Pissed at my employer - flexible working

[Sharon1983]

I am currently on maternity leave and since march a colleague from my team has become a team leader. She keeps pushing me to come back to work earlier than my return date which is in November.
I spoke to my manager and requested to reduce my hours to 2 days a week and that would mean taking annual leave accrued whilst on maternity from my return date in November and therefore would officially be back in the office in March 2020.
My manager said to drop her an email of my request and that would be it and thats fine.
Today i receive and email back from the team leader (who will not be my team leader as i manage a team also) with my manager copied attaching the company flexible working policy and requesting a bloody essay of how me going part time would affect the team and the company..WTF!!

I am on very good terms with the team i manage and i have been in contact with them throughout my maternity and have been told how our colleague now team leader wants to step on my managers toes and try be “the manager”!

Advise- should i reply to my manager only and say what was agreed in conversation
Or should i give them an essay- and if so what to write without being bitchy

I'd suggest you need to be sure who this "essay" should be going to - not who you'd prefer because you feel they're more likely to say yes, but who it must be under whatever their arrangements now are

The request for a written application outlining the effects on the company is no more than they'd have been wise to do all along; if they haven't in the past they've perhaps taken a few risks

And as a manager, I'm a bit surprised you need help with how to approach writing this, never mind suggestions on how to avoid "being bitchy". Maybe it's worth remembering this is something you're requesting rather than what they're obliged to give?

The citizens advice website has lots of info, including what to do if the employer refuses and the reasons they cannot refuse.
ACAS will prob have info too.
Congratulations on the birth of your baby and I hope everything goes well for you at work.

I went back to work two days a week. I’m a legal assistant and it’s really difficult keeping up. I can’t imagine how it work if I were a team leader. Probably fortunate for my colleagues that I’m not! 😁.

I didn’t have to submit a formal request when I went back after ML. I did however have to do so when I want to increase the hours on the two days I work. I think it’s becoming more common.

An essay is a bit much, but it’s usual practice to ask you to state what you think the impact on the company would be of granting your request and how that could be addressed.

I would make sure I’m covered, by looking at the form, and send a reply to my manager , NOT ccing busybody. It would say hi joe, I know we discussed this and you said it would be fine so I’m not sure where busybodys email came from but I appreciate there might be a formal process to confirm - fair enough! Here are my reasons why this will work for the team and the company:
And check you’ve covered the form contents. And don’t take the questions personally, certainly in my company they are required and I’ve answered them a couple of times.

Well for starters I wouldn’t be sending anything to this team leader, who, if I’ve understood correctly, is a colleague and not senior to you in post?
So I would complete what has been requested but I’d be sending it to your line manager, copying HR in and marking it strictly confidential for their attention only.
I think I might also make a phone call to your line manager just to ask why the other person emailed you in the first place.

It’s normal practice to need to complete a formal flexibility working request detailing how you feel your request might affect the business.

It must be stressful being told procedure was one thing, then hearing from someone (who may not be correct) that the procedure was way more complicated and formal than you thought. Honestly, though, in your position I'd submit the essay to cover your back in case that team leader decides to change your hours later or pressure you to work more (or dump more on you than you have time to do because she doesn't like whoever gets appointed to fill the rest of your hours), given she's already trying to pressure you about your maternity leave dates.

Why do you think you have an automatic right to go back part time without making a business case for the revised hours?

I would advise that you follow the process set on in the FWP. It is a requirement to state how your proposed change in working pattern will impact on your team.

As a manager, if you aren't there 3 days a week, who manages your team then? Is someone else steps in, then your request will impact on them.

I'm not sure if this is a temporary request and you're just using accrued AL...or if you'd like this to be a permanent change.

It's better for ypy to havd the request in writing, because they have 28 days to respond in law and a refusal needs to be evidenced by management, under specific reasons in law.

As a HR professional, it annoys me when employees make a verbal request and it gets declined, because I know most of the managers would not put this refusal in writing.

Would you have liked the opportunity for promotion? Were you informed about the vacancy? Because, in law you have a right to be informed of promotion and development opportunities while on maternity leave.

Dear Mrs Power Hungry,

As you are not my team leader or manager, my plans for when I return to work are none of your concern. It is up to my manager and I to make these arrangements. I am under no obligation to explain myself to you.

Kind regards

@Sharon1983

P.S. Congratulations on the promotion.

Also..do not be pressured to return before you want to.

Put your return date in writing and stick to it.
If your manager keeps trying to get you to return early, I advise that you always respond in writing (email) "following our conversation earlier today/yesterday, where you asked if I could return to work from maternity leave, earlier than my proposed date, I can confirm that xx will be my return date as previously advised.

If your manager has half a brain, she'll stop asking, because it looks like harrassment.......and she'll see you're emailing as evidence of that, which doesn't look good for her.

