Flexible working request

[Janch13]

What would your flexible working request look like if this was your current setup:

• returning to work following maternity leave
• work mostly remotely, with some visits to offices
• part of a global team, reporting into someone on a California time zone (particularly relevant!)

I am thinking about the fact that my “new” manager will be logging in just as I am finishing up for the day. I will have a strict hard stop on my work day due to childcare pickup. I’m not working late (past 5pm) when 5-7pm is pretty much the only time off my day to really see my kids (and it will be chaos with dinner, bath, bed routine) but was considering maybe to request to change my working hours so that I log on for a bit say 7:30-9:30pm and took a could of hours out during the work day.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the above, has anyone done this or similar?

We work in a global role and I sometimes need to dial in to calls outside of 9-5. I prefer 9-5 so I just do this occasionally and then take the time back.
my manager has 5 year old twins so her agreement is that as long as she does her hours they don’t really care when she does them. She tends to work core hours 10-3 every day, with a couple of 9-5 days but then on the other days she may log in in the morning at 6:30 and work while husband sorts the kids then take a break and take them to school or she may finish at 3 pick them up and then do another couple of hours once they’re in bed. But not every day as that would be exhausting.
Could you flex so that you agree to a certain number of 9-5 days and a couple of days when you finish earlier do pickups and tea/bedtime then log on later?
Do you have to have fixed flex hours if that makes sense?

@LinaM20 This sounds like a good setup.

Thanks for all the replies. I’m basically just coming back from maternity leave and there has been a lot of changes including who I am reporting in to, and I thought maybe there was an opportunity for me to change up my hours in a way that would suit my personal/family life, but also give me some more time to connect with my manager (California time zone) but actually as many have pointed out, it seems the current 9-5 works best with childcare etc.

Im just not willing to work late between 5-7pm as I feel like is really the only time I’ll have with my children each day. So even if my manager requests a call at 5/5:30 I will have to decline it - however I’m happy to dial in later on (say 8pm) when they are in bed (all being well!!)

Although again, as many pointed out, if this becomes a regular thing I would have little to no down time and that’s not a sustainable option.

Maybe your new boss does different types of hours due to his / her role. They might have times when they are online when you are.

If your contract is 9-5, do 9-5. Tell them you won't be working outside of your contracted hours and if they want you to, they need to pay overtime. Having you report to someone in California when you're in the UK is insane!

If your working day is 9-5, stick with that. If your boss asks for a call at 5/5.30 (which presumably is what they've done in the past because it's least inconvenient to you), you can say that that no longer works, and could you make it 8pm? It's unlikely to be a problem.

Are they flexible at the moment if you ask for some daytime off in lieu of staying late for a call? Or have you just not asked? Most employers are reasonable - if you're flexible about having the odd meeting out of hours, they can be flexible if you could use a late start another day.

My DH used to have a weekly call with the US early evening, in the days of working in an office, and as a result we ended up having dinner very late after he'd travelled home. When I realised that he was the only UK person on the call, I asked whether they couldn't hold it after we'd had dinner, and ring him at home instead. That was absolutely no problem - all it took was the suggestion!

Insane? Par for the course in global firms. Especially if you want career progression, the best people for certain functions are chosen for talent first, location second.

OP you said 9-5 suits you, so I see no reason to change unless requested. But I've known others to start work late at 11 or even 12, allowing them to sleep in!
Of course the issue here is that you and your spouse become ships passing in the night if they work a standard 9-5. But you can easily tag team it.
You do the nursery drop-offs and have your 'me-time' in the mornings. Maybe pick-ups.
You have the 5-7 family time and it's all them after that while you resume work.

I don't understand why people think '9-5# is ideal with a non-sleeping baby surely starting later helps with this???

Thanks @ScaryM0nster this is really useful. Going to use this as the basis of my intro with new manager. (Although I know she regular takes Teams calls while driving!)

I agree I’d think I’d say I’d be ok to do the odd meeting (not twice a week myself!) but otherwise keep to what I was doing.
Its an 8 hour difference not 7 but when I used to work in a company with a California office I found that the Americans started work at 8am anyway, so we’d have a 4 or 4.30pm meeting and then go home.

Hello,

I do something quite similar…

I work 37 hours over 4 days. I start work (from home) around 6am - 6:30am, and work until 8am, when my husband leaves for work, I then drop my children off at school and nursery, which takes me around 40 mins and then work until 4pm-5pm. Where I then clock out again to pick up the children, sometimes if I am down on my time I do tend to log in once the children are asleep, and do a couple of hours then! Doesn’t bother me as otherwise I’d just be watching tv!!

