Managing part time worker

[MrsandMrsSmith]

I've was told yesterday by HR that when a team member returns from maternity leave in May, she will be working two days per week and that will continue for at least a year.

Prior to maternity leave, she was working four days. On her day off, I or other team members would have to pick up her work. We're in project management so sometimes things can't wait, so I dreaded her day off because of the extra workload.

When she went on maternity leave, senior leadership decided we wouldn't recruit any cover. So for nearly a year, her work has been covered by the existing team and a lot if it has fallen to me. I'm burnt out.

I have been looking forward to her return and the opportunity to reduce my workload to a more manageable level.

I imagine management have agreed to two days working as in their eyes we've managed without her and financially it makes sense for them. But what work can I even allocate to someone working so few hours? The kind of work we're involved in can't wait for the days she will be in.

Has anyone got experience of managing someone in what needs to be a full or nearly full time job when they work such few hours?

Op you need to speak to your manager surely

This isn’t something mumsnet can help you with

I have been speaking to my manager for months about workload. He makes the right noises but doesn’t action anything. He isn't close enough to the work to properly understand or advise and I think his mindset is that I have made it work and will continue to make it work.

I need tips for managing someone in a part time role for a job that doesn't suit part time hours. There must be other people handling similar situations.

So have you been working lots of additional hours to cover while your colleague has been off, or what?

If you can't do your job within your contracted hours, then make this clear to your manager and ask which tasks he would like you to prioritise.

But focus on your job and not the PT colleague. Her working hours are none of your business.

can you say No,
ask for three days for the sake of the business?

It’s got nothing to do with managing her, she only works 2 days, it’s not reasonable for her to meet the demands of a full time load.
If the team as a whole can’t meet the workload that’s a separate conversation but it’s not her problem because she’s only getting paid for 2 days.

Do you line manage her?

I'm her line manager, so it has got something to do with me. I know it's not her fault and she will only be paid to work two days. The problem is she's of little use over two days but I will be responsible for allocating work to her, overseeing her work and supporting her wellbeing etc, as well as the rest of my team.

You stop managing, you start escalating to your manager daily to choose which work your team should prioritise and which should be dropped/not done and the consequences of each.

Honestly, I would be looking for a new job myself.

A company that doesn’t recruit maternity cover instead spreading work (without remuneration I’m guessing) and doesn’t consult you about changing one of your DRs hours sounds an absolute nightmare.

WRT managing a part time resource, you will be forced to find piecemeal work that will suit her schedule. Essentially project admin.

This sounds a shitshow.

This.

The management team will be happy with the status quo because the work is getting done. Having to put up with some ‘whinging’ from you* is cheaper than hiring extra staff.

*I am in no way implying you are whinging btw, more that the management team are choosing to ignore your legitimate concerns.

Can you use her time to cover work other people can't finish? Such as sick/holidays/tight deadlines?

I’ve worked part time for many years.
Initially I was a job share so there was someone there to do the role on days I wasn’t. Could you discuss with management this isn’t a part time role and therefore needs other part of job filling? Your problem here is you’ve managed without cover all this time!

Now I have a workload reflective of the hours I work and it’s up to me how I manage that. No-one covers the days I’m not there. So you could just look at doing that and if queries come in your standard response is always “that’s Jane’s area so I don’t know about that. She’s only here on Tues and Thurs so she’ll get back to you then”. That’s what would happen in my work. And people get used to that and alter demands accordingly.
I think you need a meeting with whoever in management agreed to this and your report before she returns to discuss what her job role will now be. Obviously she can’t be put in a role which needs 5 days cover if she’s only there 2 days. That would waste a huge amount of time in handovers. It sounds like she needs to be in a slightly different role where she’s allocated work that doesn’t need 5 day cover. I would ask management to identify that role.

It's on you, 2 days is better than the nothing you have now. Find tasks she can do that's a part of management.

You kind of screwed yourself and your team by taking on the extra work back at the start.

