Would you as a manager accept this flexible working request?

[freakinthespreadsheets]

I work in finance and as such need to be at a meeting or two every day of the first week of the month. The remainder of my month end work is working through a tasklist and all tasks can be done anytime in the first week, in any order. The rest of the month I work on ad-hoc projects without real deadlines.

I currently work 37 hours, 7.5h M-Th and 7h F. WFH M,W,Th,F only in office every Tues.
I want to work 8h, M-Th and work the other 5 hours flexibly, staying WFH M,W,Th and going in for the day on Tues as i do now. I would vary the 5 extra hours to how I/the business suited, including a half-day on the Friday. I have a colleague in a very similar role who could answer questions if I wasn't around but I could still get my own work done before the deadlines. This would give me another half-day or day off a week outside month end which would benefit my mental health (i have chronic fatigue and several health conditions so I could organise my "life admin"/appointments on this day to leave my weekends free for recovery). But, at month end, it would mean I could still pop online for a few hours on a Friday to do my meetings and any other tasks I am needed for.

From that point of view, would you as a manager accept my request?

Separately, on a hypothetical note.
We do not have DC at the moment but we are planning to try for our first next year. We do not want to rely on grandparents for regular childcare but my mum works PT and could look after a DC for a few hours on a Friday once a month if we needed to (she has actively asked to do so FT but we said no). Once in a blue moon perhaps, I'd need to log on on a Friday while caring for the DC for an hour or two but this wouldn't be the regular arrangement and I'd ensure to work back a bit extra to compensate for any distractions. It would mean a lot saved in nursery/CM fees for that extra day and really utilising the full days we'd be paying for. Would this make me the WFH CF mumsnet loves to hate?

I think this would be very hard to manage as how could they be sure you've done the extra 5 hours if it's ad hoc as and when it's suits you.
Also how would it affect business needs would they still be met.

@freakinthespreadsheets I would go with a compressed hours 9 day flexible fortnight with NWD on a Monday. It’s clear Fridays are key days plus most BH fall on a Monday so you get more leave to take when you choose. Be clear you will be flexible.

I wouldn't like it because of the floating 5 hours thing. I would rather you did a 9 day fortnight or 5 days compressed into 4.5.

It wouldn't be because I didn't trust you to do the hours but more because I need to know when my team are around and when they aren't and it's easier to communicate to colleagues for meetings etc

Frankly, as long as you are in the office for meetings/available for meetings when needed, then I'd be happy with you structuring your week as you wish.

If it needs a lot of collaboration with colleagues/customers, then that would need to be in standard hours, but otherwise I'm a firm believer in giving people freedom to with when suits them.

Likewise, if most of your work is at the front and end of the month, then I'd hope that flexibility would mean you could work less hours for the middle weeks to compensate.

Yes, I would agree to it. I think it's important that you do mention its to improve your mental health.

I would want set hours each day as otherwise payroll is a pain in the bum and it's hard to keep track of. However they can only refuse for one of these reasons

Employers can refuse an application for any of the following reasons:

1. extra costs that will damage the business
2. the work cannot be reorganised among other staff
3. people cannot be recruited to do the work
4. flexible working will affect quality
5. flexible working will affect performance
6. the business will not be able to meet customer demand
7. there’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
8. the business is planning changes to the workforce