Asked to drop to 4 days - will they doubt my commitment?

[standsonshiftingsands]

I've been debating with myself and my husband about dropping from full time to 4 days. We both work f/t and have 3 children plus a niece staying with us. I feel the balance is a bit wrong. The house is a tip and I don't think I have enough time to spend with the kids even though all at school now - youngest is 9.

I'm not hopeful - the initial response was they don't like 4 days etc - its either full or part time. I have a colleague who is interested in picking up my day but I don't think they are keen - though no definitive answer yet.

What is bugging me is that they now might doubt my commitment to my job. I like my job - I work pretty hard its just at the minute I'm struggling a bit. I also have a couple of health issues and have to take pretty harsh medication everyday. I know I can't have my cake and eat it, but just wondered has anyone else done this and if they got a 'no' how did it feel afterwards?

I was a dept manager in a finance office and put forward to drop to three days with slightly longer hours over the three days and was amazed when it was accepted.

You need to put forward a proposal and outline how all the 'what if' scenarios will be covered and make sure they know you will be flexible to cover holidays/sickness etc.

I did it on a three month temporary basis to prove I could still run the dept and we would still meet all the deadlines, then went permanent three days, then got told to talk the rest of my dept into doing three days (they were some changes going on at the time)

I made it work so well that when I left and my replacement asked to go full time as the workload was too much, she was told no 'as Gemma made it work without any problems'.

Thanks Gemma - I had thought of writing a proposal, but the woman who wants to pick up my day thought it would be best to mention it first and see what the reaction would be. I think it could work, but I understand their reasons for declining it. It would set a precedent and what happens if I leave or she leaves?

Have you put in a formal flexible working request?

What do they mean by "it's full or part time"? 5 days or 2.5 days?