I agree with the others that you need to start making it your managers problem.

You need to look back on your workload and point out where and how you were carrying another FT job along with your own and that you dont have the capacity nor the will to carry the extra FT role forward.

You effectively need to justify taking on extra capacity and cost of 192 - 260 days (4 or 5 extra work days per week) for the next year. Of which your current employee will fill 2 days per week.

You need to make a plan of your projects by manhour need. Then prove that you will need your current capacity + the extra for project X in month Y per month etc. Pointing out where you did the extra work and/or team members put in the extra time.

Or better still make it your managers problem by making them produce a manhour plan.

Tbh I will guess that they will not be willing to support you and your team because they were fine allowing your team run understaffed for the whole mat leave. If that is part of the wider culture of the organisation its CV time before you end up totally burned out and unable to move to a new job or work in your current one.

To ensure continuity and the important tasks getting done at the right time, it seems like you are going to have to give her only the most basic of tasks. That isn’t going to ease your team’s load much and probably won’t be satisfactory for her. She may even find it such a step backwards that she leaves. And no doubt won’t be replaced because at that stage your manager will take the view your team will be able to cover her two days. That you’ve already absorbed two of her days will be history.

If you haven’t got senior manager support on this, I think you will have to accept that this is your work load going forward.

The key thing is to keep it factual

Ask your manager what tasks should be prioritised since there is insufficient capacity to do it all.

Ensure that tasks assigned to her stay with her and wait until her working days.

Collect evidence that it isn't working.

She's done nothing wrong by asking, HR have approved because they have no reason not to.

You need to collect the evidence and show them.

I am a part time worker so think it absolutely can work but my experience is two days isn't enough.

By the time you've caught up with what's happened and prepared a handover on your second day, it doesn't leave a huge amount in between.

She may well discover this herself and want change.

Can she effectively job share with anyone else in the team? Free them up on two days to take on the more senior tasks?

Treat her as the back fill in essence rather than everyone else covering for her.

You do know that is entirely standard in many workplaces?

People are allowed to pick and choose their hours and everyone else has to pick up the pieces. Maternity cover doesn't exist because the work is specialised and training to a useful standard would take too long.

OP you need to stop covering the gaps and talk to management about real solutions. Plus if this person's job isn't possible on a PT basis, she needs to be told to work FT or change her role with appropriate regrading. It's not fair on everyone else if one team member is allowed to do a bit of easy PT work but still be paid as if she's a higher level while everyone else does half her job for her.

I agree with @AnSolas in that you have been part of the issue by covering. My experience of management is that they keep asking until someone says 'no'. The only way they know there is a problem is if you tell them, and by covering, they just think there is no problem.

I had to turn weekend access off for my team to truly uncover how many hours people were working.

You need to do two things:

1. Allocate as much as you can to the part timer. There must be something they can do even if it is admin tasks.
2. Start getting your manager to prioritise. "Hey boss, I have these three things, but there's only enough resource for two. Which one should I drop?" This may lead to a robust discussion about why this is only happening now, however you can explain this by saying you stepped up to cover maternity, but now this is a more permanent issue, it needs to be properly resolved permanently.

You could also try dropping a ball to make a point, but do this under caution. I have used this strategy both effectively and less effectively.

Decisions were made at the most senior level and involved my manager. It hasn't been HR's decision. They have simply facilitated the conversations.

I am discussing with my manager but for now the decision has been made and it certainly won't change ahead of May so I need to prepare.

I don't like the idea of dropping the ball though I do understand this is part of what drives their decision making.

Start dropping the ball then.

The project presumably has a headcount and you are working on what percentage less? So you need to take to your manager the calculation that you need a replacement for the time being, to get back up to the required headcount for the project or reduce the work that your team do.

This is basic people management and should have been done at the start of the maternity leave [or even at the start of the initial drop in a day].

Seems odd that her request was agreed to if it doesnt meet the needs of the business. You need to work your hours and not prop this up after pointing it out.