😁

Before COVID my work wouldn't even have entertained home working, however when lock down hit, I was pregnant, so was sent to work from home. I made it work well, and as a valued member of the team it was agreed if I went back at 9 months I would be able to continue to work from home with flexible hours (my job can be done at any time) so I work 4am to 8.30am then my husband goes to work while I look after our child, then our child naps for 2hrs at lunch then my husband lunches for an hour and after that I am usually finished my hours.

With the new flexible working rules from next month you can ask what you seem is best for your situation, there is quite strict rules for it being denied coming into force very soon.

No wonder your name is @Imisssleep2 with a 4am start for work! 😳😳😳 you are a braver woman than me but fair play if that’s what suits you and your family!

and yes it’s the new rules that make it occur to me that maybe there’s something I could request that works better for me but I’m not sure there really is tbh.

Hi would probably see about doing longer days. Were someone else can do pick up (if possible) and then finish early one day a week. So I used to do Monday, Tuesday till 6.30, have a Wednesday off and then so 9-5 Thursday Friday and then 8-12 on a Saturday morning. It meant on a Monday and Tuesday I got about 30 mins with child but all day on the Wednesday which worked better for me

I work in a similar way to you, remotely and with a team based in the US (although NYC). I usually do all my emails etc first thing in the morning while my husband gets the kids dressed etc. They are in childcare until 3 so I pretty much work through. I then break between 3-5ish but respond to urgent things. I’ll usually do a bit while I’m cooking dinner 😂 and when they’re in bed I’ll work a bit for the US team but majority can be done from my phone while I’m half watching TV. It works well for me. We have a ‘core hours’ vs ‘set hours’ set up, so it basically just means we don’t care when you work as long as the work gets done.

Find out what your manager's general work pattern is - if they are working with a lot of EMEA based people then they may not actually work 9-5 . I've been on calls where SF based people are dialling in at 5am their time to suit a majority EMEA and NY group.

In a truly global organisation there has to be flex on all sides, so be up front about what you can and can't do. Rather than doing a flexible working request I'd give it a few months whilst you settle back in and see what your managers expectations are

There are some real perks of working with/for someone on a different timezone - my team get things done a lot quicker when one person finishing their day can hand something off to someone just starting it

Haha I kept telling myself with my son it was temporary hours till he qualified for 30 hrs funded childcare hours, now he is that age and I have an 11 week old baby so will have to start the countdown of those hours again when I go back off maternity leave 🤦🏼‍♀️ I know hours are being extended to younger children but I will try to keep her at home with me while I can still cover my hours with early mornings and naps, hopefully till 3 ISH give or take 6 months.

Stick with 9-5, I wouldn’t want to put the kids down and then log back on - you’ll never feel you can switch off as always got to get back to the laptop. What if you want to ever do anything in the evenings also?

So this is like, you're basically full but it's an open buffet so you're wanting to go back for fifths?

What happens when DC are older and have clubs after school etc and homework?

OP you've said that the couple of hours you could take out of the earlier part of your day might work well for you and your family - what did you have in mind? What's the benefit for you aside from time with your manager?

Presumably you have no work responsibilities or seniority? Only because such jobs require some flexibility from post-holders in terms of hours, etc (to get a job complete, to attend a meeting, to hit a deadline) and you are so adamant that your 5pm end is not flexible -you are finishing come hell or high water by the sound of it
But, if there is a substantial change to your Ts & Cs, go to HR.

I have done some working like this, for short periods as projects/workload demanded. My kids were a little older and more reliable about bedtime, but still it’s a killer, don’t do it. You can’t shut down from your day, you brain is still busy as you’re trying to go to bed so you don’t sleep. You have no you time, no time even to do simple chores around the house like hanging washing, packing bags for the next day, and all that stacks up like an extra pile of stress. It’s horrible and it feels really unhealthy. Push it back to the California manager to figure out how they work effectively with you - it’s their responsibility not yours anyhow.

I do know people who work/have worked a bit like this but around school hours, so 9-3 and say 7-9, and have made it work. Generally they wouldn’t have meetings or stuff scheduled after 3pm so very flexible to manage, but it’s still exhausting. I have another friend who routinely works like this due to his senior position in a global team, and he struggles with it, especially being able to relax/wind down or do any kind of exercise.

At my company this wouldn't even need a flexible working request it would just be a local agreement with your manager and see how it goes and if it benefits you and the company
people who don't work in global roles reporting out of country will struggle to truly understand I think

I did similar when my DC were very young (nursery age) with a hard stop at 4pm then I worked 8-10pm. It worked very well until the DC got older and started school and had clubs after school. I changed my hard stop to 3pm but ended up changing my hours as Guides / swimming etc pushed tea and bedtime later and I couldn't manage it.

So I ended up changing my flex every couple of years. If your employer is ok with that, then go for it. But it isn't a long term option for many in my view.

@Finlesswonder Basically.. is that an issue?