Flexible working

[Lauramma]

Hi all

I could do with some advice.

I am due to go back to work at the end of October after having my baby boy.
My usual work days are Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10am - 5pm. My office is about an hour away from home.
I also have a 5 year old girl who's now at school.
I Want to ask my employer if I can reduce my days to 4 days a week and drop Sunday's.
My main reason for this is as my daughter is now at school I will not see much of her if I am working all weekend! My employer has sent over a form to fill out to request this however on the phone she stated that "it would be a problem" so I can't see that this is something that she is even considering and the form filling and meeting she has suggested is a tick box exercise.
The form asks what my reasons are for requesting the flexible working. Can anyone help with what to state on the form as I don't think my reason will be viable?
Many thanks

You've a legal right to make the request so your reason is definitely viable

Hi Op

I was in same boat as you I'm due back to work end of October to.
However when I was in work i had to send a request for flexible hours along with my maternity leave.
It asked the same questions why did I want the hours reduced/days.
What affect would it have on the business and could I do my job in the days I was in to cover days I wasn't blah blah blah.
It's normal procedure for any business to get you to fill these forms out it won't just be down to your boss to make the decision it will be HR and perhaps their own boss as well.
I have only now been told I can reduce my days after chasing my boss whom then had to chase his boss to confirm if it were ok, thankfully I have this now in writing from HR.

You have the right to request flexible working and your employer is doing the right thing by asking you to fill out the form and run a proper procedure. The key thing to think about is not just how the request affects you as an individual, but instead, think about your role as being essential to the business. You might need to get your boss to try and think a bit differently about how your role can be done. In order to refuse you, the reason has to fall into one of these categories:
the burden of additional costs.
an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff.
an inability to recruit additional staff.
a detrimental impact on quality.
a detrimental impact on performance.
detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand.
insufficient work for the periods the employee proposes to work.

so make sure that your request takes those into consideration.

If you can show that you reducing your hours WON'T cause any of the above, then they should accept your request.

Have a look at the ACAS website, it's really helpful.