part timers, how do u deal with pressure to come into work on your day "off"?

[Jacksmybaby]

Recently returned to work PT (2.5 days/wk) after mat leave. Now starting to face pressure to come in for mtgs etc on days when I'm not meant to be working (and don't have childcare cover), and not sure how to respond. TBH I could probably get childcare cover, but don't want to set a precedent of dropping everything to go into work because it will then be expected more and more. Also the fact is that the meetings will actually be of benefit to me and if I don't go I will end up making life harder for myself, so will be really just shooting myself in the foot just to make a point. How do you deal with this sort of situation?

can you get time off in lieu if you can get childcare cover. That way you get to seem flexible and motivated but you don't give up the principle that part time is part time.

Hmm, I suspect they would agree that I could have "time off in lieu" but actually expect me to get through exactly the same workload so I'd end up having to work on the day they'd given me "off" anyway!
Am starting to realise that PT workers get really shafted!

i think you shoudl just say No,
make it your policy and stick to your guns..
for the time being at least.

I try to be flexible with regards to this, as I take flexible working to mean flexibility on both parties side, not just the employer's.

However, whislt I will reshuffle my days off within the week to accomodate a meeting, I still almost always work the same number of days in total within the week.

So I'll quite happily swap Tues for Wed, for example, but would not very rarely work Tuesday and wednesday.

and anyway what woud your child care think of that?

either change your workign hours so that you can attend meetings or ask them to change meetings to accommodate your working hours. it is the thin end of the wedge.

must say i did go from 3 to 4 days after six months (but had 13 months mat leave so ds was not really an infant by then). four days has stuck fine and i have been promoted.

I have let it be known that the days I work are the only day I have childcare (true!) If they ask me to work another day, usually at short notice I say I'd love to, but have no childcare, very sorry. If you do it you will set a precedent. I have come into practice meetings and brought the kids though!

I work flexi, and take lieutime (although I tend to work most days anyway, so a comparable situation for me would be a meeting late afternoon rather than on my day off, iyswim).

I still have to get through my workload but ft colleagues also have to get through theirs, as meetings tend to be extra commitments for all of us.

And I often have the joy of typing up the minutes, whether I've attended or not .

I don't work part-time but I do leave the office at 4pm every day and have done so for the last 18 mths. I have only very occasionally stayed later than that for an important meeting or to meet a deadline but my colleagues know that I won't be around after 4pm so if I need to be involved in a meeting they will schedule it for earlier in the day. What kind of work do you do? - it shouldn't be too difficult to arrange meetings for days/times when you are around if you need to be involved. If you don't need to be there but want to know what goes on then ask a colleague to fill you in when you are next in the office. You could offer to "dial in" to a meeting by ringing from home - we use this quite a lot at work anyway because teams can be spread across the country.

Basically what I am saying is that you shouldn't set a precedent. It shouldn't be difficult to find ways to work around this.

I agree with unknown. Meetings are extra for everyone. I have to go to one on Friday and my full-time colleagues are just as fed up about the waste of time and the impact on their regular work as I am.

Don't feel pressured to do extra days, but if you can, show you can be flexible by changing your days and take the time off in lieu.

Yes, sometimes it's hard to be working part-time, but the alternative is either to not work, with the financial impact etc, or to work full-time, which I certainly don't want to do.

They way I see it, the company (and my colleagues) are flexible enough to accommodate my wish to work part-time, which doesn't always work perfectly for them either, so I should at least try to accommodate them too. That said, I am careful to avoid doing "extra" hours. They get what they pay for

It's so tricky - really don't want to be seen to be being awkward and unhelpful but don't want to give work the goahead to start taking the p*ss (which I know from speaking to colleagues who are mummies does happen!). Thanks for all your thoughts.

It really depends how often they are asking and how important those meetings are.

Managers are sometimes in a damned if they do and damned if they don't position. I fully agree with working p/t and do 4 days myself but as a manager it would be difficult to always put important meetings on the same 2.5 days particularly once you factor in any other p/t working, plus holidays, toil days, and availability of meeting rooms.

If something is important to you then try to go, if its a meeting thats a waste of time either don't bother or you could offer to dial in, thus building up brownie points, but not actually having to do anything because inevitably a) the conferencing won't work b) the reception will be bad or c) your child will require your attention.

That is hard.

