Is it fair for employer to make me do 5 days worth of work in 4 days?

[AnnaP99]

Hello - I've never posted on Mumsnet before so hope this is the right place, etc.

I'm wondering if anyone has personal experience / advice to offer - I'm due back at work in two months' time, when my baby girl will be 10 months old.

I requested to go back 4 days a week instead of 5, and they said this was fine. I assumed this meant they would reallocate 20% of my work, but apparently I will just "become better organised" and do the same amount of work.

So I'm expected to cope with the same workload, in less time, for less money and less holiday entitlement.

Is this right / normal?!

Thanks,
Anna

I often think part time is the worst of all worlds - less pay, fewer promotion prospects and husband thinks you are the mug at home with all the time in the world to do the dross domestic cleaning work. Perhaps just go back full time after all and avoid a ot of extra housework and child care duties at home!

There's no if course about it. If you read the info you are asked how your existing role would be handled in a shorter time frame.

Your role.

If the answer is it can't (as someone else has to pick up the extra) then the business will refuse it. You either then return f/ t or resign. The business has fulfilled its legal requirements. And likely got rid of the 'weak' link. As either your f/t or resigned. Or you accept and try to make it work.

Or you get made redundant soon after ;)

Happened to me

Soringbreak, sad but true

I think reg has had a bit of an unfair flaming. She's simply pointed out the reality of working in some spheres with part time employees.

I don't work in the same sphere, but Let me just give an example from my own experience. A member of my team (lets call her A)requested to drop from 5 days to 3 this year. This was agreed, subject to it being a job share, so that there is someone picking up the rest of the role. However, one of our main weekly team meetings is scheduled when A isn't working. Of course she is emailed meeting notes but she approached me recently saying she felt rather out of the loop and saying she was happy to arrive 20/30 mins early once a week so that she can have a face to face catch up with me. Now, because running a smooth and happy team is important to me, I've agreed to do that. But it did occur to me that actually, this is eating into my personal time, and if my children were younger I could quite justifiably feel pissed off that I was missing time with them.

I think in reality (seeing things from both sides of the fence as it were, having been a working mum right the way through and now with a lot of responsibility for recruitment) most reasonable people see the need for give and take, and will understand that while some roles lend themselves very well to part time, there are other roles where a full timer is likely to be less costly and more efficient than two part timers. I am all for flexible working when it works well for everyone but I can understand why employers and other colleagues can get cold feet when it doesn't

you will end up doing four long days (but unpaid overtime) trying to cram all the work - so would be better off doing compressed hours eg work 8-6 at least then you'll be paid for the work you do.

What will happen to the work that comes in on the day you are off (very hard to try and imagine what this would be without knowing what you do), will this be picked up by someone else at all or just left for you to pick up on your next day in?

Op when I came back from maternity I was granted my request to work 4 days only and I was told I was expected to do 5 days' worth of work as.my replacement was managing it... It was only as the weeks went by that it came to light how she had been.cutting corners and.not complying with the law, to the point that her actions cost my organisation thousands of £... we can all be more efficient but I reckon if you could do your work in 80% of the time you'd be doing it already!
good luck :)

If you are working four days a week, getting paid for four days a week etc, then your employer should cut you a bit of slack. FWIW, I work part time and feel like I pretty much do a full time role but my employer at least is understanding re my workload.

OP, your employer must be rubbing their hands with glee - a 20% pay cut with no loss of productivity - result! Perhaps they could roll this out to the whole workforce?

I don't feel that working part-time is the worst of both worlds - quite the reverse! I've been able to combine having precious time with a young family and being able to have a good career. Now DC are at school, I can attend school events without having to take time off work and it's easier to cover school holidays etc.

Plus going part-time doesn't mean it is a permanent change - it's just a change for a period in your life - and it's much easier than having stepped out of the job market completely for x number of years.