To want to drop a day?

[hollydolly28]

My baby is 14 months old and I went back to work in January. I work 30 hours - 3 x 8 hour days and 1 x 6 hour day. On the 6 hour day I have to put dd in nursery for a full day even though I'm not working a full day.

This alongside the fact that my old job has been given to someone else and I basically have very little to do anymore prompted me to ask if I could drop the 6 hour day, it was flatly refused by management. They keep saying they will 'find something for me to do' but nothing ever materialises so I'm currently paying an extra £200 per month to go into the office and twiddle my thumbs when I could be with my baby.

I feel really annoyed. I've worked at this company since being an apprentice and thought I was a valued member of the team but since having a baby I feel like they have all gone cold with me. I could totally understand and accept the refusal to drop hours if we were flat out as a team but we aren't. They could easily cope without me and as I said, it feels like there isn't even a job for me anymore.

I'm at the point where I am close to resigning and looking for another job because the flat no from management without any comprehension of what I'm actually doing feels unfair. But AIBU to feel like this? Has anyone else been in a similar position?

Don't resign before finding another job, as it may be harder than you expect to apply for new jobs that are part time (easier to start off full time and then drop a day as you have done).

YANBU to start looking for another job though. At the end of the day I think most companies don't have much loyalty towards their employees!

A flexi working request refusal does need to come with a business justification. What was the reason given? They can't just say 'no'.

I haven't officially put a HR flexible working request in yet as if (when) they refuse it will need to go to a much more senior level to decide and I'm worried to cause a fuss at a high level and also draw attention to the fact that I'm not very busy and could therefore be redundant and out of a job completely.

The reason my line manager has given is that they don't want to lose hours from the team in case we get busy again but I don't see it happening and in the meantime I am spending a lot of time doing not much at all. It's boring, demoralising and frustrating when I could be with my baby.

This is why there's legislation to allow you to ask OP. A flat no from your mgr isn't to be listened to. You dont put in your application that you're dropping hours due to being underutilised, you're asking for more time off for childcare.

If you are thinking of leaving, then your idea you'll end up being made redundant (unlikely) is actually a better outcome as you'll at least get a payout.

Thank you for this viewpoint. Ultimately they could argue that the needs of the team come first and we can't lose more hours. Would my childcare issues trump the managers discretion? I'm not sure. It's all just so annoying and unpleasant.

Could you ask to work from home on the 6 hour day?

Your manager saying that in the long term, your decision could harm the service because they won't get those hours back. It's fine for you now, but if they get busy again the team will struggle and making a case for the additional 6 hours when they look to have lost 7.5 staffing hours from their budget to do the work already is an issue.

Ideally, you'd have dropped the 13.5 hours at the same time and they could have tried to make up the shortfall by recruiting part time.

If you're twiddling, are your mandatory training and objectives up to date?

What your job is is also a factor. If you man a reception desk they may argue they'd struggle to backfill 6 hours, but in a larger dept with others available to step in, that argument is irrelevant.

How would that help

I was going to suggest it too - that way, the OP could at least do stuff at home rather than twiddle thumbs in the office, maybe pick her baby up early from nursery. Obviously only if she literally has no work to do.

Take a step back. Put the feelings to one side.

Is this job decently paid? Paying a pension? In a convenient location? Flexible if you need to leave early due to DC being ill? OK with you when you are ill yourself and have to take time off? What about time off for drs appts etc?

In the long term you may well want to leave in order to progress your career and earn more in future. But right now and in the medium term, you may well be best off staying at the job at least until DC is in school.

Flexibility and money counts for an awful lot. Not all jobs will provide that

This is a possibility but I don't think it would be ideal with a 1 year old roaming around.

But you could potentially get a lot of chores done to free up time with your baby at the weekend

Well it sounds as though you’ve got very little to do and are having to pay childcare that day.
So if you work from home just don’t pay the childcare and get the work done while your 14 month old naps / plays.

Or, if that isn’t realistic, you could at least spend any ‘redundant’ time in a way that is helpful for you e.g. selfcare, batch cooking, housework.

Better than twiddling your thumbs wasting time in the office, surely?

Yeah I suppose the work from home option would be a lot more beneficial for me. However if I request it then I'm pretty sure they will know I intend to keep dd at home with me and they won't like that even though I've got bugger all to do. I feel like they are being deliberately awkward at this point.

The job itself is not well paid, far from it. And it's a team effort there is very little sole responsibility for anyone that couldn't be picked up by someone else. But the job is flexible in terms of sickness and has a good pension which is why I'm reluctant to leave. It's just the total inability of management to see the logics behind what I'm asking for. They are paying me to do nothing. I am paying childcare to do nothing. I just want to drop 6 measly hours.

I understand why they don't want to lose hours from the team but realistically I can't see a time when things will get so manic that this is going to be a noticeable loss. As I said I feel like they are being difficult.