Been offered great job - do I ask if can leave office at 5.15?!

[tonton]

Have been just doing a little freelancing since dd2 was 6 months, I've just been offered a really good job. It's fulltime and there will be some occasional travel but it should be interesting. Plus it's pretty well paid. I've organised a day nuirsery for dd2 who will be 1, and will get a live-in aupair for dd1 who is 6 and at school. (still can't afford even the cheapest nanny!).
DH will sometimes be around to do pick ups - but he travels quite a lot and works nightsa often (musician).
To make it back to pick up dd2 from nuirsery I think I'd have to leave the office at 5.15. Clearly I could make other arrngements for the pick up (au pair) but I would really like to pick her up myself. I am worried that iof I say - 2 I need to leave at 5.15 every day but don't worry will still be able to work when get home" they might say no. But if I don't ask and just hope to get away then thsat might be even worse?
is it cheeky tio expect to be able to leave at 5.15 (very young, male industry)? When it's a good job?
Feel ambvalent. V exicted about career propects but don't want not to see dds!

Well I don't think it's an unreasonable request tbh. And why should you still work when you get home can I ask? What time do you plan on getting there in the morning?

Have you received a contract yet? What hours does it state? Or if it was in a response to a job offer, did it state any specific hours?

If both are silent, you might be able to negotiate hours before they're set in stone. If not and the stated hours are, say, until 6pm, you might find it more difficult to negotiate.

Can you not have an informal chat with your prospective line manager to gauge their opinion before accepting the job?

I'd ask.
They can only say no....
Informally if poss
And suggest you'll come in early/not take lunch/be so fuck off efficient they won't notice etc!

After all, they've offered you the job b/cos you are the BEST person they've seen ... you'll still be the best person they've seen if you leave 15 mins early...

I think if you don't ask & try and sneak away it'll be worse. You might also want to think how you'll feel if you're still there ar 6.30; 7.30...

Oh, and congratulations

What are the contracted office hours? Though from what you say, you already suspect there's a culture of longer hours? TBH, i'm about to post a similar thread of how far I can go with negotiations, and my instinct is that the job still has to fit with how you want to live. Work / life balance is so important and if the employers don't respect that from the off, there's going to be future problems as well.. What's the job?

The job is in media and the hours aren't usually mentioned - except of course in the contract which will probably say 9-5.30 but something about hjow you may be expected to work longer sometimes. I know my prospective boss works longer hours than that. I guess there's still a culture of 'presenteeism'.
i though by poionting out that I will still work at home they are less likely to feel that they are paying me well to so less work than they do.
If I drop dd2 off at 8 I should be at work by 8.45ish.
I think I will ask if I can meet with boss-to-be and ask. As tyou say he can only say know. And if he does I need to think about it.
Bunnypeculiar - I wouldn't mind if once a week or so i was there until 7.30 but i would like to be home by 6.30 most days to do bed/bathtime. And i suppose you're right in that currently I'm the person they want. Just don't want to seem 'difficult' or asking for special treatment. which i suppose I am. So hard!

why don't you suggest that they give you a blackberry or similar so you can be online etc or as someone else says agree no lunchhours/shorter ones to make up. However if media then lunch is generally at your desk anyway in my experience. Will you be in earlier than colleagues as that might give leeway?

Better to be upfront than to not do what they expect if you see what I mean? I run a media business and we have flex hours because I have so many working mothers on staff and we're massively efficient as a result

When the contract comes, can't you tackle it then? Ring them and say you would like to change core hours to 8.45am-5.15pm or, if there is a one hour lunch built in, 9 - 5.15pm with 45 minute break for lunch or 9-5 with 30 minutes for lunch.

Whatever hours you actually work i.e. longer when necessary, as long as you are covering the hours in your contract, they can't have a grievance, can they?

It's just not the type of business where the contarcted hours comes into it. Exept for the support staff i suppose, and even they often work longer hours. I thnk the boss would be amazed if I even mentioned lunch!
I think Meowmix you are right re the blackberry. It is actually technology based busainess that I would be going to work for so they ought to appreciate my ability to work away from the desk.
It's kjust hard to 'set things ' in stone'wit this kind of role. And I don't want to seem like I expect the earth - they;ve already increased the salary to suit me.
It's the being a mum thing. I can tell they are quite aware of it and preumably they are hoping that it just won't be an issue.

Is it the kind of job where you will be out and about quite a lot anyway ? I have that kind of job - so no-one really knows if I have gone home or to a meeting !

it sounds to me like te asort of job that you wouldn't know on any given day when you could leave and if you really want to do it then your child care and family life would reflect that

I think zippi is right - if you really want the job you need to get childcare in place so that you don't need to leave early regularly - then once you're settled in IF you can get away early a couple of times a week it will be a bonus for you !

you really don't want to be clock-watching and worrying when you should be settling in and making a good impression !

I'd start and see how the land lies with respect to work/life balance issues - and once you're in and "accepted" if you want to you could ask about changing your hours.

I don't think it's cheeky. I just think you need to get the balance right in asking assertively but respectfully. What does the contract state? There will be a number of factors influencing their answer - whether you will still be able to do the job effectively (I would guess so - I mean 15 mins earlier isn't a huge difference. One factor may well be concern that it sets a precedent - they may have other people asking to start later, or flex their hours in other ways, and they may worry that it'll be a slippery slope. But you've nothing to lose by requesting it.

I read it as 5.30 may be the nominal hour for leaving but no one actually does

unless you are support staff aren't working hours pretty much expected to be overrun?

especially in contracted and project work

I would think that if the job is highly desirable then starting with the idea of trying to leave at 5.15 is going to be very stressful and if you ask beforehand they will say no and be wary of your enthusiam for the job being as great as they thought

What are the standard hours? If 9-5 then fine I think but if it's 9-5.30 then no, I don't think it's on really. Not unless you negotiate that you start 15 minutes earlier when the contract comes, as SueW says. Why does 15 minutes make so much difference? Couldn't the au pair collect and then you get home 15mins later?

And why are you OFFERING to work once you're home? I appreciate that some jobs need you sometimes to but my view is that you ought to be able to work contracted hours with the odd exception and if you can't then you a) have too much work and need to delegate or lose some of it or b) you need to prioritise harder c) you're under resourced in which case you need to prove it and make a case for more resource.

And I think maybe you won't know the culture of the organisation until you get there, you could take it and see how the land lies.

I worked in the media for years and EVERYONE fecked off early!!! But we also worked through lunch hours etc. It's a bit of give and take normally because we work such long hours and do eveningy stuff too.

Perhaps you could negotiate a shorter lunch break and promise to not come in drunk every three weeks (that would make you more committed than most of your colleagues

I guess fo me it comes down to 2 choices

A) as zippitoers, trying to negotiate what they will see ashorter hours beforehand and risk being seen as unenthusiastic etc.
or
b) waiting to see how the land lies as wickedwaterwitch says. which is also taking a risk as well i suppose.

What hhave others done?

Thanks for all your imput by the way!

Hi tonton - I see you've narrowed it down to two choices. My experience was somewhat similar to yours - I was offered a training contract with 9 to 5 hours. I deliberately neglected to mention I had a child and took the job intending to see how it went.

When I got there, I realised my boss obviously stays a lot later but when I realised everyone else leaves around I breathed a sigh of relief. I normally get away around 5.15/5.30pm and now that they know I have to get back to pick DD up it's not a problem at all. I do stay late on the odd occasion (when DH is around to pick up DD) and I do take work home with me, come in early etc.

My advice based on my experience is give it a go - you can always hand your notice in if it doesn't work out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that. Good luck and belated Congratulations on being offered the job btw