Why do you think you have an automatic right to go back part time without making a business case for the revised hours?

It seems a fair question ...

Sounds like you’re all being a bit unreasonable here.
Presumably (as there is FW paperwork) HR have a procedure that needs to be followed. Your manager should have made this clear to you - your manager is unlikely to be able to approve a FW request verbally without any paperwork.
The other team leader should butt out - she is not your manager and actually, by repeatedly asking you when you are going to return to work, is potentially breaching the law and could open her employer up to a claim from you.
You are being unreasonable to complain about completing what is pretty standard paperwork for FW requests. The ‘Wrong’ person sent it, but you can’t just expect to drop from 5 days to 2 without following your company’s procedure. It was presumptuous of you to expect to tell them how many days you ‘will’ be working. They can say no if it doesn’t meet the demands of the business. Also, being honest, and based on experience of dealing with FW requests, it’s very unlikely the business will accept 2 days in your team leader role. That means others will need to cover you for more days than you actually work! 3 may be possible, but experience tells me 4 may be a more realistic expectation.
In addition to the paperwork, you can also expect a meeting before it’s approved - HR will be likely be there as well as your manager.
On all these points, you really need to speak to HR. Not to be confrontational, but to get some clarity. Casually mention to them the other team leader’s contact - you might find it magically stops.

All you can do is follow procedure. It's not just about your needs it's about the needs of the business.

I once had to liaise with a department that had a part time manager and it was a bloody nightmare when you needed their signature or something and they weren't in half the time. Part time doesn't work for all jobs. Does your reduction in hours leave awkward hours they might struggle to fill?

It would be very odd that the other TL is the one emailing you about the formal request so I can only assume your manager (and her's?) has asked her to do it. Makes sense that some things get delegated and a little task like getting the form from HR and emailing it to you is definitely the sort of thing I might say to someone I manage ie "I'm a bit busy with meetings today, would you have time to get the form from HR and email it to x for me?".

I thnk your personal feelings about your colleague are clouding your judgement and i can definitely understand why. You're essentially on the back foot here, you need their agreement on this so you need to suck it up because you don't want your manager thinking you're causing pettiness between you and the other TL. Not while they're already having to work out how to cover your job for 3.5 days a week.

Phone your line manager and have an informal conversation about it; take a day and go and talk to him, maybe HR also. Just get it sorted, cut her out of the loop, get manager or HR to tell her to desist from contacting you.

I would complete the form to be on the safe side as it’s normal protocol and just send it back to your manager, ignoring the team leader. If she’s at the same level as you then you don’t have to answer to her surely?

Dear Mrs Power Hungry

As you are not my team leader or manager, my plans for when I return to work are none of your concern. It is up to my manager and I to make these arrangements. I am under no obligation to explain myself to you

Presumably this is a sarcastic joke rather than proper employment advice.

Only do this if you're absolutely determined not to be granted your flexible working arrangement. It will make you look deranged and a poor example of a team leader with managerial responsibilities

That's what you get from posting for employment advice on AIBU I suppose.

Your manager is at fault here, they misinformed you that an email would be fine which it clearly isn’t and obviously forwarded your email to your maternity cover, or asked them to respond on their behalf so I think you’re misdirecting thisnatbyour colleague because you obviously don’t like them.

Flexible working requests must be made in writing with a clear business case laid out because your company have to give due consideration to your request within set timescales so the paper trail, and the way it could work, are essential to that process. You also have the right to appeal the decision, again within set timescales, so it’s important that you do the right thing here and follow the procedure.

If I’m honest, you’re coming across as a little bit entitled here. Flexible working isn’t your right (neither is using annual leave to work only two days a week for the first few months) so I would play ball and make sure I submitted a written request with a really clear description of how this new arrangement could work and what the benefits would be for both parties.

^^
THIS!

Dorsetdays sums it up perfectly.

I have just had to send in a formal letter outlining my case for 2.5 days a week, then had a meeting with my boss and HR. It was accepted. However I would be annoyed at receiving an email like that from someone who does not manage me and isn't the HR manager for the company. I would reply to my manager directly and ask to clarify the process.

@LolaSmiles

I think that if the OP uses your list she will be doing herself out of a job completely! It will tell her bosses how other people can do her job for her.

Speak to HR to clarify what’s required for a flexible working request. Don’t speak to your manager for clarification, it sounds like they don’t know anymore than you about what’s expected!

Flexible working requests are considered at my workplace but they don’t have to be given. Sometimes it’s just not practical to have someone drop to 2 or 3 days.

It’s standard practice to put a formal request for flexible working hours in writing.

When you repeatedly say they have asked you for an ‘essay’, what exactly have they asked for-are you being rather dramatic?