Flexible working refusal- anyone else out there?

[Cereja]

Hi there
I work for what I always praised as a progressive employer, a left of centre london council. I manage a team where two (out of 11) people work flexibly, my old deputy used to work flexibly, my manager works flexibly and her manager works flexibly too.
I had told my manager well before I went on maternity leave that my plan was to come back working 5 days in for (ie working longer hours, but less days). She never intimated this would be an issue, and given the above, I was pretty confident it wouldn't be.
I was disappointed, frankly saddened, and left feeling like they are not keen on having me back, when my request for flexible working was refused.
I really love my job, love my team, really believe in what I do, and know that I am pretty good at it, so am gutted to be feeling so ambivalent about going back.
I am challenging their decision, with the help of the union, but was wondering if anyone else has been through this? It would be great to hear people's experiences

Hi, I haven't posted on here for ages but I wanted to give you some encouragement! My initial request for flex working on my return after mat leave was also refused. I went to appeal and it was granted so keep trying! I was told they didn't want to set a precedent but the written reason was that it would impact on quality of my work.
I gathered lots of evidence of others in diff departments doing similar roles who were working flexibly so doesn't sound like you would have a problem with this.
I also provided copies of my diary from before mat leave and showed how I could manage it effectively.
I wasn't in a union unfortunately (they would have had a field day!) but I took a colleague to my appeal meeting who leads our women's network which really helped. She took loads of notes so I didn't have to worry about that.
I also called Working Families (a charity I think) for advice and they were great.
Good luck!

can you havea sit down chat too?

I put in a flex request for Monday, wedsnesday and Friday and we had a Frank discussion about business needs and busy days etc. with monday and Friday being quieter days when did not want me to work them but they wanted Tues, Wed and thurs

I had a potential childcare issue so asked if I put in for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday as a compromise would that be ok.

it was

discussing before my official request went in made it a lit smoother and I think using terminology (child under 5, business needs and compromise on actual days (and hours - I put in a 30 mibute lunch instead of 1 hour) mafe them more open to accept my request

imo

My DH has recently requested to work from home.
He works for a large international company and is in IT. All his work is completed online.
Not 100% sure what he actually does but I do know that the computers he manages are physically in the States. His line manager is based in the States. DH is a line manager for someone in India.
He works in London but actually has no need to be in the office. He does not work directly with anyone in the office.
All weekend work (of which there is lots) and emergency work gets done from home.
He has had his meeting but his request has been refused - they don't want to set a precedence. We still haven't had a written reply yet.
He has been warned verbally not to make a fuss (i.e. bonus are coming up soon!)
I want him to appeal - what are the chances of it being accepted?

Hi OP. I second the suggestion of a chat with your manager. Do you know why your application was refused as it may be that a minor change could make it acceptable. I've granted quite a few flexible working requests but almost none of them are as initially proposed so it's all a matter of discussion and compromise. Good luck.