Mat leave, newish job, flexible working wth?

[ListenLinda]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice, a vent, getting thoughts out to straighten my thought process up.

I started a new job in Sep 2018, 2 weeks after starting I found out I was pregnant. Employers were really good and supportive, passed my 6 month probation 2 weeks before I left for mat leave, on 26th March 2019. Due to one and thing and another, I have lost my direct line managers phone number and the months have passed and I need to get in touch but not sure who with? Would it be HR?
Due to return to work Feb 2020, so really I would like to get a childcare plan in place asap, as we now have two DC that will need childcare for. I have worked out, if I can do 4 days instead of 5 and DH has one set day off during the week we can afford to have them in Nursery 3 full days a week. Is that flexible working, or compressed hours? Is the process the same? Again, would it be HR I would need to speak to?
I’m a bit nervous about phoning up actually, I don’t really know what to say.
I’ve seen online that they are recruiting for two members of staff in my department aswell so they could be very slammed and busy.
Money is becoming and issue so I wouldn’t even be opposed to returning early, if I could scrabble the first months childcare fees together.
But then, I’ll never have another maternity leave again and worry I will regret it. I returned to work when DD was 8 months old, DS is not quite 4 months now.
So all these thoughts are whirring in my head and I can’t seem to think straight, jumping from one thing to another.
Anyone have any pearls/words of wisdom? :)

I also apologise is not much of it makes sense haha

Why don't you just call work or go in and speak to your line manager?

In terms of the hours, compressed working is where you work your normal weekly hours (day 37.5) over less days (e.g 4 rather than 5) or you could just drop 7.5 hours and work 4 days of your normal hours instead of 5. I think both class as a flexible working request as you are asking to change your normal working pattern. You probably need to speak to your HR department and ask for their flexible working policy and how you go about getting them changed. Mine needs you to fill in an application form justifying how the change in your hours would affect colleagues etc and how this would be managed. It also states that it can take up to 12 weeks for them to make that decision. I spoke to my manager on one of my keeping in touch days and he actually helped me work out how best to spilt my hours over the week when I requested to drop a day. I would imagine that they would expect you to have a discussion regarding flexible working if you are returning from maternity leave and are probably well used to having those conversations. Hope it goes well :-)

@Lazypuppy the department is quite short staffed and the office is 30 mins away, so I don’t want to just turn up if there is no one available to speak to me, I think that’s why I was wondering if HR should be my first port of call.

Thank you @F1rstt1imer that’s helpful. I’ll have to have a think about how I can fit 35 hours into 4 working days and see if it could be possible. But I will also have to prepare for the fact that the request might not be workable and drop down to 4 days in the mean time. It would mean a drop in wage of over £250, but a saving of £400 a month on top of a £1150 childcare bill 😂

I didn’t have all this first time around as I hated my job and knew I wasn’t going back. Hence why this is all a bit new to me and I don’t know who is best to contact first.

Yes speak to HR, they can put you through to your manager or directly deal with your requests.

You’re welcome! In terms of doing 35 hours over 4 days that should be possible as I’m going to be doing 32 hours over 4 days by working 9-5.30 with half an hour for lunch :-)