anybody out there gone back "part time" after mat leave - but found it's really full time...

[WeaselMum]

Just had a quick email exchange with my line manager which has left me wondering. I am going back to work in a few months and going down to part time hours. They have said this is not a problem but they want me to work on a Monday as this is a busy day.

So far ok - but - as I am a manager with a large team I just assumed I would be going back as part of a job share and they would be advertising the other part of the job - therefore no need for them to worry about cover on particular days.

Am I being paranoid or does this sound like they are not intending to employ another manager and are expecting me to manage the team just on 3 days a week - because I don't think this is feasible - and I would be very unhappy about going back under that scenario.

So just wondered if this has happened to anyone - maybe I'm making too much of it - but when I raised it my manager has just said she will take guidance from HR - which frankly has me worried!

I went back partime after me ds - but am doing the same amount of work - but in half the hours. It just means that there are no coffee/lunch/chit chat breaks. Get in, get your head down, work and leave!

Its not very satisfying on a social level as I miss out on the social interaction between colleagues.

The bit about social interaction does bother me a little, but tbh I'm more worried about getting the actual amount of work done. I could keep my head above water with the emails, paperwork etc but then there would be no time for coaching, giving feedback to the team etc - that really concerns me.

I'm hoping to get someone to job share with me. Work is just not getting done and it starts to weigh on my mind, causing stress snappieness etc.
Not worth it - push them for a job sharer - or can you do 5 mornings? Thats what I do so that at least I'm in each day. Tho the travelling is a pia for half days.

I think this is classic and you will find yourself being blamed - clearly alarm bells are ringing and rightly so. IMO put your concerns in writing, and start pushing, also put the word out - if you could turn up with a candidate you can work with already lined up, that could be great.

But do it positively. Potentially a great opportunity for somebody within your team to be promoted with support? 2 for the price of one?

have tried to manage a jobshare with people who hadn't 'chosen' each other and who didnt' work well together - NOT good. so if you can find your own partner, this is likely to work better.

I have thought about 5 mornings but the travel costs plus cost of nursery would be too great.

choosy - your idea about lining up a job share partner is great. I will see what I can do - but I am pretty sure that if they do agree it's a full time job they will want to advertise a vacancy for the job share, even if it's just internally (local authority, they do things by the book normally).

i would agree re doing it right, i was about to say 'your' candidate woudl be able to describe lots of good ways of working together in the itnerview, but prob unfair way of approaching it.

I wouldn't be worried about her saying she needs guidance, she probably does, that's all!

How did you agree that you would return part time? Did you have a written agreement? What did it say? Did it state hours or days? Was there any discussion about how the rest of the job would be covered? I think if there is a ft requirement then you ought to ask for a discssion about how that will work.

And are you going back pt or compressed hours? I was about to apply for the latter but other changes at work have made it impossible but it's where you work ft hours but fit them into fewer days, so 35 hours in 4 days was my aim. I manage people too and part of my selling this to my boss was going to be that I had a strong number 2, that nothing could go too horribly wrong in the 1 day a week I wasn't going to be there and that I would consider being contactable in case of dire, dire emergency.

hi www - you're right that I shouldn't worry too much about her seeking guidance - in fact she does seek guidance from HR for just about everything (my dp has reminded me!)

we have just exchanged emails so far - I asked for particular days and times (pt, not compressed hours) and she said fine, except we would like a Monday - at which point I said I'd assumed that any days would be ok since they would be employing a job share partner but perhaps they had another plan...so if she comes back and says they won't be employing anyone else I will be asking exactly how they envisage it working.

The weird thing is it was actually an HR administrator who strongly suggested to me before I left that if I came back part time, I shouldn't work Mondays (works out better as I get my bank hol Mondays to take any time I want then)

Anyway, re: the compressed hours, I would be happy to do this but just couldn't manage the longer days to fit in with nursery hours - dp works long and unpredictable days and we have no family or anyone to help with drop offs and pick ups etc - it's a pain

this has happened to me because although they agreed to a job share my 'sharee' won't start until around three or four months after me. that's left me doing a full time job in three days. worse, i work in a team of two and a couple of weeks ago the other guy was away so i had to do two full time jobs in three days. only i couldn't do it all. which left another person unhappy. she complained. i defended myself vigorously. apologies all round. none of this happened out of malice - it's a bit of poor management, a bit of cost cutting and a bit of bad luck. but my advice to anyone in a similar situation is make sure your manager knows how much work you're doing and push for your job share to start asap - ideally at the same time as you. despite all of the above, i do love being back at work. good luck!

it's good to hear you're glad to be back EnormousChanges...I think you've probably got it spot on when you say it's not out of malice. I don't think anyone is out to get me really, I just panicked a bit on Friday but now I've thought about it, they are exactly the type of place to INTEND to get a job share partner in place and trained etc but not get round to it for months...I've hopefully raised it in time to get sorted as I 'm not due back till June.

one thing is for sure - no-one will take having your job share in place as seriously as you so if you can keep tactfully reminding them of your return to work date and try to make sure they have everything lined up it'll be well worth it. i think there is a bit of 'out of sight out of mind' when you're on maternity leave. good luck with it all!

hmmm

HR's line on this is that you wait until the job share is in place and then negotiate hours with each other - er why??

