HELP - MOVING ON!

[kittycat]

I need some urgent feedback before midday today if poss.

Currently working from 9ish to 4.45 (to collect daughter from nursery) - ideally my employer needs someone who can work up until 6pm and a bit later (worked for them for many years) - love the job and haven't stayed so long for the money. I may have the option of redundancy (which wld be nice as I'm not sure when I will be able to accumulate a lump sum to finish off the house, save, holiday etc). But checking the market, it seems that not many companies will be keen to take me on for the hours that I need. I can't possibly take anything lower than £25,000 (which allows me to pay bills, food and nothing else).Not quite ready to ask for the father's help yet. I can stay at work for a trial basis to see if the timing works out for us both - but gradually feeling that I don't want to pursue this. Sorry, I'm babbling, as the more I think about it the harder it gets.

I feel more and more that I need time to myself and time for my daughter. I also have the next dilemma of (when she's 4) to collect her at 3/4pm!!

What do you do or would do?

Might a job share be possible? You could do the mornings, say till 1, and then have the afternoon to yourself, and your daughter.

I hope some more clued-up Mumsnetters spot this before midday, Kittycat, but a few things spring to mind here:

Under recent legislation you have a right to secure flexible hours to enable you to combine working with childcare arrangements for children currently under six. As your daughter is of nursery age, you qualify for this, I would have thought.

Expecting someone to work every day from 9am to 6pm as part of core hours actually also contravenes the European Work Time Directive, I think - or are they pressing you to a later start?

If you like the job and your employer likes you, then surely they can accommodate you until your daughter is at school (no nursery fees) - and you can hopefully find after-school care you are happy with if you are prepared to work until 6pm.

Finally, you mention that finances are an issue (aren't they for us all! ). I'm not sure whether it is financial or practical (picking up dd etc) help you want from her dad? If you are not currently receiving maintenance from him, surely you should be? That might take the pressure off job-seeking purely for financial reasons.

The hours you currently work are not far off the standard 35 hour week, especially if you consider taking 45 mins for lunch, which is how I just scrape by. You don't say what line of work you are in or whereabouts you are in the UK, but it is possible to find good careers in the public/HE sector where flexibility is possible and salaries such as you need not beyond the realms of fantasy.

Good luck.

That thought had occurred to me. Then again the question of money crops up again - i wld have less. I know I could apply for assistance, but the thought of approaching the services after the nightmare time I had when on maternity leave is not

Beginning to be a can't have a cake and eat it situation.

job share would be the ideal option - would probably be quite easy to sell to your employer as well, as you could be responsible for training the new person up etc and each of you could cover for the other in holidays etc with prior arrangement? wouldn't necessarily mean that you would have to drop your hours too much if you didn't want to do that - maybe if the other person started at 2.30/3.00 and you finished half an hour later so you had a bit of handover? good part time jobs are very hard to find, you'd probably have no problem finding someone great who would like the job.

Ask for assistance from your employer you mean? If you like the job and you've worked for them for years are they really that bad? You do have the right to ask for flexible hours to suit your childcare and they do have to have a good reason for refusing. What do you do that means you have to work such long hours every day with no flexibility? Also, do you get nothing from your daughter's father? You don't have to ask him for anything if you don't want to, the CSA will do it all for you if you prefer. I think a jobshare would be a good idea, particularly looking forward to your daughter being at school. Maybe your ex-dp's contribution would make up the difference in salary?

Have you been to speak to HR or just tackled it with your direct boss??

I find quite often that a lot of management have no idea of your actual rights and can be a lot more sympathetic to your situation when they realise that they cannot demand you to work long hours and you should have special rights when it comes to flexitime/jobshare etc. because you have kids.