Colleague "doesn't do paid childcare" how to deal with situation?

[Middlechild3]

New role, shift work, told it would be a 'fairly' stable pattern mostly a combination of 2/2/2 pattern per cycle, except when someone is on leave (and then less or no day shifts). Colleague has boasted about not having to pay for childcare ever despite both her and husband both working full time with shift work (different employers).This has been facilitated because she request shifts around her husbands roster unofficially and the person who does the roster gives them to her at the expense of her colleagues. This is going to mainly be me as we are opposing shifts. This means she will request say all late shifts meaning I would get stuck with all early shifts. This wasn't what I signed up to when I took the job but the emotional blackmail has started and I know she wants the arrangement she had with my predessor to continue. I really have no interest in her childcare woes and think she needs to get paid help in. She's been very lucky for so long but with new staff things will change and she must see this. How to deal with this diplomatically but firmly? to be clear this isn't an HR arrangement she has, she has just buttered up the man who does the roster over the years.

I would not be putting my life outside work after a random colleague who constantly wants my shifts to be changed due to their personal circumstances.

If it wad a once a a quarter request for a shift.change then id be happy to oblige - but to have to work my shifts around a colleagues husbands shifts on a weekly basis, is taking the piss

Working shifts on a pattern at least you can arrange events, meeting friends etc because you have a pattern you know when your off work etc - if the pattern gets randomly changed then you can't have a social life very easily as things would always be changing and unpredictable.

Id not want to be on permanent nights, lates or earlier for the reason that you would never get evenings, mornings or day times, you'd be in late up early or sleeping all day.

Id question every time it was changed in writing as a first step

Maybe the colleague shouldn't have applied for a 2/2/2 job then.

Has your schedule already been affected, or is she just “telling the new girl how things work around here” at this stage?

i was actually going to sympathise with her a bit, as the long-standing established member of staff, and suggest that if she were hard-working and valued,her needs might be considered over yours. Then I read this.....wow!!! The cheeky mare!!! It does sound like things need to change, and perhaps you'll be the one to do it!

You 'clapped back '. 😂 😂 😂

Yes I did, goofy.

You are new in the job so you either suck it up or find another job.

Regardless of the fairness or otherwise of the situation, you can’t do anything about it - new people coming in and trying to change things rarely goes down well and I have seen some being let go after their probation for stirring things up.

It’s shit and it’s unfair but it’s how it is

I'm very surprised at the amount of vitriol directed towards OP on this thread. This is the 'Work' board, not AIBU, but a number of posters seem to have a personal vendetta against OP. It's very odd.

It’s just being pragmatic. A new person coming into a job will not change things and will only cause problems for themselves

If that’s the case they should have advertised the role as early shift worker, rather than 2/2/2 and then change once she’s in and trained.

Yes you need to tackle this immediately. You should not discuss with your colleague, instead you need to speak to the rota manager. You’re are entitled to get what you signed up first.

And yes, if you feel like it you can try to be accommodating to the mother on some shifts if suits you.

That's patently incorrect. OP wants the shift pattern that is confirmed in her contract. She can put in a complaint if the person who puts the roster together is prioritising her colleague at OP's expense. As they are breaching the terms of OP's contract, she would have a case against her employer.

This is why your predecessor left…

Posting abusive posts is just those posters being 'pragmatic'? What a ridiculous thing to say. Of course a new person coming into a new job can change things if the current practices are unfair and breaches their contract of employment.

I would imagine, based on what OP's predecessor told her during training, that her colleagues insistance on getting all the best shirts at his expence was one of the reasons that he was leaving the job.

I would recommend that OP joins a union if she isn't in one already.

This

Good luck, @Middlechild3 , hopefully it won't be an issue and you'll get the shift pattern as per your contract (as you should, I have no idea why you're getting flack for this?!!)

There is a third possibility, @2021x which is that management are aware of the injustice but could not do anything about it while the ‘accommodator’ was still in post.

Having recruited someone into a role with the standard shift pattern, Management now have an opportunity to restore fairness.

OP is well advised to raise any unfair shift allocation first with whoever does the rota and then, if fairness is not restored, to escalate to management.

The reaction of management will tell OP whether it is worth starting to look for a new role.

Do you not understand the concept of a contract. It works both ways.

@Anarchy99 this is completely wrong, I think its a completely reasonable request. If the rota person disagrees, then its the wrong place to work, and id leave but escalate it big time. Have you skin in the game here, are you the colleague shes talking about?

@Middlechild3 id leave the thread if I were you, there's some dodgy stuff going on. Raise the issue with the rota person.

I suspect those posters are all parents who believe that mothers should be prioritised at all times.

Well done OP.
Nothing personal about this, you just want the conditions you signed up for.

Sorry about the nasty posters. Its a constant feature on threads if a woman wishes to assert herself.

Good luck with it.

I do think you are right to address this immediately op with management. I would act oblivious to “no childcare co worker” schedule and keep the focus on the discrepancy between contract and reality.

In have been what I consider falsely employed twice. Blatant lying about expected hours in one postion with almost an open ended day…I lasted two years and it really never improved and it was just an early sign of poor management.

interesting your predecessor was male. People can work out formal or informal job shares but it ends if one leaves.
I call these types of employees sacred cows. It’s tolerated but disliked. The co worker who always wants a long weekend. I had one long weekend a month and invariably management would ask me to change with her so she could have it off. I learned to say no. The co worker who always took the whole week of Christmas/ Thanksgiving off yet didn’t put up a tree had grown dc and didn’t host or even cook on the holiday. I did interfere with that and a rotation of holidays was effectively and almost silently put in place.
these co workers know they are taking advantage of someone but just hope to get away with it
As a new hire you can be a catalyst for change which others will also benefit from

Well it depends how it’s done. Requesting a flexible working agreement for instance isn’t ‘demanding’, it’s your statutory right.

I have a FWA and work in retail. My shifts are set, but on the days that I have earlies or lates or my set days off others will technically be pushed in to the shifts that need to be covered around that. A few people in my team will have their own arrangements for whatever reasons (health, other caring responsibilities), so those with no agreements will naturally fall in to the gaps. And it so could be that someone always had a certain pattern, FWA agreements come in and they end up with a different pattern. It’s just the nature of shift work. The difference in my team is that nobody is resentful of other people’s responsibilities because we’re all mature enough to appreciate people’s lives outside of work. Nobody boasts about their shift patterns and equally nobody slates others for doing what they need to do.

nm

Would they hire someone new and put them on a contract which interfered with your FWA (and then deny them those shifts), or would they honestly advertise the hours to give the applicant a transparent view of when they will be working if they accept the role?