Advice on working from home, please.....

[soothepoo]

With dd starting school in September, I need to re-organise the way I work, and want to propose to the company that I work from home. I don't think they will go for this unless I offer them some cost-reduction benefit. TBH, I'm not exactly overworked at the moment, and could probably do my work in 2/3 of the time I am currently paid for (am currently working 2.5 days a week). If I were to propose working on an hourly basis, what implications for me are there (other than less pay, of course!)? Would it be better to stipulate a minimum number of hours, or variable hours? I have heard of a zero-hours contract, and am vaguely aware that this is Not A Good Thing, but I don't know exactly what is meant by a zero-hours contract really. Would working on an hourly basis make me self-employed, or would the company continue to pay my tax and NI? Sorry if this all sounds really vague and as if I don't know what I am talking about (I don't , ), but I would really appreciate it if someone could either explain it to me, or point me in the direction of a website that could. Thanks in advance.

I think you have to be really careful that you're not setting yourself up for the company to hang you out to dry.

I think offering to work on an hourly basis is v. generous of you. You actually have a legal right to request a change to your working circumstances under recent work life balance legislation - every primary carer with a child under six does. The company has to take your request seriously and consider it carefully but can reject it if they feel that the company or your colleagues will suffer as a result.

The best way is to go with a possible solution and if you go with cost savings, I think it's more likely to be taken seriously.

I would stipulate a minimum number of hours (or say two days, for example - this will make it easier for them to do the payroll, and it will mean that they won't have to keep a close eye on whether you're going over your contracted hours and you're billing them for that). I don't think there are any implications, but you might want to be careful about dipping under 16 hours for tax credit purposes. I wouldn't go near a zero hours contract as that basically means that you have a contract to work with the company if they need you, and if they don't, they don't need to pay you at all as you are contracted for zero hours.

You won't be self employed as you're only working for one organisation.

If you went down the two days a week route, perhaps you could suggest that you'd be willing to do 2.5 days if they needed you to at times of high pressure?

that's a start anyway!