To feel work situation isn’t fair?

[Brodie13]

A couple of things have happened at work this week that I’d love to get people’s opinions on.

I started a new job 3 months ago, it’s at a company I’ve wanted to work at for a
while. I already had a pretty good job but it just wasn’t exciting me & I found it dull. It was nice & flexible though & the money was decent.

I have two kids (6 & 7) and we live in Australia, our family are all in England so flexibility in a job is very important to us.

When I was offered the job I asked about flexible working & explained that I currently work 2 days in the office and 2
days from home and hve 1 day off. They offered me the same salary as I was on and so I explained that in order for me to be able to accept the role they’d have to match that setup to which they agreed.

I have been working from home 2 days a week with no issues. Last week a colleague informed the company she’d be working from home the next day at 1.48am on our teams channel. This went down very badly with senior leadership who said it seemed entitled that she’d had a night out and then was working from home the next day so they’re now reviewing the policy.

I put my wfh days in everyone’s calendars each week and today my manager replied to my invite questioning why I need to wfh. I explained my reasons (childcare) and am yet to hear back.

Apparently one of the reasons they’re rolling out a new remote working policy is because they’re trialling a 9 day fortnight for 6 months from July. But, this is only for full time employees so I won’t benefit.

So now I feel doubly hard done by that I’ll only be working 2 days less a month than full time employees but only earning 80% of a full time salary. Whereas they’ll be working 2 more days and getting paid 20% more.

And because of this, I might not be able to work from home anymore which in all honestly will be a real issue for us as a family.

Any advice on how to voice my opinion while keeping in professional pls?

thanks

So now I feel doubly hard done by that I’ll only be working 2 days less a month than full time employees but only earning 80% of a full time salary. Whereas they’ll be working 2 more days and getting paid 20% more.

Usually a 9 day fortnight means condensed hours though, surely they will be working the same hours over 9 days rather than 10?

Are your wft days in your contract? If so why would that change if the new proposals are jsut for FT contracts?

Nothing in my contract about place of work.

And no, they’re not doing anymore hours. They’re just going to try and find efficiencies to save the equivalent of 6 mins every hour.

I was going to say they can't treat you less favorably than full time employees, but then realised you're in Australia. No idea about Australian employment law. The hours thing doesn't seem fair though.

I think you need to try and take the emotion out of it - regardless of anyone else's situation, you have your particular pattern agreed (hopefully in writing?!) and that's that. Frankly it isn't up to them WHY you need to work this particular way if that's your agreed way of working.

I'm only familiar with UK employment law, but it might be worth checking what your actual contract says about your working location/pattern.

Nothing in writing, just a conversation I had before accepting.

The guy I had the conversation with is still there and a reasonable guy so will speak to him if needs be.

My manager is new & hasn’t been there for long.

I’ve checked and no location is mentioned in the contract.

If they're doing 9 day fortnight that's not compressed hours then that should be amended in your contract too in a pro-rata format, or you get extra salary to compensate.
As for the WFH it's great to say this with hindsight, but get these things in writing. Does your work have any childcare flex working policies you can use?

If it's not in your contract, it could be tricky. Certainly would be in the UK.

Re 9 day policy are you the only part time worker? Is the 10th day off the same day every fortnight? Is it one of your working days?

No I’m not the only part time worker. I am in my team but not in the company as a whole.
Each time are going to work out what days individuals will have each fortnight so it won’t be the same for everyone.