Flexible Working Request Advice

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Hi all,

Any advice on the below would be very appreciated!

I'm returning to work from mat leave, I work four days a week (after my first mat leave I chose to return for four days a week, there has never been an issue with this), my company wants us to return to the office 40% of our time, so 1.6 days a week for me, two days a week for a full time employee.

I want to request that I only go into the office 1 day a week. The facts of the matter are:

During my mat leave they have changed the office location. The new location will add at least an hour to my commute, so two plus hours per day.

The company were in the old location for 30+ years and I had no reason to believe they would move location, I structured my life around the office location. I bought a house in an expensive area and I chose childcare based on the old location.

Because of the new location I will have increased childcare costs, in addition to the emotional side of putting my sensitive child into wraparound care that wouldn't previously have been necessary. I will lose two hours a day of time with my family. I will have increased petrol costs. It's a real term pay cut.

Another factor, unlike most other people in my company I'm in a specialist role where I spend at least 50% of my time dealing with employees who work in a different county, so the "collaboration" benefits of being in the office are minimal.

I've always had very positive appraisals, including during COVID where we solidly WFH for around three years.

Any advice on which of the above is relevant in my flexible working request? And what my chances are of them agreeing to it? If they don't agree to it I may then request to only return three days a week, which will obviously be a significant pay cut that I'll feel I was pushed into because of the location change.

Many thanks for any advice!

So 3 days a fortnight for you? Was there any redundancy offered due to the relocation? An extra hour may not be deemed reasonable and it would be usual to offer transitional payments to cover some of the additional travel costs to encourage retention.

Yep three days a fortnight for me, but it's awkward with childcare to not have the same routine every week so I'd like to have just one day a week, so I don't think it's an unreasonable request, but I'm imagining them saying they're not unreasonable in requesting 40% office attendance.

No redundancy offer, it's not actually very far in terms of miles but it's in the opposite direction to where I live and I'd have to take a motorway which is notoriously bad for traffic. The only costs they're paying is for parking at the new location, and that's only for five years, after that we'll have to sort ourselves out which could cost up to £20 a day. In the old location there was plenty of free parking.

Thanks!

I'd also add that I don't really want to be made redundant, I'd really struggle to find a local job as highly paid, particularly as I'm part time.

Well all you can do is ask via a statutory flexible working request. Don’t think it’s that unreasonable

My personal experience is that it’s best to talk to them before putting the request in. That way you can gauge what’s likely to get improved, and if need be come to a compromise. Otherwise you end up with requests after request, and they get more pee’d off at the workload that comes with each request (and less accommodating).

I think all your points are valid and you’d hope they’d be reasonable and hear you out. But equality part of it is down to unfortunate circumstances with the new office being in the opposite direction.

If it looks like one day a week is going to be a no-go, and you want the same routine each week. You could consider pushing for 1.5 days in the office and driving home at lunchtime? Your DP could do the drop off on that day so you can head in earlier, traffic should be better lat lunchtime, and you’ll be able to pick up at your normal wfh time.

So I would be VERY clear in your request about why your request will have no / minimal impact to the business. If they reject it, it will be because of 'business needs'. So pre-empt that and cut off the argument before it starts.

Is there anything you could concede - same day in the office every week to make it easier for others to know when and where to find you? Could you come in an extra day once a month if there is a particular team mtg?

Or on a 2nd office day, leave early and do an hour in the evening (altho I know im not capable of much in the evenings once I've been working then done tired kids / bathtime/ bedtime etc!)

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I'm very happy to do the same day in the office each week, I used to do that anyway. I could offer one extra day each month, I'm sure by I could manage that with my husband. I'd really rather not do a half day in the office every week, it's just a waste of time! But I suppose if it comes down to it I could offer that

I'll be sure to make it clear I there will be minimal business impact in my request and I'll talk to my manager beforehand, thanks!

the relocation, childcare costs and concerns, loss of family time and where you bought a house are probably not really relevant to your request. Can I suggest that you emphasise the benefits to your employer to them?

Thanks, I do agree they won't really care about my personal circumstances, I suppose cynically I thought if they felt a bit guilty/sorry for me that they might be more likely to agree.

I can't really think of any benefits me WFH would give to the employer, I suppose happier employees work harder but I don't really want to imply I won't work hard if they don't agree to the flexible working request.