually starting).

The ‘seemingly strong’ statement about the candidate who decided to wait until after offer to seek to negotiate Ts&Cs is quite telling!

Asking for part time when offered new job

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