How do I not offend my old agency?

[sheeplikessleep]

Apparently, the agency I used to work for are keen to offer me a part-time job (I'm coming to the end of maternity leave for DS2). However, since working at this agency, I worked freelance for about a year and loved it, regular work coming in, being my own boss, flexibility, better able to manage workload etc.

Has anyone been in a similar position? Any advice on how I can word it with the agency? I'm thinking of saying that I'm interested in what they have to say, that I enjoyed working there, but that I feel the flexibility and autonomy from working for myself better suits my current situation, with having young children. BUT, bit concerned if I don't get freelance work (as I've been off for a year), obviously a permanent part time job is better than nothing.

Any advice or thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

Could you do both?

i think they will want me to work part time there (i only work 2-3 days week). but that is a good point and useful to think about, before i speak with them, thanks

Just thinking that you could take the PT job whilst building up the freelance work. A friend of mine did something similar (in marketing) and when she finally made the break and resigned they carried on using her for some freelance work.

good luck

thing is that i was working on 'catch up' time quite a bit when i was freelance as i had a client who i was getting a lot of work from.

not sure if i'd have time to do both, if they (the other client) still have the same level of work requests. the agency won't want to keep paying me freelance rates (i did a couple of projects freelance for them). dh thinks i should just say that i haven't decided, lie about when i am starting back and if i don't get freelance work in, call the agency back. feels a bit underhand.

I would suggest do both - but be utterly open about it.
The balance of work will flow between the two over time but at the moment, keeping options is a no brainer.

but if they want me 2 or 3 days a week (and they will want me in the office, very old school mentality with working from home), then i won't have time to do the freelance work? is there any sort of middle ground to think about? maybe i do say a certain number of hours a month for them? just trying to sort logistics on this.

thanks for your thoughts, just thinking this through how i could make it work.

How many days/hours do you want to work?

If 3 - can you say - you can give them 2 and leave 1 day for freelance?

But then what would happen if they are paying you part time wages and then a good paying freelance job came up - which would you give priority to?
Thats why I just have 1 hourly rate whether I'm making tea or doing managment accounts. Then no-one gets any better or worse importance of my time.

ah, did not realise they were into presenteeism.

My office had internet problems today so we all stayed home ; the work will catch up

assuming its on a semi casual basis, can you agree with them to be in when there is actual work to be done and not when there isn't - or even work out a block book discount freelance rate that give you the freedem but them the lower price and you both the security of knowing the work will be covered

Tracy
my "hour rate" & "day rate" fluctuate wildly depending on how much of my brain I'm using, whether travel is costed in (whether the drive is a nice one) whether the work is effectively CPD etc etc etc

yeah, i don't think i can work part-time for them + freelance, i just don't want to be working that many hours at the moment. pay with freelance is about double what i get from them. hmmm, maybe i work out some sort of daily rate for them. i'll see what they have to say first, but this has helped me clarify my thoughts. i need to be positive with them, but honest that i don't want to give up freelance and say i'd like to see what we can come up with that is workable for both.

Tricky if they insist you have to be in the office.

I had to turn down a good 6 month contract because they insisted I work one day a week in their offices. In my situation they diudn't know me and they are very traditional organsiation who seemed to think work from home = a day watching Jezza. Perhaps you need to come up with a way of aligning their fears that they are going to get less from you because they can't see you acutally doing the work.

Agree that you have to be 100% upfront with them if you are planning to do both.

i would be upfront if i was planning on doing both. guess i was wondering if i could somehow keep them as a 'plan b' if freelance work quiet. don't think i can though.

appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

When I say I only have 1 charge out rate - it's really 2. One rate for on site and one rate for at home - which is 25% cheaper - maybe if you gave them the cost for both scenarios - they'd take the home/cheaper option.

hmmm, that's worth considering tracy. thanks