Flexible working rejected in preliminary "talks"

[cereza]

Hello

I am due back to work in march. I approached my manager 2 weeks ago to let them know I would like to go back to work on a P/T basis (22 hours). She came back to me a couple of days later to tell me they would not accept that, and can I please consider going back to my previous 33 hours.

I don't want to do so many hours and cannot find a solution that would suit both me and my employers.

My question is should I carry on and apply formally for this arrangement, so that it is done (and rejected) the "official" way, ie, in writing, etc.

If I go ahead and request it will I piss them off? Do I have a better chance to have my request properly looked into and approved?

Dh says that they can't have considered my plan seriously since she only came back to me a couple of days after I talked to her, and there cannot have been enough time for them to give it a serious thought. He says they are trying to see if I give up the request.

Did I make a mistake probing first, should I have just made the official written request and that's it?

I would appreciate any advice you can give me!

I think initial talks can be good as it will give you an idea as to what your manager is thinking.

Did you put together a proper business case as to how your proposed pattern won't be detrimental to the business? Or did you just ask if you could reduce your hours?

If your manager has properly considered your request, then I don't think putting in a formal request is going to help. If you don't think she has properly considered it, then it could be worth emailing her with a summary of what you both discussed (a nice way of getting it in writing).

I know that you said OH feels that because your manager only thought about it for a couple of days, you don't think this is enough. I think that is doesn't matter how long they think about it - as along as they have thought about it properly.

If I were you, before making a decision on how to pursue this, I would try and put myself in my managers position and ask myself if the request was reasonable. Regardless of what you would like, do you think your managers reasons were reasonable? If so, then I wouldn't take it further. If not, then why not tell her that you'll have another think about it and then after Xmas, write to her formally and when you do this, you will need to provide counter-arguments as to her reasons her initial objections. For example, you could say '.... we have been discussing my request informally and my manager didn't believe I could reduce my hours becuase XXXX. HOwever, I believe that it could work because XXX.

I agree with chanie

If it was just an exploratory 'what if' chat, then putting in a 'proper' application will enable you to put forward a business case as to why your request will benefit your employer, how you can do your job in less hours without negative impact on your employer or your colleagues, and addressing all the potential concerns. Your manager than has the opportunity to consider it properly, including the solutions to her various concerns being presented to her.

Thanks a lot, I think the problem is that I did not really put forward a business case. I need to come up with some solution to cover the hours that I won't be there.

I have a bit of a bugbear about this issue. This isn't mentioned as a criticism of you, but there is a lot of awareness in our culture of the right to ask to work flexibility, but very little of the responsibilities that go with it.

Some employers are shit and prejudiced about their working arrangments, true. Many, many more just can't see beyond what is currently done without some help. If presented with a well thought out business case, quite a number of those employers will either agree or reach a compromise.

I think that, as others have said, the onus is now on you to go back with a more formal request, including all the details of how you work could be made more efficient, or reallocated (without simply dumping on colleagues). The way to get this agreed is to have the answer to every little thing so it seems madness not to .

Good luck

That's fair enough, thank you Ribena.
I am putting together the case for it. Re the reallocation of work, in my case it is a question of outsourcing more stuff (they are already outsourcing), and I am not sure they will want to do that... we'll see.