Flexible working application

[Lottiebryant]

Am due back to work after maternity leave later this year and plan to return part time over 3 days. I've been asked to fill a flexible working application and I'm in a little pickle on how to answer some of the questions - do you think what I've put down below is ok? any further guidance, would be greatly appreciated.

1: Explain the effect you think the application will have on your duties/role, colleagues, clients and division: I believe that by sharing my role with another colleague, I will be able to continue to manage my duties and role with minimal impact. I am also willing to continue my work from home and on my non working days to ensure that my duties are being fully met.

2: how can the change in working days be managed and any issues that you need to overcome: A colleague willing to job share would need to be identified to manage the change in working pattern. However should this not be forthcoming, for a short period I can be flexible and can WFH on Thursday and Friday's until a suitable colleague is found.

3: any further information or considerations that you feel are relevant to request:n/a

4: any alternatives to the request that you might consider:I am willing to consider alternative flexible part time roles within company or to discuss a redundancy scenario.

Are you expected them to advertise for the two days? Or do you have someone in mind for the job share? Have you discussed this already with your manager to get an idea of how likely they are to agree?

With 4, I'm not sure why redundancy would apply here? If there's a business reason why you can't work 3 days then you'd have to either work full time or resign.

Is it a customer facing role?

You can't offer to work from home on your non-working days. Sorry if I've misread your intent there, but it sounds like you're offering to work five days but be paid for three...

@thatstoast - they've agreed to advertise for a job share for the two days. I don't have anyone in mind. There is no business reason why my role can't be split for a job share.
@JeanSeberg - no not external customer facing just internal clients/stakeholders
@ohTinky - The WFH on non working days was to help them until they found someone to job share - I will change the wording though so good point as I defo don't want unpaid work!

Do you to think I've answered the questions enough or do I need to be more detailed in some way? i find these questions quite confusing.
Many thanks

It sounds positive if they're willing to advertise the job share. Maybe think about if it would work if you could do 2.5 days or maybe 3 days each so you have a day where you're both in the office. Obviously 3 days each increases the cost but it might improve efficiency of the job share.

It's hard to say if there's enough detail without knowing the company. You've really got to think about it from the point of view of the business. I hope it works out for you.

I was going to say what OhTinky said... definitely don't give them any idea that you will do any work for free!

I think it's important to ask what happens if they can't recruit.

I've recently asked for jobsharer only to be told there is a hiring freeze so I've no idea if it will be approved or not. My post can't be done parttime but it's not my fault if the company is unable or unwilling to hire someone.

You need to remove the redundancy reference. If they cannot find a job share then you'll have to suck it up or resign. That isn't redundancy. It makes you seem a bit silly or threatening.