Flexible working - full time to part time

[graysor]

Can I ask some advice, particularly for people who have successfully made a flexible working request, and dropped from full time to part time hours ( 3 or 4 days a week).

I recently returned from 12 months on maternity leave. I have been doing a phased return, using up my accrued annual leave to work 3 days a week.

I want to submit a flexible working request to drop down to 4 days. Ideally I would prefer to only do 3, but I don't think my employer will agree to this, and I might have a better chance requesting 4 days.

My question is how I make my case, and minimise the impact of my reduced hours on my employer, my team, and other stakeholders?

Obviously good organisation, time management and communication about my working hours will be essential. But how do I get round the fact that either I will end up carrying a full time work load, but doing it in less time for less pay (which obviously I want to avoid). Or my team mates have to pick up the slack?

Unfortunately a job share is not possible.

Any tips or advice from anyone who has been in a similar position? What did you put in your request?

I work 30 hours a week (6h x 5days), having originally been FT. In my case I just asked and didn't have to submit a business case, so can't help you with that.

BUT I note you say you want to avoid carrying a FT workload in less time. Unfortunately that is what happened to me, and just about everyone I know who works PT. They don't rejig the workload and you just do the same as everyone else but get paid less. Plus everyone thinks less of you because you are only part time. (or is that just me?)

But if it only takes you the part time hours to complete the work, it's not a full time workload, is it?

if you currently work 38 hours a week, ask to go down to 28 but end up doing an additional 10 hours unpaid to keep up, then that's a problem.

But if you can organise yourself so that your workload is doable in the 28, where's the problem?

How has it been doing your phased return? is there loads of work building up that you are not getting done or are you finding it perfectly doable doing the job in 3 days rather than 5?

Thanks for the responses.

Flowery - before I went off on mat leave I and all my team were constantly struggling to keep up with the workload. We all regularly did unpaid overtime to meet deadlines. My mat leave cover has still been with us while I've been doing my phased return. So my workload has been easily manageable in 3 days. But her contract ends soon and I will be expected to pick up the slack.

If it's a full-time workload have you thought of asking for a job share instead?

Why don't you document as accurately as possible your contractually covered projects/activities and the time taken. This will increase transparency and will either strengthen your case for part time hours or enable you to reason with your employers for a job share.

Thanks again for the input.

Job share would be the ideal solution imo.
But I have recently had such a request rejected. I put in a proposal with a colleague also recently back from mat leave for both of us to work 3 days. But it was rejected on the basis of burden of additional costs.

For various reasons it's not feasible for either of us to work less than 3 days, so the additional cost of 0.2 fte was rejected.

Daisy - that's a good idea. we've done a couple of time and motion studies over the last few years and whenever the results show something the management dislike or disagree with they just reject it and say it must be wrong, and in fact we have exactly the correct level of resource for our workload. Very frustrating.

You don't actually sound as though you think it's doable to work the job in less than FT hours. If you don't yourself think it's possible you are going to struggle 'selling' it as a concept to your employer.

However, if you are managing to do the job on the reduced hours during your phased return you could use this as evidence to show your employer that it is possible for you to return PT.

Allthebest the OP said in an earlier post that the only reason she is managing the job in reduced hours at the moment is because her maternity cover is still there.