Should a change in days worked be done in writing?

[Honey1975]

I work 22.5 hours per week from 8.30-1.00pm mon-fri.
I have a health condition and in May requested that I trial working all day on Mondays, half days tues- thurs & have Fridays off.
My boss agreed to me trialling this in May but at the end of May said we should extend trial to end of June as May was a funny month with bank hols etc.

Last week I had a review with her as it was the end of June and I wanted to know how she felt it was going. We had a positive discussion during which I said I'd like to continue with the arrangement and we both agreed there had been no issues with it.
She then said let's just carry on with it and see how it goes, she said we can 'trial' it & she said we don't need to put anything in writing unless of course I wanted to.
I came away thinking that was a bit vague and shouldn't there be something in writing to confirm a change of days worked?
My DH thinkg she wants to keep her options open and so is keeping it vague but I would prefer it to be more definite as I have childcare to consider and to work out how my holidays will work out if I'm not working Fridays.

I don't want to annoy her as I feel she was quite happy for me to continue doing this.
Should I put something in writing tomorrow or just carry on doing what i'm doing? Really not sure what to do but I feel it's a bit up in the air.

It's more than a bit up in the air.

Ideally you should have the change of contract in writing as an amendment. Mine currently states changes to and include a review date of 6 months time.

In your position I would email in the first instance, as per our conversation xxx and keep a copy of this and their response or just ask tomorrow if you can have an amendment letter to straighten everything out.

She then said let's just carry on with it and see how it goes, she said we can 'trial' it & she said we don't need to put anything in writing unless of course I wanted to

For your peace of mind, drop her an email and say something like "thanks for your support regarding my change in work pattern. I would appreciate if you would confirm that the trial is Mondays, half days tues- thurs & have Fridays off". She just has to respond to say she agrees.

No need to justify it. Especially if you have a registered disability. Protect your best interests!

If she agrees to make it a permanent change, make sure your contract is changed to reflect your new hours/pattern.

Xpost Daily!

Watch with being part time and working full days as a Monday which is when most of the bank holidays fall. You will end up losing annual leave to make up for it. I work same days as you and owe 3 half days back because of this. I can work extra half days to make up for this.

Thank you all very helpful advice. So do I need to ask for a letter as well even if she confirms in response to my email?
I'm just confused by what she's actually happy with as on the one hand she says it's all going ok but then says to just carry on trialling it. I think she's worried as during the summer we are quieter but come the latter part of the year she might decide she wants me to be there every day.
I'm not very good at asking for what I want and find these kinds of things a bit awkward but I suppose I need to try and assert myself otherwise I'm going to be left confused.

I was wondering how it would affect my holidays especially as I already have some Fridays booked as holiday. What should I do about this?

Email is just as official as letter these days. You just need some proof of your informal arrangement. Normally the trial period runs for a preagreed term e.g. X weeks or months. Your manager and you need to decide.

Has HR been involved? Might be worth bringing them into the arrangement once the conversation moves towards a permanent arrangement. Are you doing this under your right to request flexible working?

If you have holidays booked well into the future on a day you won't work you'll need to change them, but only you know when that will be.

Daisy I am in HR & my boss is the HR Manager!
I've recently seen another person in a different dept reduce her hours after a trial period & it's all been done officially with letters via her manager etc.
My boss has always been pretty flexible with me and so I think she thinks we'll just carry on this way but I would like something more definite.

I haven't mentioned that I'm doing this under my right to flexible working. Should I make a proper request even though I'm not changing my contracted no. of hours just the work pattern/days?

When I first agreed to trial this it was on the basis of me having more concentrated time to work in things on a Monday afternoon as I was getting behind on my workload.
Since having Friday's off however I've realised how beneficial this has been for my health as it gives me a day to rest if my autoimmune condition is causing me any issues & lessens the likelihood of me being off sick.

Should I put in a formal request based on the original workload reason or shall I now bring reasonable adjustments for health into it?

I am seeing my consultant today for my 6 monthly appointment so wondered if I should ask his opinion on it all?

Aaagh feeling confused!!

Should I put in a formal request based on the original workload reason or shall I now bring reasonable adjustments for health into it?

Yes to both .

It ticks two important boxes, business rationale and managing your health condition responsibly (e.g. Managing fatigue levels)

I would put it all in writing, to show you are on the case, and it is very important for you to relate it to " reasonable adjustments" especially as you are now feeling the benefit, and therefore delivery good value to the business.

Good luck with the 6 month check up - always worth keeping a diary note of the consultation dates just in case. His opinion may strengthen your case, but maybe not necessary to mention it until/if you need to.

Thank you so much Daisy, I'm just waiting to see him now so will see what he says.

Daisy do you work in HR?
One of my concerns is that my employer mighy think I'm not up to
job if I bring my health into things. We are already getting busier & busier and I think she has doubts that I will be able to continue doing this role in p/t hours and even more so if I'm off one day a week. I love my job and don't want to jeopardise it which is why I've not really said anything before now.

Sounds like you have a very good working relationship. With your Manager, the HR Manger no less!

That said you should be able to have the same security that is offered to all other employees, your role or trusted position shouldn't detriment this.

Just follow up with an email and keep it. Your Manager will know what you are doing and should appreciate it. I typed my own amendment letter (I'm in HR) included the review period and presented it to my Manager, it wasn't a big deal (this was after our meeting)

As an aside pointer we also decided that I could have a laptop, access to emails via my personal phone and personal iPad so I had the choice to self manage my work. Might not work in your situation but it could be an option?

Thank you Daily that's helpful. Out of interest how long was your review period?
I will send her an email this morning. Shall i just ask her in the email to confirm that she is in agreement to me changing my days?

What does your terms and conditions of employment say? Ours are a standard Monday-Saturday 8am-8pm but that's for flexibility. I work 27 hours within that so if my company wanted me to start working a Saturday they could even though I don't right now. I'd expect reasonable notice of the change but they wouldn't need to give me anything in writing.

Pootle my original T's&c's stated 8.30-5.00 and then when I went to part time a few years ago I just had a letter amending this to my new hours.

I could prepare another letter with this change for her to sign but feel a bit awkward as she hasn't actually said if I can make the change permanent.

Said lightheartedly, I think you need to stop short of holding a gun to her head re giving her a letter to sign!. Fine if that's what the two of you agree, but I'd work with the email for now just to confirm the trial arrangement and see if she shortly decides to make it permanent gets the hint

Daisy you're right! I'm getting myself worked up about it & need to chill out!!
This is what I'm going to email.

Following our conversation last week, please find attached a summary of what we discussed.
Having trialled this different work pattern during May & June, I would like to continue with this as I believe it will not only allow me to be more productive on a Monday working a full day, but will also give me one day a week to focus on my health. As discussed, I am happy to be flexible about this arrangement to suit the business requirments.

(The last bit is in case I need to be there on a Friday for special meeting etc, happy to change day off that week)

Right I'm going to do it now! Thanks for all the advice.

Hope it was well received and you get to secure the arrangement long term. Fingers crossed!