flexible working request - how to phrase it???

[stella1w]

I'd like to request a four day week and obviously per the law, I have to include the effects I think this will have on my employer and how I propose to deal with that.
It's tricky because I won't know which dept I'll be working for until just before I go back and I won't have any knowledge of that department. I would not be allowed to work from home.
So beyond stating the obvious - I won't be there one day a week but I can check my blackberry/ try to schedule my work on other days etc, I am finding it really hard to come up with constructive or persuasive wording.
How have others dealt with this?

Difficult if you don't know the department you will be working in, so I would start with that and then follow up with how you are time effective and have the ability to manage your work load to accomodate 4 days.

I'd emphasis the fact that you feel capable in doing your role without needing to rely on support from collegues on the day you are not in.

Hard to know without knowing what your work involves, but possibilities could be:

• Email footer/out of office reply that tells people the days you work
• Make it known to colleagues which days you will work
• Agreeing to swap the day you don't work for another day if needed (though difficult if you are paying for childcare that is fixed)
• Examples of others who are working part time to show that the job can be done
• Your desk, etc can/will be used by others on the day you are not in (as employers can consider it an inefficient use of office space)

I think it's also legit though to point out any ways in which it will not affect the employer (eg - you do work that a pool of people do, so others can do it on the day you're not in, or you are not public-facing, therefore can get on with your work just as well in the 4 days a week, etc)

If all goes well, I may be able to hire a nanny who can be flexible about the days she works, though I would be nervous about making promises I can't keep.. I think the nanny might be happy to be flexible if I could be flexible with her ie. swap my days if she needed me to..
that to me sounds more like flexitime than a flexible working request, though and it seems that most people in my office v much do a regular four day a week pattern, but then they are more senior than I am and can work from home..