Flexible working proposal - how to word it ?

[Rookiemum]

My wonderful son is 10 weeks old and much as I love him I need to go back to work for financial reasons. I am due to meet up with my boss in a couple of weeks time for lunch. I'd like to give her my request for flexible working at that time so as hopefully to have it all sorted out well in advance as I plan to go back in October ( if she agrees to the terms).

The thing is I would like to go back to my current job 3 days a week and I am not sure if she will agree to this. I am pretty sure she would agree to 4 days a week but to me this doesn't give me enough time with my son.
I think my job can be done in 3 days a week although there are some challenging staff issues but an extra day a week is not going to change those.
My second favourite option would be to do a job share and for this I would be prepared to work 2.5 days if it was easier to find a job share partner. Failing this I would be prepared to work 3 days in the office and an additional half day from home with my son in the nursery, or if if everything else was turned down, three days one week and four days the next - of course I would still have to pay for nursery for the 4 days each week even if not used.

The thing is I am not a great negotiator and I wondered how best to word it or put my proposals forward - anyone got suggestions or experience on this.
Thanks

One thing to note is that you are entitled to have someone present at this meeting but they cannot talk on your behalf (they could take notes so you don't forget anything) check out the DTI website as they have a really good page on this (crap at links sorry)

\link{http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/workandfamilies/flexible-working/index.html\this}

hope my link works!

Is your job something you could do remotely? I work at home 2 days a week with a dedicated line and a laptop....but I work in IT so it's possible. That way you get some time with your son even if you are working. And it looks good to the employer as you are available for emergencies too.

Alternatively if you think your boss wouldn't be too keen on 3 days, could you work 3 long days - perhaps 8 till 6 or something like that, and take short lunch breaks?

If she values you it might be worthwhile emphasising that the birth of your child has made such a big difference to your life that working full-time is simply not an option and that flexibility will be essential for you to continue to work. It worked for me but I was kicking at an open door as our HR director wanted to make then company look like a nice shiny family friendly policy and I was there at the right time.

Good luck

Why do you have to pay nursery for a full week? At mine, they will charge you by the hour or day/ 1/2 day if you're part time. Thought this was standard and only CM's charged for ft places like that.

Hi there, thanks for the responses. I would only have to pay for the nursery for 4 days each week if I went for a pattern of 3 days one week & four days the next if you see what I mean.

Working from home would probably only be an option for half/one day per week as the job itself isn't that difficult its the staff management part that takes up the time and unless I was there in person my boss would probably end up having to deal with a lot of it which wouldn'r really be fair on her.

I had thought of working longer days as some people in our office do that but it is almost impossible to do that and pick DS up from nursery as my DH has a longer commute than me so it isn't possible for him to do it.

I think I will need to talk it through with my boss and see what works best for both of us, hopefully they will be keen to have me back.

Hi RM - have a look at www.tiger.gov.uk. There is a section on flexible working which may help you to structure your request for a changed work pattern. Good luck