I don't have any days off as such as I work 5 6hr days. But I do work from home 2 days a week and prefer not to go in on those days if I can help it. I am lucky in that generally work makes real efforts to accomodate me. Recently a project meeting was arranged for 3 which is the time I finish work. It was rearranged for 1 instead so that 15 people had to shift things around just to suit little ol' me And if I remember rightly I didn't say a word all meeting. But there has to be give and take. That only happens because I am also prepared to work later when really essential and come in on my workfromhome days.

If I were you I'd have a word with your manager and make sure he understands that while you are perfectly prepared to be flexible when essential, it would be much appreciated if they could bear your working days in mind as much as possible. Let's fact it some meetings are simply hot-air factories. Give and take.

Have agreed to phone in to a meeting next week so hopefully if that works it can become a regular arrangement!

Hmmm...Good luck! Conference calls are all very well as long as you don't get any extraneous coughs and clearing of the throat...or too many 'uumms' and polite laughter. By the time you take into account the time lag and the echoey nature of speaker phone it can be really difficult. I had a conference call with 4 delegates last week and once chap had just arrived from India and had a very strong accent. We'd all strain to hear and then someone would ask him to repeat things and then someone else would speak and manage to talk over him. Nightmare! But it can be a better option than having to be there. But just wait until you have a toddler that wants to join in My professional demeanour has taken many a dent from a little voice piping up 'Mummeee....I done a poooo'.... whilst on the line to someone in a suit who lives in a world blissfully free of both toddlers and poo

Ormirian, can just imagine it! Luckily DS at 13 mths is not quite at that stage but can just see him shouting/squealing/grabbing the phone/setting off all his musical toys etc. Oh what fun!

I work 3 days a week, if its an important meeting I will swap my days round to accomodate it. In turn, if DS is sick or has a school play etc I swap then too.

I think if you are flexible then they are too.

Been doing the same days for a few years now so most meetings tend to get scheduled on my days in anyway now.

Like many in here, I too work part time - 2 full days a week. I'm the only part timer on the team, but as a compromise, every other month the meeting is on a day when I do work.

I love love love working part time, as I feel it gives me the best of both worlds, however there are downsides and I know from experience that there are a lot of things you miss out on. Although I officially work half of a full week, I have to do more than half of what everyone else does, for example, I don't get to do half the preperation for appraisals, only read half of my emails etc. Compromise is the key, but don't be afraid to point out that you are not sat at home on your backside watching daytime TV like most of my male colleagues assume, you are actually doing your other job.

Not sure if that helps at all. I've been working part time for 6 years now and it took me a good couple of years to get used to it.

well I have to meet up with someone at work today for half an hour or so. I explained I had no childcare, and they jokingly said 'oh just bring him in, we'll look after him'
so I am.

I went back 3 days/week after ds. I knew I would have to do extra on occasion (if I could get childcare cover) and agreed terms for this in advance.

I get paid overtime hourly (as per normal hourly rate). I will go in extra if it is really needed, but will get paid for it.

If I then take time off for sick child etc I'll take it off the overtime I would have claimed..if that makes sense! Basically, I effectively make up any time I have to take off with children (And I make damn sure my boss knows I'm making it up!)

If I work more overtime than I've taken off I get the money instead.

I do think flexibility has to work both ways to avoid resentment.

This is fascinating, am starting to realise all the politics involved in PT working!

I always say no, unless it suits me. For example this week I didn't work Thursday as we were out late the night before. As a resul it means I will work Monday next week instead, as a swap. But this was for my beneft, although work do think it was for their benefit - I can now attend a meeting about one of our clients.

I don't get paid to do extra, so I only do what I want in terms of being flexible with days.

As of May I will be complete;y unable to do other days anyway as I will have other committments on my two days off. So it will be a no go completely.

Oh I'm dreading this. Going back PT next month.

It's all very well saying that flexibility works both ways but what if you really can't get childcare? My work and DH's work have agreed to let us both go part time. Not too much of a both on my side, but DH works in a small shop and for him to go PT someone else will have to be drafted in on the days when he is not working, so if we were to jiggle the days around it would affect 3 people's working life.

I have no family around and most of my friends work, and for the mummy friends I have our DCs are a bit too young to cope with 2 at the same time.

Make the effort to go in for things it suits you not to miss!

Re things it suits your employer that you don't miss...this is fine if you are rewarded in some way...bonuses, promotion prospects ets. If there is no reward however I would think twice about it.