Can I do this regarding work?

[Workingggmamam]

Drop to 3 days?

returned off maternity leave and used annual leave to have 2 days off until our new leave year. I love my days alone with my 2 little ones! I feel so sad about returning and adding a nursery day on for them :(

My partner said at my position (Civil service HEO) it’d be awkward to drop down more than one day my manager won’t be happy

i I don’t want to ask and potentially cause an issue

but I would really like to :(

Worth an ask i reduced my days at work best thing i ever did. Is your partner purposely trying to discourage you because he doesn't want you to reduce your hours.

he is actually happy for me to be part time we have the money etc it’s just more he said and a friend said it to me to, don’t get your manager annoyed by returning then cutting days when you’re a bit of higher role

Which I’m scared of. I have an ultimate fear of being sacked as I got sacked once at 21 (27 now) and the feeling is horrible and it’s worse now as I have 2 kids depending on me so the thought of some income being cut is scary

I’d go for it. The civil service is very keen on equality, should be championing working mothers and is in my experience (of working in civil service HR) very unlikely to sack you.

You can only ask some jobs don’t work well on reduced hours but you won’t know till you ask

Well, you know your job. How would the two days be covered? How (well) has it worked when you’ve done it in the run up to the year end?

you're more likely to avoid annoying your manager if you go with a proposal of how your work can be covered.

Legally there's nothing to stop it. I don't think anyone on here can advise on how your manager will react.

Until recently I was head of HR in a CS department. We would usually bend over backwards to try and make it work. Only once did we refuse a FW application.

HEO isn't that high and you've shown it can work already?

They can't sack you for asking for reduced hours? They could refuse, but they'd have to supply a business reason. Have you thought about how your team would cope? I guess that's not really your problem. Just ask.

Im one of 4 in my role! So there are others doing the same role, I do have my own work items but it could be done in 3 days I think

the others have their own so it wouldn’t really be covering me? I’d obviously check this first wouldn’t ask without consideration to others !

Juts so nervous

You need to be careful how you approach this, if you are proposing to effectively be three days a week semi permanently and you think your job can be done in three days then why is it a full-time role and why are they paying you as such?!

Also, are you proposing to use up all of your leave in the fashion? That presumably means that you and your partner will never have any decent amount of time off together or be able to go on a two week or maybe even a week long holiday with your children?

If you've been working for 3 days a week you've shown that it's possible to do the job in 3 days.

I assume there are things that you haven't been doing - so who were they reallocated to, and is this viable long term?

You also might want to ask about the possibility of a job share?

Well, not really, because she's been using extra holiday. All staff are entitled to holiday, so that's just part of how it's been used this year.

I'm not saying don't go for it - just that I don't think it's a strong argument.

OP, you'd do well to suggest:

Days that work for the team (usually better to have Fridays off, and possibly one non-consecutive day).
How your absence could be managed.
Be ready to discuss alternatives.

For example, would 3.5 into 3 work well? On a 35h week, that would be 3x 8.25h.

Alternatively, if you could do 4 into 3.5 days, could your partner use flexibility to cover a half day on the half day?

I doubt they would sack you just for asking. They would need a justification to actually sack you. At worse they would just refuse.
But they may pass you over for promotion/career progression if they don't think you're taking it seriously. You are very young still and have a lot of working years ahead of you. Plan wisely. Cost of living is not going down and you have two children to consider.

You can ask. Everybody is allow to request flexible working. I worked 3 days a week (from full time) for 6 years from returning after dc1 was born, to dc2 starting school. Dc2 is now 13 and I still only work 0.86 FTE (4 longer days). I work for an Arm's Length Body, so I imagine similar principles for accepting flexible working requests to Civil Service.

For 2 years I jobshared - we were matched by our area manger when she had 2 fw requests from people who’d applied for the same job. We both did 3 days a week, overlapped on Wednesdays, and took on a bit of extra project work to justify the overlap.

Check what is in your contract, or company handbook, it may have something about requesting reduce hours.

Are there any other people who work reduced days, if they have allowed others then they really need to consider your request.

On what terms are you with your Manager? Could you have a chat with her about it before putting a request in with HR?

You definitely won't be sacked for asking (it's quite difficult to get sacked in the civil service!)

Ask. The worst that can happen is they say no (with business reasons to justify). More likely it'll be a yes, or a "no, we can't accommodate exactly that, but what about this?"

You have a right to request flexiblele working - they absolutely cannot sack you for it. And as PP have said the civil service is usually quite flexible.

Read the flexible working policiy and make sure your application addresses possible concerns about how work will be covered etc.

If you're in the union, ask them for advice as well - our union did quite a bit of work on ensuring the policy was fairly applied, and knew which departments were more or less amenable to requests.

Well, not really, because she's been using extra holiday. All staff are entitled to holiday, so that's just part of how it's been used this year.

OP has demonstrated that it's possible to do her job when she's only there for 3 days in a week. So her employer can't say "it's not possible to do your job if you are only here 3 days a week" because she has literally been doing it. The reason for being absent the other 2 days is irrelevant.

With all due respect, you have no idea how it's being managed.

Some of the other staff might have been having leave denied or limited because the OP is using her (perfectly normal) entitlement to carry over a large amount of leave from maternity.

That doesn't mean that there's a viable long-term change to her working pattern.

You might want to get married first.

If you and your partner split up you'll have no guarantee of a full time role and he won't have to pay anything more than CMS minimum.

Who owns your home?

Well, with all due respect, none of us have the slightest idea how OP's department is managed, what her manager is like and whether she is remotely likely to get her flexible working request approved or not.

And yet, we have a whole thread about it.

I've certainly worked with colleagues who used holiday to work a shorter week to prove that it didn't inconvenience the business too much/it was possible. I have no idea whether it will be appropriate for OP or not any more than you do, but it's certainly a sensible point to consider.

It’s not a problem to ask this in the CS.

I was an HEO in the civil service.

I dropped to 3 days a week when I adopted my son, then went back up to 4 after a 8 years.
You won't be sacked for asking.
When people in my team asked to reduce hours we looked across the piece to look at how work could be reconfigured, it's often an opportunity to make make improvements and shake things up in a positive way.

Sometimes that entailed people moving around teams a bit, or joining up with other people who want to reduce hours, so effectively job sharing.

You have a right to request it. If your manager treats you badly or in anyway discriminates against you because you make a request you have the right to make, .then contact your union (if you're a member).

I know several colleagues with part-term, term-time, compressed hours etc contracts and it's never been a problem. Worst that can happen is they say no and if they do say no they need to be able to justify it with business reasons.

I have never heard of anyone in my department being treated badly or thought less of because they've made a request (not saying it doesn't happen).