Regards part time working!

[Pigsmummy]

I am returning to work very soon after 11 months maternity leave, I work for a major PLC with over 85,000 employees in the UK, many of these work from home (not sure if that's relevant).

I have been told that my role isn't available part time, as it's a single point of contact, customer facing role so I fully accept that and am considering changing roles but staying with the company, however I logged into the HR system and there isn't a single part time or job share vacancy, not one, in any role. That doesn't seem right does it? (there are lots of full time ones).

HR not advertising part time / job share vacancies doesn't necessarily mean that your company will only employ full time workers.

IME (at least in the company I work for), along with other previous posters, part time / job share workers tend to be people who've started out full time and then subsequently applied for part time hours under flexible working requests or people who've applied for full time jobs and then negotiated part time hours as part of the recruitment process.

In my experience jobs are never advertised as part time - i have however always applied for FT jobs and then negotiated part time once offered job. FWIW I have a senior client facing role in professional services. When I negotiated my current position I know my emoloyers were concerned worried the sky would fall if a client couldnt get an immediate response but I asked them to trial it and said I would go FT if the role demanded it.

I then wowed them with my talent whilst making it clear I was not interested in a FT role

I think it's an attitude issue. There is absolutely no reason why the vast majority of jobs cannot be done part time

I think its interesting that I keep hearing in the media, when talking about the economy, that x number of jobs are being created, but that they are often part time, when that is in stark contast to what many people who actually want part time work find to be the case. I heard it again today on the news at lunchtime, that there is a lack of full time jobs, there are too many part time vacancies.

Treacle I think its because of unskilled jobs with irregular hours eg zero hours retail contracts. In which case there is underemployment of many people. Agree that in my experience there are very few professional/office based part time jobs.

Yup I work for a huge company that prides itself on being family friendly, no p/t roles offered, so it's massively ironic that this is the case. I negotiated my p/t working hours when I came back from mat leave.

There is a job share register though.

I work / worked for a large London university as a senior PA. I know p/t and job share can work; I know several who do it however they turned down my request to return after maternity leave.

I was willing to be flexible or days / hours and to work from home but they still were not interested.

It would cost me more than I earn to return full time, I explained this, so I do resent the fact that my years of service mean so little. Hey ho.

This is depressingly familiar. I also work for a big company. The London office has this issue. Part time or flexible is seen in terms of what the company loses not what it gains in terms of loyalty or commitment they receive from the worker. Use your contacts. Remind them what you bring to the party. Personally I think it's bs that you can't do your old job part time but then I like to think outside the normal modus operandi.