Requesting Monday as a non working day and Friday working from home?

[lisloom]

Looking to go part time after baby is born however would love to have a Monday off, and work from home on a Friday, working Tues-Thurs in between. I work in a fairly big office and already work from home every other Friday so it's not as though there's no resilience (it's never been an issue). It would help hugely and means I would be able to visit my family more regularly who live the other side of the country, whilst also doing school run round the corner for DSD on the Friday (this is really important!).

If you were a manager, and your member of staff asked to work compressed/part time hours, Tues to Thurs full time and half a day on a Friday from home, would you think they were trying their luck?

I'm nervous to ask and feel like they're going to tell me to sod off and take time off on say a Tuesday/Wednesday, which would make our lives really difficult.

Trying to do what's best for family/finances etc. DP has already dropped as many hours as he can to do school runs for his DD (he just can't do it on a friday). This childcare malarkey is so tough!

Mondays and Fridays are the most common days not to work when going part time in my office. I'm going to request it too because usually they put inset days on Mondays and Fridays and there is no lunch/after-school club (school shuts after morning lessons) on Fridays.

I think it is a reasonable request.

Make sure when you put in your request that you are very clear how many hours and what % of full time you are requesting to work firstly. Then make clear how you are asking to work them - ie compressed over 3.5 days. Your requests to work part time and then to work compressed hours are both related, but different requests.

Am I right in thinking you want to work 80% of a week over 3.5 days - so working longer days Tues-Thur and a half day on Fri to total 80%?

It doesn't seem an odd request to me. Lots of women work both part time and compressed hours to reduce the amount of childcare needed.

Express your request clearly - make clear how much of it is similar to your current arrangements and how others and the business will not be affected/how it could be manageable and you should have a good chance.

chocolateWombat
I agree on being clear because I've read the OP's situation different to you.

The main thing is that you only get 1 request a year in law.

The OP (in my opinion) needs to be very clear that when she is working from home she is working from home and not part working part childcare. If Friday is a work from home day then childcare neess to be for the whole day. If not they need to be clear that they are seeking to only work a morning.

Equally, the OP is focusing lots on what is convenient for her. She needs to be mindful that there is zero requirement to have the flexible working how she wants it to fall.

It’s fine to request this, I see it as a completely normal flexible part time hrs request.
If you already are allowed to work from home 1 day it won’t be anything out of the ordinary.
I must say I’m a bit about this comment though!!
Women at my company generally have either Friday or Monday off - normally always Friday.
Only women?!? If more men worked flexible hrs too then maybe people like the Op would be less hesitant in making this (completely legal) request!!

@MaisyPops of course I'm doing what is convenient for me? I wouldn't be making the request otherwise? I don't see any harm in that as long as we have enough resilience in the office.

I know I didn't mention it in the OP but to be fair I have mentioned in 3 separate posts that I will be working less/5 hours on a Friday and that our child will always be in childcare when I'm at work. I'm not trying to get an extra day off to save on childcare.

lisloom
I get wanting what is convenient for you, but you've got to be aware that sometimes people decide what is a solution to their home situation and then it's 'this is how it has to be otherwise it causes problems with home'. No flexibility etc.
That sort of knife edge situation isn't ideal because businesses do not have to grant flexible or part time working and when they do it doesn't have to be in the format the employee wants.
I've seen people plan their home lives around this 'right to flexible working' and make all sorts of arrangements only to find they can't have the set up they want.

@MaisyPops I get that but that's not the case here at all, otherwise I wouldn't be asking for opinions on whether it was a reasonable request or not. It just works in regards to childcare for me and DP and arrangements with his DSD. As long as my workplace could argue against it with strong points I wouldn't argue against it. It's a request I'm making that's all.

Thanks folks for the advice! Fingers crossed...

As a manager I would absolutely consider a part time request, and likely give a more junior member of staff some senior projects to help cover and give them experience.
I would not, however, consider approving compressed working as IMO it is not conducive to finding a good work life balance. My opinion also correlates with policy in place place of work where compressed working is not permitted.

Monday’s and Fridays are the most common days to request where I work because you benefit from bank holidays rather than lose out.

I see what you mean.
If it's a case of x works best for time with DSD rather than it has to be x then it's better (I wasn't sure if it was more this is the only way it could work).

As you only get one request a year, make it formal and in writing. Anecdotally I've heard of people mentioning they might want to be part time with a couple of ideas and then places counting that as the request or using it to try and be awkward to get a head start on ways to stop it.

In your request, outline any potential issues and how they won't be an issue/how you'll solve them.
E.g. problems meeting with clients on a Friday - due to having childcare during work from.home time I would be able to meet with clients in the office or at another location
Etc.

Aim to make it as watertight as possible.

Better to wfh Friday and have Monday off than other way around (appreciate that's your plan) because so many people in my office have Friday off, it can get very restrictive as you essentially wipe out one day a week for scheduling meetings.

Lookatmemeow attitudes to compressed hours depends on the workplace, some companies encourage staff to do this.
I worked for a big firm where we had to hot desk so it was beneficial for the company for us to compress our hours.

Seriously... soooo many posts asking about the Friday. OP said in the ORIGINAL post that she will work a half day on a Friday. She literally said it in the first post.

Do you have a back up if rejected for example a Tuesday rather than a Monday off? Missing the point but if you don't work full time hours and I don't think you have made it clear if you do i can't see how you get all the back holiday hours back. If full time is 35 hours you'd be entitled to all the bank holidays but if you work less they would be pro-rated.

I'd give you a chance - enough rope to hang yourself.

If your work was unaffected then fine, but if it was impacted then you'd be back in the office and/or having a Performance Review.

Ok I really am not trying to go in to the nitty gritty. I don't care if I get bank holidays back or not. I'm not bothered if I earn a bit less money. I literally just wanted to know if working compressed hours, 35 hours over 4 days with one of these days being half a day would be a reasonable request or not. Whether it would be accepted or not is an entirely different matter. In my case this would be Tuesday to Friday. Just wanted to know if the request was reasonable the rest I can deal with later.

Sounds reasonable to me, and that you will have a good balance. Would you be a bit less stretched if you could afford to reduce your hours a bit, instead of the long days?

Honest answer you can ask but I wouldn't allow it I'd allow it over 4 days though and I hope your flexible working application is better than what you've explained and put your reasons in here.

@CottonSock this is the only thing I worry about. Maybe underestimating how much work it would be. I'll have to think about potentially reducing my hours further...

@mrs2468 obviously my application is going to be a lot more thorough and explanatory than a very quickly written mn post...

I do similar to your suggested request, but 4 days and place of work has flexible working policy anyway. If you try and stretch yourself too much it will be a stress for you, and maybe not as productive for employer. Can you have a chat with your boss informally first? Mine recently told me that I could not reduce my hours below 30, but can take unpaid leave when I want for childcare. No difference to me, but for her she doesn't want the post further downgraded in hours.

I agree with the above, speak with your boss first. Once you submit your request, you cannot submit another for some time so you need to get this right from the start. Could you not continue to work from home every other Fri but still have a half day every Fri? Or is the commute too long to get you back for the school run? Though given you have already proven yourself a reliable when working from home they may well be ok with this request too. Have others had part time hours granted?

Have a chat if you feel you can then prepare the application and keep your fingers crossed. You are not being unreasonable in requesting this though!

I returned to work Tues-Thurs when I came back from maternity leave, so I don't think what you are asking is unreasonable at all. Obviously the company have a right to refuse your request, but equally you have the right to make it. You could request to work one day a week (if you wanted) and they would need to consider it and, if refused, provide reasoning why.