Flexible working request after MAT leave?

[Hannah0120]

Hi all,

wondering if anyone would be able to give me some advice as I am due back to work in 10 weeks and my DD will only be 9 months old. I am a call centre manager, I worked my way up to this post from being an agent. Ideally, I would like to go back to work full time (40 hours pw) but to split my days into half a day in the office, the rest of the day at home. Now, my company are very notorious for saying no to this and have even made managers step down back to an agent in the past when they have asked for reduced hours due to childcare so I have a feeling it’s going to be a strong no. Now, my argument is there is one manager there who they accommodate this for. Surely it shouldn’t be no for everyone else when said manager (same role as mine may I add) is able to do the exact thing I am proposing! So, I guess my question is in terms of the legal side of things, if I do get a no which I am expecting.. do I have a leg to stand on? I just don’t want to be forced to step down when I worked hard to get where I am.

I have an 11 month old and went back to work when he was 4 months old. He is at nursery from 7:30 - 5 ish and then is in bed by 6/6:30 (even earlier when he was younger) so felt like I didn't see him sometimes. I changed my hours so I do condensed hours and have a day off a week. I also finish earlier to collect him everyday.

I love that day off with him and really do make the most of it.

There is no way I could imagine WFH with him, I wouldn't get anything done at all especially now he is almost walking. He also loves nursery and gets more out of that than having me at home if I was also working.

Whether you work at home or in the office, your DD would need to be in childcare during your working hours. If your DH is home and is willing to be SOLE childcare provider while you are WFH ( and he is not also trying to WFH), that’s slightly different but would depend very much on your ability to shut yourself in the office space in your home and ignore everything going on outside the door. I bet that’s not what you mean by ‘working from home’ though, is it?

Going back full-time while your baby is so young is really hard. However, your working hours are pretty good for spending quality time with your child each day. You can have 3 really lovely hours of quality time with them before you go to work each day. I'd prioritse making your mornings together really nice, rather than trying to do two jobs at once. If you can afford to go part-time, that would be nice, but if not just focus on having lovely time together each morning.

How do you do condensed hours and finish early?

Just to echo WFH is great for seeing more of my kids, but is not a substitute for childcare.

on WFH days I can drop them off at breakfast club/nursery to be back working by 8:30 and then pick up at 5 rather than closer to 6. With the clock change we can play in the garden/park as well which is fab.

i also do condensed hours so have every other Friday off with them. So does DH who takes the other Friday. I’ve had a promotion since going back after DC2 so has really been worth it for me. We make the most of the long weekends and holidays with the kids.

There is no right answer on going back to work, but looking after young dc is a full time job on its own - either paid and/or the parents

I start earlier & have 3 hours a week which are flexible hours.

Thanks everyone for your input. Maybe I am considering it to be easier than it actually would be. In terms of my job role, I tend to get everything done by 3pm and the rest of the day is just monitoring that’s why I thought it might work for me being at home for the remainder of my shift. Maybe I need to think abit more sensibly!