Temporary contract to permanent negotiations

[LIZS]

I took on a 2 month contract in admin which expires shortly. tbh although the number of hours is fine (21) working all the school holidays would become an issue longer term. I need to have discussions (possibly as soon as tomorrow) regarding whether there is a more permanent opportunity . It is an education related field but not teaching so term time might be an option but can anyone clarify what that might mean for t and c's and how it might work, bearing in mind there may be times where the official term dates don't match my dc's so would need to take time off, perhaps making it up during "holidays" if needs be. Has anyone negotiated such flexibilty successfully ?

anyone ?

You are free to negotiate whatever suits you but it is quite rare for employers to be quite so flexble. Might be ok though given that the role is in education.

The best thing you can do is to approach your mnager and ask what the possibilities are about staying on past your 2 month contract and see where that leads you.

Thanks , think will have to try tomorrow.

Probably got until next Tues to work this out, any other thoughts in the meantime.

something to may be to consider is what a colleague of mine in Germany does. He has negotiated to work 80% but he doesn't work shorter hours or less days a week but has extra holidays. He then takes longer summer holidays to be with his kids. The agreement he has is that he doesn't take this extra holiday on more than a 2 week block. With working reduced hours already I don't know if the maths would work but basically although you would work 21 hrs a week you would get paid for less cos you have extra holiday. Does that make sense? I'm stating to confuse myself. You may not get all of the school hols off but a few extra weeks would help (My son stated this year and I have just added up how many school hols I have to cover!!! )

That's useful and sounds along the right lines . I've now established how termtime hours are worked out They take the annual total hours worked of a pt equivalent, deduct the relevant number of holiday hours and divide by 39 (being number of weeks) to reach a weekly figure. No further holiday allowance apart from Bank Holidays.

My issue is that if I pay childcare for the weeks I can't cover from AL, I would barely break even for at least 12 weeks out of 52 anyway(bearing in mind my dc's school is open about 35 weeks per year). So if I'm not making money I rather spend that time with dc's myself. Think will get dh to work up several scenarios.

any more ideas ?

Ok so termtime only is not an option from their pov. Up to me to make it work with childcare and doing extra hours some weeks apparently, perhaps partly working from home in holidays, but I have to put forward a proposal . Methinks it is a non starter but any positive ideas please ?

what do you think is the minimum hours you could get away with during the holidays? (from their point of view keeping the admin under control)

Could you work around office hours? So be at home during the day and then do your paid work in the evening and weekends from. I do this most weeks but I do maintain some office presence.

Basically she is concerned that someone (ie me!) is available to handle phone queries in the office. Now we only live 5 minutes away but I can't do that with 2 kids in tow. I also think the amount I could realistically do from home might be fairly limited. Reckon the bare minimum would be to be in the office 1-2 days a week.

Annualised hours? So that you work more during term time and less during holidays but get paid the same all year round.

Perhaps phone queries could be re-directed to your home?

I'll get dh to do some sums on the annualised basis. Did try myself but couldn't get enough during termtime to fofset.

Have you thought about presenting the business case to your employers? Think about the varying workload and how best your contract could could flex to meet the needs of the business. Work can be flexible in a few ways - time, location and technology.

Even better if you can identify some savings for them. Efficiencies for them and flexibility for you - the magic formula.

Costs aren't the issue and the workload is variable adn a slightly unknown quantitity since the set up is new. She basically wants my physical presence in the office.

tbh the reason I took this in the first place was that it was temporary, hours taht suited me and family, local. Had intiially applied for a related job which was termtime only and amde it clear from the outset I was looking for similar to balance work/home. I had n't appreciated how intractable it was longer term. Also now others are on board politics are coming into it which I really don't need.