Employer wants to change working hours

[Doughnuts68]

i am going through a consultation process with my employer. They want to change the days I work. They have claimed for business reasons.

how do I challenge this as I can only work my current days.

and should I put in a flexible working request? And if so, before the consultation ends or after?

I can't see them accepting a flexible working request if they are putting you in consultation to change your days. If they have sufficient business reason eg you work in a shop on Wednesday and Thursday nd they are only opening the shop on Fridays and Saturdays due to reduced trade, then yes they can.

You can still put in a flexible working request, you have the right to request but I wouldn't hold your breath

Thanks for replying That’s disappointing to hear.

Any other advice ?

What are the reasons they wish to change your days? Unfortunately if they have valid business reasons they absolutely can do it.

Have you been there long enough for redundancy?

What will happen on your current days? They can't (shouldn't?) make you move and then employ someone else to do those days.

Do you really have no flexibility on the days you work?

why can't you work the days they want you to?

Is it just your days or everyone's?

I hope that they have explained business reasons in a bit of detail, and it is not a cover for other reasons, such as hoping you find another job so it saves redundancy payments to you or someone else.

Out of interest what can the business reasons be?

As an example I used to work somewhere that was taken over by an American company that changed to way that some things were to different times of the week so say a task needed to be done every Monday the person who used to do it on Tuesday would need to change their day

That's a simplified version of events but that sort of thing

Thank you.

So the manager giving one colleague more hours and asking the original person who did this day to change their days does not fall into this?

No tasks needs to be specifically done.

Thanks all only now seeing responses. I have been working there for 6 years. They are going through a consultation process. Only I am affected on my area as I am the only one that works those days. They are stating that there is no work on the days I work but there is on the other days which are same days as other colleagues. However it my understanding that the work can be done any day of the week it has little relevance really what days are worked as long as the hours are done. They are running 24/7. The reason that I cannot work the other days is due to caring responsibilities

When you say it's your understanding, what does that mean in practice? If you can understand what they mean by the work not being able to be done, does that mean that you work completely independently of others? It helps to try and understand their rationale to negotiate a bit.

Ultimately though, it may be your choices are to alter your caring responsibilities and ask for some time to put those changes into place or start looking for other roles.

As someone that advises legally on redundancies, their business reason (to have you work the same days as several other colleagues in the business, when there is work) can be seen as a valid enough reason your role is redundant.

Employers are generally entitled to decide when they need work performed. If they genuinely no longer need cover on (for example) Mon–Wed and instead need everyone in on Thu–Fri, that can create a redundancy situation, even if you believes the work could be done on different days.

The stronger challenge would usually be whether your employer has followed a fair process and whether the redundancy is genuinely driven by business need rather than being a pretext. Without more information about your role and their specific grounds, I can’t say more.

@Doughnuts68
i work for the nhs and we have a fairly wide admin team I work in with people who Jobshare and work part time and some who compress hours.

We have recently had a bit of a restructure within our trust, and senior managers wanted to look at the hours/ days everyone did and so me and the other manager did a spreadsheet and had to present this to them.

Everything had to be explained to them like why people worked x hours etc

eg we have receptionist roles
admin roles
secretarial roles
rota and clinic scheduling
managers

our part time staff - some are flexible and some aren’t, Because of caring responsibilities and one lady works somewhere else aswell.

The senior managers wanted to rejig and not allow people to have “set” days and hours claiming it wasn’t flexible but if people have done this for a long time and there haven’t been any issues, then they struggle to just change things over.

We put up a good case and had union backing and there is legislation in place to protect working parents and those with caring responsibilities.

For the time being they’ve left it but they have said they may “re-visit” things in the future….. but ultimately they can try to make things awkward.

I phoned ACAS and got some really good advice from them - I’m a line manger but also an employee who compresses their hours they were really helpful.

I'm concerned that someone who advises legally on redundancies is so sure that this is a redundancy situation where there is not a cessation or reduction in the requirement for the work, employer doesn't want less work just wants the work done on different days which is a change to terms and conditions not a redundnacy situation.

@Doughnuts68I would ask for evidence that you're less productive based on your working days. The onus is on them to prove their business case, and you seem to think you can do the same amount of work/ your days don't make an impact so that needs to be the basis of the consultation. It needs to be reasonable and fair. If they can show justification that the work needs to be on specific days than that could form a substantial enough reason to end the contract, but again needs due evidence. Also, if adjustments can be made to ensure you can achieve the same amount of work on those days they need to explore that too given your caring duties

I think it is key you understand what will happen if you don't agree to the change. Will your role be redundant (and you be paid compensation) or will they dismiss you and offer you reengagement on the revised T&Cs?

If you don't agree, try to focus on why you "can't" do what they want, rather than why you "won't" do what they want.

I hope you can find a compromise you both agree to.

Ring ACAS for advice

https://www.acas.org.uk/