0.8 FTE question

[calmcandle]

Can anyone explain this to me? I presumed that a role is advertised as ‘0.8 FTE worked between Monday and Friday’ this would mean one does 4 days a week with one day off. So if 28 hours is the 0.8, that’s 4 x 7 hour days.

But I’ve just thought, might the ‘worked between Monday and Friday’ suggest that the employer wants those 28 hours spread across the whole week? So 5 days of 5.6 hours?

Can anyone clarify? thanks so much

Ask the employer? None of us will know as there are no rules.

Could mean anything! My contract is FT, but 38 hours a week, so 7.6 if I were to spread it evenly. I can more or less choose when I work though so I might do 6 or 12 hours in a day!

Obviously I can ask them, but it’s a role I’m interviewing for this week, so just wondered if anyone had any idea as would be good to be clear before I go in!!

It depend on the employer. I work 0.8FTE in the public sector and originally did four full days a week, then switched to five shorter days which they were happy with. What kind of role is it?

I am 0.8 at the moment and do 2x full days and 3 shorter days to make it up. I would assume that they will be flexible with the working pattern if it's not advertised as a specific pattern.

Absolutely depends. I have staff on 0.8 but need them in every day to do daily tasks like clearing the answerphone: they just do shorter days

I also have full time people pulling 3 super long days who don’t have “daily” tasks if you see what I mean

morning I’d either call & ask before interview if answer is a deal breaker for you, or I’d ask at interview. There are too many options for anyone to be able to give you clarity except the recruiter, it could be 30 hours over 5 days or 4 days (or potentially 3 depending on the role)

i hope it all works out for you

It's not clear from the text. To me it implies flexibility.

I'm 0.8 currently split 30 hours over 4 days but I'll be working 30 hours over 5 days come September to accommodate school times. Can be literally anything depending on what they/you want/need.

If it's advertised like that they're probably expecting you to ask - I have roles in my team that are less than full time and am able to be flexible about how they're worked, so I have someone who does 4 full days, someone on slightly fewer hours who does 5 shorter days, and if I had to advertise either of their roles I'd advertise them as .7 or .8 to be worked Monday to Friday fully expecting a discussion about possible working patterns. I need someone working between Mon-Fri because that's when the office is open and others are expecting a service from us, so it looks like they've been specific enough to make sure people aren't expecting to be able to do, say, Thursday to Sunday, but apart from that there's probably some flexibility.

Is it a company that operates only on weekdays, eg office job? If so I would assume it meant the hours are spread over all 5 days, ie shorter working days not 4 out of 5 days.

But if the business operates 6 or 7 days a week they might be stating the Mon-Fri thing to narrow down the period they want the person to work. So that might mean either 4 full days or maybe 5 shorter days.

You really need to ask them.

I did .8 in teaching and they wanted me to do everything except PE, so I basically didn't get any time off or reduced responsibility. I highly recommend being prepared for either eventuality and asking questions on the day, or enquiring beforehand if it's important for you.

A question like, what is the expected pattern of work or will it vary from week to week will result in a reasonably informative answer.

Without knowing the sector, the answer could be anything! Is it a factory that runs 24/7? Retail? Hospitality? Health? Or a big standard office hours kind of place?

No one can tell you. It could be 4 full-time days, it could be 5 shorter days, it could be a mix. If it's shorter days, thst coukd mean starting later or finishing earlier. No one can know for sure except the employer.

It will also depend on that employer's full time week, which will usually be between 35 and 40 hours, but which it is will vary how much the 0.8 is.

I’ve done 30 hours over 5 days to enable me to do school runs (8:30 - 2:30) & then changed it to 4 FT days.

It depends on what the company needs.

Call anyway with a few questions about the job and the team. They will like that you are proactive, you may get useful info ahead of the interview and can slip it in there in general conversation so they're not worried it's all you are bothered about.

Ft for me is 40 hours so .8 would be 36hours per week. It all depends on the company. Ask. Its a great question to ask at an interview as it shows you're thinking how it would work long term.

I applied for a role like this. I wanted 4 days (childcare). They wanted 5 short days. I didn't get the job and that company never advertised again without including both the hours and the working pattern.

Thanks so much everyone! It’s a charitable organisation. I have just noticed that their HQ is also open on Saturdays, so maybe that’s why they’ve specified the days.

32, surely, if FT was 40?