Asked to increase part time hours

[GGee123]

I currently work part time 3 days a week managing a team of 11. I have been in the role for 14 years, working part time for 8 of those years. I easily do the equivalent of a full time role, working long days on the days I work, occasionally working on my days off, continually monitoring emails & have never had, to my knowledge, a situation where my working part time has negatively impacted my team who are all performing well.

We have recently got a new Director who wants me to increase my hours, she has said ideally 5 days but would settle for 4. I really do not want to increase my hours, I would struggle with existing commitments & am fortunate I don't need the extra money. Her argument is there needs to be cover at all times & has said she'll initiate a consultation. I'm possibly prepared to work a 4th day til school pick up time but don't believe this will be acceptable.

I've spoken to Acas so I know the facts, but I'm a bit lost on exactly how I should approach this, what I should say or what arguments I should make to get the best outcome. Or whether I should just suck it up & be grateful I have a job!

I would struggle to manage 11 people working just 3 days
yikes !
I had to go back 5 days just to manage 6 staff but that’s in health care where I have to oversee safeguarding and case file audits , staff supervisions ect
seems a lot to manage over 3 days and I can imagine team would need you the days you aren’t in
I would consider 4 in your position

One of my team worked part time 3 days and my manager insisted all the roles needed to be full time, which for the workload really did need a full team 5 days.

Now she works term time 9-3 for five days and non term time her 3 days 8-5. Both were happy with this.

Is that something you would consider?

I would sit tight and see what she does. Stand firm on the facts. You have been part time for 8 years with no issue. You more than deliver during those days in terms of hours. I wouldn’t go too much into working on your non working days as that may give her leverage to make demands on you in the future. Know your rights and exercise them calmly.

She has put the ball into your court initially, hoping you will panic and cave to her demands of 4 days. Don’t rise to the bait.

It's a full time role. You may not like it but you admit as much: you say it's stressful and involves managing a large team, that you easily put in full time hours (and not get paid for it more fool you!). I can see why your Director and company wants to make changes. I don't know any management position that involves leading a team where the team leader is officially absent almost half the week (irrespective of whether you monitor emails)

I would refuse to increase hours on the basis that I’ve been part time for 8 years so it’s my established working pattern.
Id acknowledge her concerns about all week coverage and explain that I respected that she wanted an all week presence. I’d pick the best of my team and recommend they be promoted to deputy. They still do their job but also stand in for you in important meetings on your days off, a bit of their workload is passed to someone else with some slack.
Id give them either one area of your work, or supervisory responsibility for a couple of team members. I’d delegate some of the after hours work to them too.
I’d cost this as an option- it’ll be cheaper than you going full time. Anything raised in the consultation eg presence for staff id say “this would be split between me and deputy”
If they are really insistent I’d start asking questions like “have we had advice about whether removing part time workers is discriminatory to women?”

You‘ve said yourself you can’t do your job in the hours that you work so not unreasonable that they’re asking you to work more hours.

Just considering handing my notice in because of a similar situation. However, in my case it’s me that is saying the job can’t be done in part time hours.
I worked three days a week and really struggled with the workload. I offered to increase my hour to 32 per week, but only if I could work the extra 8 hours from home and on any day / time I wanted to. This was agreed.
I am now finding myself working every day and not having a proper break because access from home is too easy.
I jokingly offered to work Sunday afternoon to do EXTRA tasks the director needed doing before I went off on holiday. He took me seriously though, so this afternoon, I will have to find time to do the work which will take a couple of hours, even though I have already worked 32 hours, and effectively lost the Bank Holiday which should have counted for 8 of those hours.
Part time in a management role rarely works out.

I had a similar issue where they wanted me to change my part time hours to days which didn’t suit me (weekends)
I called ACAS and they gave me similar advice to you.
I stood my ground and refused to do it. I worked for a massive company though who really couldn’t justify it. They just wanted everyone on the same shift pattern.
I went off sick for a bit as I hated being the one who told them no, they came across a bit bullying at the time too plus I had other issues going on.

It all turned out fine and they didn’t push it in the end.

If you’ve done those hours for 8 years and it’s worked out well with no issues, I really can’t see what argument they would have for changing it.

Just try and pre empt the things that they might bring up.. team performance dropping in your absence etc and just make sure you have evidence to the contrary!

I know one thing without meeting your boss - she is a wally. She is risking losing an experienced member of staff in a tight labour market.

