Flexible working request

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I am looking to put in a flexible working request to change my office work days. I currently do Tuesday and Thursday and the other 3 days in the office and I would like to change to Tuesday and Friday. There is no one else in the office on a Friday but it would work better for me especially as the commute is quieter. On Thursdays there are only a few people in the office anyways and most of my meetings are online. So the only thing they can say I will miss out on is the slight more socialisation (most of the office is in on Tuesday). Are they able to reject it on this basis?

Yes they could do, if the social/networking aspect is important to them - it really depends. What was the reason for choosing the Thursday originally?

In short, yes they can, if they can make a business case for it.

And you’ll find employers can be really clever (sneaky) with this, if they really don’t want to give it then they can almost always create a business argument against it.

It comes down really would it even bother them enough for them to argue with it. If it was me, my manager isn’t bothered what days I am in the office, any meetings are on Teams as we are a mostly virtual team, so he couldn’t care less and wouldn’t think twice about approving this. But on my previous team a colleague had her request denied under similar circumstances and it was easy for an argument to be formulated.

Confused do you do Tuesdays and Thursdays in the office ?

Depends, are they set days for your team to be in together? If so the point of that is team building and to collaborate as a team, you just coming in on a ransoms day on your own wouldn’t work for the business.

Currently doing Tuesdays and Thursdays, yes. We have the all team in office day on Tuesday.

But you said you do the other 3 days in the office. Do you mean the other 3 days from home?

Then I would make sure you are in on Tuesdays and also be prepared for them to say no they want you in on a day other people are likely to be in. Though it's possible they might like someone in the office on Friday eg for printing.

If nobody else is in the office will it inconvenient them for you to be there eg. Security required, someone to open up the building, a first aider or fire Marshall onsite etc.

Sorry meant to say 2 days in office and 3 from home.