But more worryingly - it's not been decided yet whether to advertise the job share or just expect other team leaders pick up on the days I'm not there - as if I were on leave on those days . Would be very unhappy if I were my colleagues...

Therefore they are still insisting on Mondays as they want to make sure there is a team leader in on their busiest day.

I did make my concerns clear over how it would work if they didn't advertise it but I doubt my views will be a part of the decision making process - they aren't usually.

I don't particularly want to go back anyway as I don't enjoy it but I don't think I want to be a SAHM (we could just about afford it though I would need to pay back loads of maternity pay if I resigned now). Aaaargh. Don't know what to do.

Hi WeaselMum - don't know if you are still watching this but wanted to say hi if you are! I are currently coming to the end of 1 yr mat leave after having DD2 last April. I'm dreading going back as she still seems like such a little baby whereas DD1 was much more toddlerish when I went back the 1st time. Anyroadup - I'm a P/T job-sharing manager for a County Council and it works really well which is the main reason why I don't just jack it in. When I returned last time my manager at the time sounded a lot like yours - all unsure and 'suck it and see' about how to organise the team. After a few months of doing everything that I used to do but in half the time, and having to hear about umpteen unresolved problems that came up on my 'days off' I'd had enough and basically told my manager that I would recruit a job-share partner for myself. He didn't complain - he was just glad he didn't have to do it! I played it above board and equal opps but I knew an ex-colleague who would be perfect so although I interviewed a few others it was only ever going to be her. You do need to compliment each others skills and trust and like each other IMO. We also negotiated the hours split between us, mind you I'm back on a different pattern next month so I agreed that with our new boss (who is also a friend luckily!) Enough about me - just wanted to say be very clear and firm about what you will and won't do IN WRITING and copy to HR. If issues are ignored keep raising them and confirm in writing. You rights are protected and you have to channel into that stroppy / assertive side that really comes out when you are a mum!! Give it a go (am telling myself this too!) and make them sort it with you. They clearly want you back so must assist you as much as they can.

Most employers know that they tend to get damn good value for money out of part-timers, as we do get in and get on as there is no "oh, I'll do it tomorrow". I always worked hard, but my productivity has gone through the roof since I came back on 3 days a week.

I've had to find a different way of working too. Am a lot more focused now and have to know what is "good enough" as there often isn't time to go back and check.

It's good though - I know I do a good job and I get to spend 4 days a week with ds. If there is a balance, this is probably it. Bloody exhausting though!!

Weaselmum be careful what you wish for. A friend of mine had a job-share that worked well, then that person left and she had a jobshare with a really ambitious (and childfree) witch of a woman who was angling to push her out and did stuff like forever doing much much more than expected, and dropping hints about my friend not pulling her weight. It didn't work in the end, but made my friends' life hell for many months.

Why not try to negotiate to drop 40% (or whatever) of your responsibilities - eg stay responsible for managerial direction, appraisal of staff etc etc and maybe pass up budget-setting, resource allocation work, or whatever.

FWIW I do 4 days a week and there is no cover on the 5th day. I have a blackberry and often use it but no-one ever expects me to be around on email on days off, and everything waits till I get back. As you can imagine it means I am still doing a full-time job but in less hours and as Tracyk says it means that all the little 'windows' get eaten up with work. However the advantages are that (a) people still view you as a 'proper' manager and not a slacker(b) When I sat down with my boss and pointed out that the work hadn't actually shrunk he agreed and I managed to negotiate a full-time salary with him. They can't really justify otherwise if they don't get in a jobshare and don't take any responsibilities away to reflect the switch to part-time.

mmm............I think you must have the employer of the year! Any drop in hours where I am means a drop in salary (pro rata) even if you are still doing the FT job as a part timer!!!

Thanks so much for all your thoughts on this.

I asked for a meeting with my line manager, the manager of the department, and HR and went in on Wednesday. The upshot of it was that my manager did a total u-turn (as she often does) and practically denied ever having said what she did...this has happened before with her and it gets really tiresome. Anyway, most of the discussion was with the senior guy who understood what I was talking about and said of course it will be advertised - though for various reasons (valid ones) there may be a delay in appointing someone (which is ok by me because I am likely to be able to be on the interview panel for the post if it does come to that!).

The weird thing is as soon as we had come to an agreement I started to look forward to going back - they were talking about some new things that have come into place which sound really interesting. So although I have had a few weeks of stress about it - I feel much better all round.

Sparkletastic I totally agree with you about the assertive side that comes out once you are a mum! I felt I really challenged them on the way they had managed the situation and I will definitely not be afraid to pull them up on it if they do not meet their promises. Thanks again.