What I did would depend though on how much I needed the job, how easy it would be for them to replace me and what I felt were my prospects of getting a new one on similar pay and hours.

If you think you'd have a good shot of getting a new role on 3 days then I'd say firmly and cheerfully that I'm happy with how things are, there have been no issues raised in 8 years, and start polishing my CV!

The thing about working lots of extra hours unpaid is just the norm sadly for women with kids in part time professional jobs.

Having two days they can't force you to work is one of the only boundaries you can enforce.

Time and flexibility are just as valuable as money sometimes.

Of course employers hate staff with boundaries but whatever, we don't all have to subscribe to the overwork culture.

Whilst my situation is not the same I have only last month signed a settlement agreement with my employer. I would highly recommend legal advice, they were exceptionally helpful to me; gave me a direction to pursue, an objective 3rd party view to best make the law work for me.

If your part time position is no longer in the business then you could be redundant...

I think no matter the resolution to this, you won't be able to have the same relationship with your employer/supervisor and it will create a toxic environment. A new job is the way forward. Got my new job lined up for post mat leave and I'm very excited at the new opportunity and challenge. It's all been a blessing in disguise for me. The future is bright when it was very dark only 2 months ago.

Best of luck

It’s a full time role, to facilitate this you work full time hours. From the outside they are not being unreasonable.

Await the consultation and then offer alternatives that would work. Top of my head

• 5 days a week school hours
• Compress 5 days into 3 flexibly
• Work two additional short days a week

You’re stuffed. Not helpful I know. You’ve said yourself it’s too much for the 3 days so it sounds like she’s correct.

your options will be what she’s asked or leave.

Is the a reverse? You’ve already indicated you cannot do the role in 3 days in your opening paragraph. You can try and debate it but if the company decide they want someone there full time, that’s their prerogative and they may make you redundant and find a full time person.

If your part time position is no longer in the business then you could be redundant…

Needing somebody to work more hours is not a redundancy situation, it is the exact opposite, it is a recruiting situation. They need to either persuade OP to increase her hours or they need to recruit a second manager. Making a part time redundancy in order to recruit a full timer is not a fair reason for dismissal.

I’m so sorry op but I think your options are job share or leave (I’m so sorry). You shouldn’t be doing ft hours now if you’re pt (you said you work extra hours), and if they add onto that you’re sinking yourself.

I would look at it this way - if my role increases to 4 days per week I have 3 days a week off (156 days a year). Plus I get, for example, another 28 days off paid leave, plus I get 8 bank Holidays a year (I'm making assumptions here obviously). So that's a total of 192 days off per year, or, more than half of the days in a year that I don't work. That would still look like part time to a lot of people to be honest.
I guess it really comes down to how much you enjoy the job and how useful the income is. If a new motivated Director has decided he wants that role covered 4 days a week it might be better not to push against it too hard if you want to stay. Roles change, it's just business. You would still have a very generous amount of free time imo.

I work in HR and completely agreed with this. This is the solution I'd be suggesting to your Director as their advisor.

I currently work part time 3 days a week managing a team of 11. I have been in the role for 14 years, working part time for 8 of those years. I easily do the equivalent of a full time role, working long days on the days I work, occasionally working on my days off, continually monitoring emails & have never had, to my knowledge, a situation where my working part time has negatively impacted my team who are all performing well.

But you’re not working part time, you have said it yourself. The role obviously requires a full time employee. You’re doing yourself and your colleagues a disservice by insisting that you can do the job part time. What about working 30 hours M-F 9-3 or 8:30-2:30?

But the thing is, you can't! You've already said you are working longer hours and on your days off to get things done?

Exactly this.

Also who js managing the team when you are not there? What happens if an important or urgent decision is needed on a day you don't work?

If you are answering emails etc out of your contracted hours you have proved to the new director your unable to fulfil your role in 3 days unfortunately so would be a difficult argument.

maybe she actually wants to ensure your being paid correctly for your time.

maybe explain you can do a 4th day in school hours and whilst she can probably see you work evenings etc this fits your work life balance and you have been doing this for 8 years without any issues.

ask her for clear points into why they now need 5 days and is the role changing in the future.

good luck

I would start a diary of anything that looks like they’re going to be constructively dismissing you.
If she says that for staffing reasons/the people you manage are unable to have adequate face time with you, maybe up your days to 4 or 3.5 but other than that, I’d stick my ground. Trying to make all part timers redundant really shows how little the company cares.