Kit days - manager wants full days?

[Lawyermommy]

Hi, I have a new manager since being on mat leave and would like to do my KIT days. Mainly to make some money as we are moving home and reduce anxiety about going back to a new manager!

Problem is my new manager wants me to do full days for the KIT days (9-5 which is 8-6 with commute). I proposed I do some half days to avoid traffic coming into the office and I’ve set out what I would do on those half days. I won’t be able to fill a whole day with work and I’ll be sitting in the office bored and trying to look busy (which is hard to do!) I also breastfeed so a full day is tricky!

But computer says no…it needs to be full days work!! I’m annoyed that my new manager won’t just mark down a KIT day for half a days work. It’s not like the money I will get is coming out of her salary!! Annoyed and makes me not want to go back to work even more!!

I’ve seen moms in other department's have a team lunch marked as a KIT day. But I have to do a full day?!

Annoying but I’ve read that’s it’s all that the companies discretion.

I don’t think you can justify being annoyed by her refusing to pay you for a full day if you worked a half day.

I would first ask where the feeding room is so you can pump hourly. (If you're not bf then sit and have a cup of tea)

Or you could bring baby. That'll cut the day short.

Are you expecting to get paid for a full or half day?

How will you manage full days when you go back to work?
Homestly this is annoying but I think you’ll just need to suck it up. There’s no point in antagonising your new boss immediately. You can use some the extra hours to express some breast milk.
However if this is a sign of their attitude to working mothers, maybe ready yourself to jump ship at point in the future.?

Also how close are you to your actual return to work? You'll need to figure out how to fit in commute plus pumping pretty soon presumably anyway?

I think it’s perfectly reasonable to be frustrated. The point of a KIT day is to keep in touch, they’re for you to keep up to date. Yes it’s at the employer’s discretion but the purpose of them is not to get a full day’s work out of you.

If you’ve known other women in your company get a KIT day for a partial day, I’d push back. Do you have a proper HR policy on it?

Also I agree that they need to make provision for you breastfeeding - so a room to pump in or bringing baby in.

Ha crossed with Portia

Do two half days but just get paid for one full day

That is frustrating, it's perfectly normal to do a short day and get paid for a full one. Does your new manager have children? Maybe they don't know the HR rules around KIT days?

I would assume OP has childcare booked to start when she returns to work, you can't just put your child in nursery for a random day.

When I did kit days I was paid per hour. So if I worked 3 hours I got paid 3 hours.

I only had to work 3 hours a day when I did my KIT days & I got paid for a full day.
They are just to keep in touch with the company & ease you back into work.

HR won’t allow me to do half days to make up full days. It has to be a full day… gutted!

I’ll stop breastfeeding when I return to work so I’m not worried about that.

I guess I’ll just have to take it or leave it! I’m just frustrated that each department/manager treats KIT days differently. And there are moms going for a coffee with their manager and getting a full days salary. Also, this has made it hit home that I don’t have my old nice manager anymore who was a mother of two and sooo understanding.

I’m surprised HR would allow some on mat leave to have full KIT pay for team meetings, but you’d have to do a full day. Have you emailed HR yourself to clarify, or are you relying on what your manager is telling you?

Our policy changed between DC. With my eldest I only did 1-2 hours and got paid the full day. With DC2 I only got paid the hours I actually worked but it still counted as using up a full KIT day so wasn't so worthwhile. Didn't bother using them in the end as the short time actually in the office plus cost of commuting cancelled each other out.

Could you use the 10 days right at the end of your maternity leave before you return to work?

Does your workplace specify about KIT days in your maternity policy? Our specifies exactly what is allowed, and what pay you get as it differs if you are in the enhanced period, smp period or unpaid period. Ours is that they have to be agreed with your line manger and HR and that there is no obligation for them to say yes to them, so probably worth checking the policy and then raising with HR if you are sure that someone has done a couple of hours and received a full days pay.

A KIT day is a full days work to get you back up to speed. Why would you be paid for a full day when you've only worked a half day?!

My kit days were paid hourly. So you only get paid what you work but even if you only work 2 hours, it counts as a day. So I did a couple of hours a day, got paid for a couple of hours a day, but used up all the days. I'm sure it allows for this.
Some places pay the full day when you only work a few hours (discretion), but others don't.
So if you only want to do part days, just accept you won't get full pay and won't be able to use that time again.

If you want to do more, you could always see if you can do Shares Parental leave (but not actually share anything if you didn't want to) and you get a load more KIT days under that system too.

I don’t think they’re doing anything wrong to be honest, you’re the unreasonable one for expecting a full days pay for working half a day.

That wasn't the case for me, or anyone else I knew with babies at the time (five years ago). It's very difficult to get a full day's childcare before you're back at work full time because nursery/childminder won't have started yet, and you also might still be breastfeeding.

Plus it would be very difficult to schedule a full day's work for someone who hasn't done any work for almost a year. A KIT day is a catch-up - some meetings, some training, lunch with the team. It's not a full day's slog through admin tasks.

All sorted guys!

I told my manager that I’m unable to do full KIT days and thought there’s no point going backwards and forwards on this….just leave it!

I went for a walk and had a chat to my cousin who works in HR. We had planned on her kindly using some of her annual leave to look after the little one when I did my KIT days and I informed her this will no longer be needed etc.

She sent me the ACAS website which states that “It still counts as a full keeping in touch day even if you only work part of it, for example a half day.”

https://www.acas.org.uk/your-maternity-leave-pay-and-other-rights/while-youre-on-maternity-leave#:~:text=You%20can%20agree%20with%20your

So I emailed my HR direct to clarify (attaching the ACAS weblink) and I’ve had an email from my new manager this morning to apologise for the confusion. And i am able to do half days and I’ll get paid the full day woohoo! This will be a huge help to get some extra money in!